Maybe this will help....


03-05-2014, 09:28 AM
willabee
7000 RPM


This photo from Wilson's file has to be Molinari's shop in 1971. We are busy getting the new boats ready for the Paris and Berlin Six Hour races. The boat in the center of the picture has to be the "big boat" that Billy Don Pruett ran at the Paris with a C6. I think I described that boat earlier on this thread as a triple that Renato had built for himself to run special events with in Europe. Obviously, it was a twin before he stuck a center transom in it to run as a single for Paris. This boat was similar to the design of the twin Renato ran at Havasu in 1970, which was the fastest boat at Havasu that year. This is way before brakes were used, the holes in the transoms are for power trim cylinders.

At Paris in the 1970 race, the Merc team ran all sprint boats with the exception of the Molinari/Wilson entry. We even entered a 16' sprint for Merten/Sirois to try to fly across that churned up mess offered by the River Seine! It turned out to be a handful and Mert finally stuck it, nose first, damaging his kidney and handing it over to Tom Stickle to complete the fuel load run. The thinking for 1971 was just the opposite of 1970. It was decided to run much more conservative setups on the new 17'ers and to even run the "big boat" just in case the water was really bad. I had forgotten that this boat was tested with the Twister I before the C6 was mounted. If memory serves, that rig topped out at about 85 mph on fast water at Lake Como, by far our slowest entry. However, I think it was running third when a coil mounting bracket made by the idiot telling this story failed and ended a very interesting performance.



Last edited by willabee; 03-06-2014 at 11:13 AM.