Champion AU/BU

[JoS]

Todd, thank you. Although our goal is not to reach top speed but scale speed some of the boats are pretty fast. When we started the whole 152VO story we were really astonished how efficient these old hull designs are. The slowest of our models (e.g. the cottage racer utilities) run at velocities around 30-35 km/h (i.e. around 20 mph). The fast ones like Hal Kelly's Foo Ling, the Speedliners or the Switzercrafts come close to 60 km/h (37 mph). A three pointer like the Kelly Jupiter or Wetback is capable to hit the 60 km/h mark.

But if you run that fast the boats don't look "realistic" anymore. That's why we limited the motor revs, propellers and battery voltage in our racing rules. An average 152VO race boat runs something around 40-45 km/h (25-28 mph). If you extrapolate this model speed by it's scale to the speed of a full size hull (25 respectively 28 mph x square root 5.2) our models would run something around 57 - 64 mph. That's still a bit faster than the originals in the mid 1950s (maybe a DSH or F Hydro could beat this speed), but it looks pretty realistic.

A slow one... around 20 mph:



A fast one... running full throttle over the scratch line, around 30 mph:



Our microprocessor controlled, programmable starting clock, based on an original of the 1950s:

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Thank you, Ron and Dean! I got old Champion plans from a friend of mine, Rod Geraghty in Wisconsin. I'm deeply interested in the construction details and the history. That's why I'm often talking to Rod via Skype, learning as much as possible about vintage outboard racing. It's a great pleasure to get all these first hand information from those people who have experienced the real thing in th 1950s and 60s.

About two years ago I started to organize a boat racing club exclusively for radio controlled replicas of vintage outboard racing boats, scaled down to size 1/5,2. That's why our club is called 152VO ("1/5,2 Vintage Outboard"). We started with 9 guys in August 2012. Meanwhile our club has grown to 680 members with 180 boats in 10 countries. You can see a few of our boats here: http://www.152vo.de/index.php/commun...rennboote.html (cottage racers as well as competitive racers of the stock and alky classes). We hold annual meetings and drive closed course races (utility and hydro) as well as marathon (team) races on a quartermile track. Our racing rules are based on the APBA rule book 1953. Meanwhile our vintage outboard racing club has become very popular in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria.

My first model replica which I built fpr the 2012 competition was a tiny little cottage racer, the Atomite, published in "Boat Builder's Handbook", drawn by William D. Jackson and sold as a kit boat by a manufacturer called "Ozarka" in the early 1950s.



My second one for the 2013 competition was a scale replica of the 1951 Switzercraft BU Baby Bullet, which is running awesome. A very fast and stable boat. I took second place in the results, my wife took first place with her Baby Bullet.





Here's a pic of a few of our boats on the last competition in August 2013:



I'm the guy in the green t-shirt to the left. If you're interested you can find more than 100 photos of the 2013 competition here: http://www.152vo.de/index.php/commun...vents.html#2nd (click on one of the four thumbnail pics on the right to open the gallery).





So I have a cottage racer and a stock BU at the moment. My next boats will be a class B Alky, the Jacoby Flyaway (conventional) from the late 1930s and the 1953 Champion AU/BU which I'll try to finish for the next competition. That's why I'm interested in some construction details of the original Champion boat. If you know someone who has built an original Champion kit boat or still owns a Champion AU/BU please let me know. It's really tricky to get detailed information about these boats after 60 years so every information is highly welcome.

Jo,

Did you ever cast up more throttles? You said that you were going to? I started racing Jacoby Hydros. If you go to my scrapbook you'll see plenty of pictures of many Jacoby hydros including mine # 519-J & than 19-J. I also have a model of a 20H that my friend Dave Doyle had made when the guy who made it also made a baby bullet. I would like you to make a Jacoby 3 point for me for the 20H. I would be willing to send the motor to you for scale purposes. BTW the guy that made the motor made a few extra. Perhaps we can do a trade.

[JoS]

If you go to my scrapbook you'll see plenty of pictures of many Jacoby hydros including mine # 519-J & than 19-J.

John, where can I find your scrapbook? Regarding the throttles and the Jacoby three pointer model I'll write you a PM.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

John, where can I find your scrapbook? Regarding the throttles and the Jacoby three pointer model I'll write you a PM.

http://www.antiqueoutboardmotor.info.../schubert.html

e-mail me direct at jschubert19j@gmail.com

[DeanFHobart]

JoS,

Here is info on the Champion Runabouts..... http://www.boatracingr11.com/sorensenmain.htm

Then click on Classic Utility Kits, for pictures and also pictures of construction.

Good Luck,

Dean Hobart..........................

[jon66w]

I had a Champion kit AU/BU that my Dad and I built. This was the day that you could start stock racing building a kit boat and buying a ready to go actual racing motor from a local dealer. It was in the early 50's and was very affordable. We were not going very fast but had lots of fun. I think the fastest I ever saw on my pre popper 20H was 49mph. I don't know if we could ever go back to this as stock fishing boats can go much faster which means that stock outboarding will NEVER be a spectator sport again. I think the only tough part of building it was bending the Mahogany coming strip into a U around the front cockpit. My Dad broke two before he soaked in hot water for a couple hours. The picture below was taken on the Lake Michigan Milwaukee lake front in 1956. Yes we raced on the big lake back then, no fair weather racers back then. When the five minute gun went off, you raced! The boat was reasonbly fast in a straight line but was a handful in the corners. Later I found out this boat was supposed to be flat turned and wouldn't bank turn like every one did on our river courses, no matter how big turn fin I put on. Ah, the inoscence of youth. JON

[JoS]

Jon, that's a phantastic picture, thank you! From the plans I thought as much that the Champion wouldn't bank turn because of the flat non trip chines which are angeled at only 20°.
Could you send me a PM with your email address for some additional questions?

[Joe Silvestri 36-S]

Cool club and assortment of boats you have. Great Job building them as well.

[JoS]

We have added new videos of our outboard racing models to our Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/152VO

Please subscribe to our channel - much more footage followig soon!

[Ron Hill]

All these scale models are ELECTRIC motors????