WHOOPS! Cees Van der Velden

[mintominto]

CEES (Drakkar) gets into difficulty as he runs over ALLAN GIBSON (Rag II) while RENATO MOLINARI ( SAFFA) looks on at Bristol England during the late 70s.

[Jeff Akers]

That's an amazing shot !
Was the driver injured ? It shure looks bad !!!

[mintominto]

One of those that looks worse than it is, in fact soon after Allan Gibson ( RAG II) was driving a new VELDEN hull, maybe Cees done him a good deal.

[onwatermarineservices]

Can anyone tell what engine is on Molinari's Saffa boat in the first pic.
Tip; it looks like a CCC but it ain't really

[NERSTROM]

Engine on Renato's Safa boat is OMC 727.

[Joe J]

Engine on Renato's Safa boat is OMC 727.

Jimbo was telling me about these a few months ago, but I cannot remember the details.

Ron or Jim, can you fill us in on the them?

Joe

[NERSTROM]

When the OMC & Mercury factory race wars moved from ON to OZ we found ourselves at a disadvantage to Mercury. Charlie Strang asked us to build the biggest displacement Loop V6 we felt we could put on the race course. OMC used three digit project numbers to track project costs. When we designed the first of many 3-cylinder race engines we were given project number 717 and because of its success became attached to numbers ending with “7”. The 727 Looper V6 was next followed by the Race V8 which was 757. The model numbers found on the serial number plate followed a different system, but that’s another story.

The 727 was a totally new design with early versions having a displacement of 173 cubic-inches followed by 183 cubic-inch versions. The engines were given to factory sponsored drivers and for a short time raced along side the V8. Jimbo did all of the development testing and Fred Hauenstein worked on this engine just before he left for Mercury. Torque and power were spectacular but RPM was limited due to the long stroke.

Jim

[Ron Hill]

We'd like to think we aren't TOTALLY OLD SCHOOL HERE...but we do have an encyclopedia...Many of "US" crave inside stories or outside for that matter....When you get time, post about the serial numbers...

Thanks for posting...miss you at the races and meetings... Ron...

Heading for Parker....27 years ago, you did one hell of a job jetting a CCC for me and Fred Hauenstein.....http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1581&page=4
ain't quite the same "CRAZY HORSE".... our Sleek is named ARCADIAN SPIRIT...

Wish you were coming to Parker, this weekend, Jim!!!

[NERSTROM]

Ron,
I always enjoyed Parker, it was a great place to race. I still treasure the Parker Jacket Kenny Stevenson and Bob Spalding gave me after they won.

Good luck this weekend. CRAZY HORSE looks great.

My best to all.
Jim

[onwatermarineservices]

Hello Jim
I was told that he had a 3.4litre crossflow with two bendix injection systems fitted. That engine was supposed to be on the boat when Bert Hines bought it here in Australia and that it had to be returned to OMC's racing division.
Is this correct or have I been mis-informed. If not more info on what was on it would be really interesting.
BTW a friend of mine knows where that boat is.

[mintominto]

Ron,
I always enjoyed Parker, it was a great place to race. I still treasure the Parker Jacket Kenny Stevenson and Bob Spalding gave me after they won.

Good luck this weekend. CRAZY HORSE looks great.

My best to all.
Jim
What outfit were Kenny and Bob racing that year?

[NERSTROM]

Amazing how things get bigger and better with time. The CCC crossflows used an X-crankcase with carbs, never got bigger than 160 ci. We never build a dual fuel injection system for this manifold. We, like Mercury, used Bendix mechanical fuel injection systems on the 727 engines. These required special crankcases with the reed boxes lined up in a single row and a plenium manifold with the Bendix unit sitting vertical. The Bendix was a dash 10 size which had been developed for turbocharged Indy Race Cars. Mercury started to use them first on the T3's and we picked up the idea soon after. The crankcase and manifold were very simular to the current Mercury EFI racing systems.

[onwatermarineservices]

Thankyou Jim!