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Thread: Douglas Willey

  1. #31
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    I Don’t know for sure Wayne, at that time some were really going deep because they could leave the jetty faster. Prop Work was necessary so boatwould leave and still go fast. The Hydrocats were on the sene and were doing similar things but mostly kicking in and out while underway plus the motor would lean also to the left. Douglas thought out the deep thing and the lift gave him top end. At one of Hans races in Berlin, Douglas would beat the Russians out of the gate and to the first turn. The Hydrocats were fast and could run down a prop rider on the straights and with their ability to turn better than the prop riders they could in most cases win. Douglas would smoke me out of the gate and get through the turn and with his lift, he would godown a bit for acceleration and then lift it for max output. The cats would start their move on him on the straights, but Douglas would get in front of them so they had to either turn a bit or backout. As the cats would turn just a bit they would suck down into the water and slow way up. Doulas would control the whole race this way. Very cleaver he was at this and it did piss the Russians off to no advail. Later cat design would over come this, and today the cats will either turn like a cat on one pin turns or float through a turn like a hydro. I have a picture somewhere, of the first Russian hydrocat with the four other ones built years later. They were all lined upon the beach next to one another and you could see the progresss of them. The coolest one was their B cat that actually flew like a plane and would land on water for the turn. Water pickup was low and at front of lower unit skeg. Boat looked like a small F85 fighter jet. It was however not to long that this boats and cats would not be allowed to run in the A and B Classes.

  2. #32
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    I never knew that side of Douglas, nor even anything like you or Ralph knew him. I always thought of him like an English gentleman with a boat sporting the English green to carry on a tradition. I only was around him in the pits, but I must say, he was a unique individual, and someone I was very glad to have met and raced with.



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