Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[Rotary John]

Looks like a bunch of Pent's. Who won the race with what engine?

[lars strom]

Looks like a bunch of Pent's. Who won the race with what engine?

HeeHee great question and I quote from my racing stories..

"The Sprint UIM World OE Championship race that year was in Brodenbach, Germany.
OMC was not very happy with me racing a Volvo and Roger Jenkins racing the Archimedes. (Same thing)
Michael Werner was the home town favorite with Mercury’s "secret F3 engine" with fuel injection.
OMC at that time did not have the speed, and where using the “Gas in a bottle” ( laughing gas), to make it better.
The German officials of the race said it was not legal, so OMC never raced and filed a UIM protest. (three boats from OMC)
I was fighting hard with Werner and won one heat, he the next etc. and it was down to the final heat
I had to win on a better time and I did, but then the German race officials said that my heat was 2/10 of a second slower than Werner’s so he was now the World Champ. (at that time they used stop watches)
I don’t know if it was right or wrong, but sometime later UIM made a decision about the OMC protest.
OMC won the UIM protest meaning the race was not an official World Championship race anymore."

@Rotary John

The correct answer is None...

[BLisBack!]

That's very interesting, OMC was playing around with nitrous back then as a booster? How did they implement it? Driver activated?

-BL

[Rotary John]

That's very interesting, OMC was playing around with nitrous back then as a booster? How did they implement it? Driver activated?

-BL

OMC used nitrous with the rotaries at St. Louis in 1974. Driver pushed a button on the steering wheel. It activated a solenoid to inject the nitrous and additional fuel; 30% increase in power. Problem was the additional weight of the bottle and it only lased 15 min.

[lars strom]

@BLisBack!

@Rotary John


Well..As far as I know OMC in Europe only used nitrous in the UIM OE/F3 class 1977.
The European racing boss was doing everything he could to keep up with me and Roger Jenkins with the extremely fast Volvo Penta/Konig engine that year.
Rotary John is correct it did not last long but my friend Bo Nilsson
( boat #6 picture) was one of the three drivers in Brodenbach not allowed to race. The other two was Hering and Renato.
Bo did bring a larger bottle nitrous to the local races in Sweden and refilled the little one onboard between the heat races.
Still not fast enough to beat my Molinari/Konig..but the Konig did have lots of "reliability issues" and you have to get the the checkered flag to win the race..
It was a pretty easy power boost..OMC made a small pipe in front of the carburetors..red line (first picture) and sprayed it straight in to the carburetors when needed.

This was really in the gray zone in the UIM OE/F3 class rule book.

1978 OMC came out with the better UIM OE/F3 powerhead with pressed in sleeves and nitrous was not needed.

I did never try nitrous during all my years in the UIM OE/F3 class.

[lars strom]

When OMC won the UIM protest after the race in Brodenbach I got revenge on OMC's home turf at a popular race in Holland.
Beating the OMC's European racing boss favorite driver Willy Permann big time when he used the nitrous and other tricks in the book..also Micheal Werner was in the race.
I think it is Permann having some issues in one of the pictures..
My 1977 UIM OE/F3 season was full of controversy but it was an extremely fun year..

[lars strom]

More from the home of Dieter König..I think this is from Lake Tegel, (West) Berlin 1977.
A beautiful lake for boat racing.
Again my black UIM F3/OE Molinari #40 with the powerful König in Volvo Penta colors.
This weekend stared great but ended bad..for me..

Thanks Carl Lowisin for the pictures..PS..More is coming.

[Mark Poole ModVP]

So, using the nitrous on the rotary brings up a question. Holding the button too long will melt the tops of pistons. Thinking...a rotary might tolerate it better? Since there are three different sides of the rotor, each in different phases of the cycle.

[lars strom]

Swedish media 1977..This is a report after the race in Brodenbach, Germany.
Very interesting..but in Swedish only..sorry.
The black #40 Molinari/Volvo Penta by König.

[Lake X Kid]

Change to English ... subtitles to read.

[Lake X Kid]

"You made a mistake I won 18 World Championships not 17," said Renato Molinari.

Renato knows English (maybe not has good as his younger brother Giorgio) but Renato prefers speaking in his native Italian language.

[BLisBack!]

So, using the nitrous on the rotary brings up a question. Holding the button too long will melt the tops of pistons. Thinking...a rotary might tolerate it better? Since there are three different sides of the rotor, each in different phases of the cycle.

and also, was the system activated by the driver? Solenoids and switches or other ways to keep it simple?

-BL

[lars strom]

and also, was the system activated by the driver? Solenoids and switches or other ways to keep it simple?

-BL

I am not so sure the rotaries used nitrous in St. Louis 1974..I think it was OMC's piston powered outboards in the race..Let's see what Rotary John's answer is..

..but I know for sure in the UIM OE class my friend Bo Nilsson had a button in the steering wheel..(type powertrim button)..he clicked on quickly a few times when he was up to speed to increase speed..worked pretty good.
He could not hold the button in very long..no good..lost speed.

[Rotary John]

I am not so sure the rotaries used nitrous in St. Louis 1974..I think it was OMC's piston powered outboards in the race..Let's see what Rotary John's answer is..

..but I know for sure in the UIM OE class my friend Bo Nilsson had a button in the steering wheel..(type powertrim button)..he clicked on quickly a few times when he was up to speed to increase speed..worked pretty good.
He could not hold the button in very long..no good..lost speed.

The rotaries did indeed use nitrous at St. Louis. Each boat had a big bottle that would last a total of 15Min. With 4 15 Min heats, it couldn't last full time for all 4 heats. The driver were told to use it to accelerate out of the corners only. You can figure how long that lasted. If you watched the first heat you could see the fumes lofting out of the top of the shroud. It was wired with the primer as using nitrous required more fuel. Nitrous is only an oxidizer and does nothing by itself. There was a separate toggle switch for the primer only for starting. There was a separate button on the steering wheel that activated both the nitrous and the primer at the same time. I don't know how long the bottle actually lased as it was demolition derby for that race. Nitrous was never used before or after on the rotaries. I don't recall any engine failure that race, only boat destruction caused by Merc..

[lars strom]

Wow..Thanks @Rotary John

Great info..I did see OMC using nitrous in the 1976 UIM ON class World Championship race in Auronzo, Italy 1976.
Only in the ON class..not OE.