Formula1 Oz Tunnel Boats

[advantage marine]

Hi all boatracers, I am currently restoring a 1978 Molinari tunnel which is going to have an EVINRUDE V8 F1 engine on it. Iam finding it very difficult to get any information, photos ,video footage of this class of tunnel boat racing back in the early 80s. If anyone has any links, contacts I would really appreciate your help. Thanks. Advantage Marine, Australia.

[Ron Hill]

In 1978, Freddy Hauenstein and I won the Parker 9 Hour with a Molinari...but we used a V-6 Evinrude. Post pictures of what you have and you can create some interest here...Jimbo McConnell can help you and though he has some physical problems that makes posting hard for him, I can get a TON of answers from JIMBO..

So, post away you pictures and questions...we a BRF plan to be the biggest web page known to MAN!!!!! Someday!!!

[NERSTROM]

Ron is right, in 1978 we were running V6 engines. The V8 did not come out until several years later. Depending on the history of your 1978 Molinari it would have most likely used a cross-flow V6 (Evinrude CCC). You are going to find the V8 is too heavy and too powerful for the boat. If you can post some additonal information if will help. Jimbo would be an excellent resource for your project since he was the first to drive all of our new race engines.

[Freddie Webb]

Which v8 do you have, the oz motor or the 6" fuelie? I tried running an oz on a short tunnel and it was some kinda ride. I am thinking of trying my ccc motor on it, maybe. Post some pics.

[LIQUID NIRVANA]

My Email is

evinrude_etec_racing@yahoo.com.au

I live at Nowra, NSW.

Regards, Ken

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Liquid Nirvana.... when someone posts a town I don't know, I look up at the wall in front of the computer where there is a world map. Only the largest cities are there but I took a chance to see if Nowra was there. Nope. But I did find some great names for towns in NSW. Dubbo, Coonamble, Wagga Wagga, Cooma, Wollongong, and.......who named a city Orange?

[guy hanson]

These are a couple of pictures of the Molinari with V8 F1 Don McClymont from Advantage Marine in Melbourne Australia is restoring at present.

[Ron Hill]

http://hillmarine.com/RonCrazyHorse.html Check this picture out...

Check this boat out. This is Brad Miller's Crazy Horse, named after Crazy Horse Campgrounds, I think this V-8 boat is really Brad's old Crazyhorse... Loks like the same trailer, too...If you put a V-8 gearcase on this boat, wouldn't it be too deep???

How long is this boat? Is the wood under the driver's seat white...like no color at all? Things could change, but when John's Custom MARINE RIGGED THIS BOAT, THEY MADE AN ALUMIUNM PAN TO HOLD THE SEAT... We felt my big butt might go through the floor...so they made a "U" Shaped support to hold the seat...

Also, this boat had been nose dived before Freddy Hauenstein and I drove it, and you can see where the tunnel bottom had been repaired...

Check this one, too!!! http://hillmarine.com/RonFred.html Brad, Freddy and Me..Parker Winners, 1978!

[guy hanson]

Hi Ron,
I believe this boat came into Australia in about 1979 directly from Molinari in Como, as the purchaser had been to meet Renato,and had the boat built, his name is Bert Hines , he did actually go to Havasau in 1978 and race but the story is he only did one lap and blew an engine.( it was another boat that he raced over there) this hull is about 19ft.Very similar to your boat though! The other interesting part of the story with this boat is that it was originally run with a late model CCC of large capacity over 3ltr I believe, but the motor was ordered back to OMC and replacement had to be found. Due to the size of the boat Bert had a special motor built. It was a 327 chev on its end with fuel injection on an OMC shortmid with an oil reservoir in the exhaust housing, was very fast in a straight line but awkward in the turns.

[Ron Hill]

Bert Hines owned an equipment rental company. His daughter, Wendy, worked for Quantas Airlines. Bert and his wife Helen came to the US quite often.

Bert bought all kinds of Racing Parts from me, usually propellers. He had a big leather suit case, and he'd stuff in two blade propellers. He'd pay for one, stuff it in bag, pay for another and stuff it in his bag....I think he one time he 26 props in this bag. I guess, at the time, his bags would go right through Customs, without any taxes...

Bert also bought an American V-Hull, it was not an Allison, but anyway, Bert built these boats in Australia and called them Bullets.

About 1973, Mike Wallace ordered a Scotti V-6 hull... Mike and I had driven together in Paris, 1971 in a Schultz...In '72, MIke didn't race Paris, Jimbo and I drove together in a Scotti.

Wallace didn't get a V-6 OMC, OMC politics, and that fall, in Paris, Scotti was killed while racing.

Bert Hines had been doing pretty well in Australian Boat Racing. So, he got OMC Australia,to get him a motor from OMC Racing for THE PARKER 9 Hour. But OMC told him they didn't have a boat, but he could have an engine.

He contacted me, I contacted Mike Wallace, I knew after Scotti's death, MIKEwould never race this boat. Anyway, I sold Mike's boat to Bert. My dad and Bert Hines rigged that NEW SCOTTI in my dad's driveway, the week before Parker, 1974, maybe 1975.

OMC and it maybe have been Jim Nerstrom, here on BRF, not to rev the motor over, 7,200 RPM's....(Not sure that is the right number)....BUt Bert was second and coming around the first lap, he was watching the tach, but he also wanted to lead, he made a pass on the other boat, a Mercury if I recall correctly, but he went pasted the 7,200 number, and he stuck a piston not far past the start/finish line...

It was a time when MONEY didn't help. Mercury had their TEAM and OMC had their Team. Bert got very discussed with both factories not selling him anything, so he built a 327 and stood it on end, like an Outboard. He blew this boat over, and hurt his arm. He had what is called Skier's arm..

I lost track of Bert after that. His accident was around 1978.....

My Crazy Horse boat was sold in 1979......Bert very easily could have ordered a BRAND NEW BOAT from Renato Molinari.. It just looked so much like our old Molinari....

Bert never raced at Havasu....

ADD: His friends called him "BERTIE". Knowing Bert, like I did, I'm pretty sure he would have ordered the boat directly from Renato....I just never knew that OMC ever really SOLD any Race V-8's during the Formula One Tour days....

Anyway of finding out if Bert is still alive...Maybe, he'd tell us a few things...