8 cylinder Konig outboard

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Speaking of "Monster" motors...here is a letter Scott Smith sent my Dad. I don't remember the exact date of the Lakeland race where Dieter delivered the 8 cylinder to Marshall, but it would not have been very long after this letter was sent.

I can't remember whether or not I had previously posted this or not Mark, but I thought you might want a copy of this for your exhibit. As far as I know, yours was the only one ever built. Not to say that there are not some circulating in other parts of the world, but if Dieter would have built half of those for people who Scott said had expressed an interest, we would have at least seen them in the pits. My Dad wasn't averse to buying something new and interesting to try out, so I am suspecting Scott might have been doing a little hustling.

[Jeff Lytle]

I wonder if the boat Scott was speaking about was that pic you posted before Wayne. It was a pic of a huge Konig hull that was sitting outside at the Konig factory leaning up against the wall.

[Tim Chance]

Seems there can be only one.........per monster engine!

Back in the early 1960s the British Anzani twin block coupled "C" Alky really had only one real qualified tested and true starter according to Tim Chance who then told me the man had passed away about 5 years before I thought what was a "myth" engine back in the late 1960s came back together again here during the winter of 2006-2007. According to Tim the man that started this mythical engine was about 350 pounds of hardened muscle and that is what it took in one qualified man to start it. Other times evidently it took 2 people on two ropes, less successfuly!

Do the men who could have or did start the 8 cylinder Konig with a rope start measure up with that engine double the size of the Anzani for the braun it took one man to start it, the 4 cylinder Anzani twin block coupled "C" never mind the twice larger Konig?

Tim Chance, you know these guys, what say you? LOL!

As far as Jim Kolosky is concerned, Jim wasn't a superman he was about 5'-8" tall and weighed maybe 190 pounds. He was the ultimate pit man. He was a draftsman as was Dave Berg, and they worked together. Jim started coming to the races with Dave, then after Dave was killed at at a race in Duluth, Minnesota in 1962, Jim started pitting for Dick Zivic and Floyd Harris. Floyd owned the twin Anzani C.

After Dick and Floyd stopped racing, Jim became my pit crew. Rich Krier reminded me just this past summer of a time in Memphis in 1970 when my D Konig "bit" Jim as he was roping it. Off came the sunglasses, back up onto the beach, out came the cigar, back up onto the beach, back went the rope onto the flywheel. That Konig didn't dare not start.

It has been many years since Jim passed away, we had a lot of good times together. I still miss him.

As far as the 8-cylinder Konig is concerned I only remember of a time Marshal started it with a battery. And another time with Danny in the boat and I think Tom Kirts on one rope and Gary Sevison on the other.

And I'm glad that Gene East clarified that he never started the Konig eight as I was going to say that he was out of racing at that time. Plus the fact that the first time he ever started a Konig in his life is when he started mine at the world's last month.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

I had the immense pleasure to get to know Jim in the early 70's, when he was attending some of the "alky" races here in the midwest as one of Tim Chance's pit crew. Jim was one of a kind, and there are numerous stories about him still told today all these years later. I would like to relate one about him that took place at a race in Springfield, Il., at the old race site there on Lake Springfield called the "Prop Club".

I had just been back in boat racing for three or four years after being out for about 10, and had just gotten a C and D Konig after starting back with the same size engines but of the Quincy Flathead variety. At the time, Harry Pasturczak was coming out with various innovations for the Konigs, "ZAK" pipes, different cut rotary valve disks, etc., and other items to improve the engine, both performance and durability wise. One such item was called the "ZAK AIRBOX". This was a plastic airbox designed to attach to the top and bottom carbs on the engine, and its purpose was to not only improve the airflow to the engine, but provide protection to the carbs in case of water in the turns or roostertails getting in the carbs and putting the fire out. The idea, like most of Harry's ideas was sound, but this one did not work well in actual practice. It did improve the performance of the engine slightly, but insofar as keeping the motor from drowning out with water from another boat in a corner, it lacked a great deal in that purpose. In fact, the water would actually become trapped in the box, and compound the problem of putting the fire out.

I had both my engines equipped with this device, and they were hanging on the motor racks in my trailer, which swung out from the box for easy access.
The motors were quite visible to anyone walking by, especially being equippped with the day glow orange painted pipes and the odd looking air box on the carbs. Jim was walking by the trailer and saw the motors equipped with the air boxes, and did a "double take" as he had never seen anything that looked like that before on an engine. He stopped and looked at them from every angle, top/bottom/sideways but never asked anything about them, so I volunteered that they were an "aerodynamically tuned airbox" designed by Harry Pasturczak, another good man of Polish descent. He continued to look for a while longer, and then only made one comment before walking on to wherever he was going.

Just as I will never forget "Kolosky", I will never forget what he said in reply to my explanation of what he was looking at. He said "I had a girlfriend in high school that had one of those too". That cracked me up then, now and everytime I remember it. I did not find out till just recently that Jim had passed away some years ago. Boat racing lost one of its real characters when that happened.

[Mark Suter]

Wayne, thanks for the pic of the letter. I will most certainly put a copy of that with my documentation on the 8-cylinder Konig. Roger Dykehouse gave me a set of Konig specs from 1969 (the type used when submitting motors for APBA approval) that lists my motor as an "LF" model. That suggests that the motor concept would have been public knowledge for quite a while before Marshall built one. From this document alone, I certainly would have expected more people to be aware of the concept and interested in trying to purchase 8-cylinder motors. But that does beg the question of why it never happened.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Mark:

I can only guess about why no more motors were sold of that type than just the one, but certainly I think boat design (or lack thereof) had something to do with it I am sure. Also the problems that Marshall had with the boat/motor combination were fairly well known (I don't think he was trying to keep anything secret in that respect) insofar as the lower unit difficulties/keeping gears in it, very large boat required (for that time) and also there was the issue of the prop revolution direction adding to the handling difficulties, and last but not least the wgt of the motor. Prop wise I remember him telling me he was having problems getting the type props he needed, i.e. very small diameter versus lots of pitch. He said that several times at the first test session at Lake Matte in Fl.

In addition, the folks that would have been most interested (again just my opinion) were competing against it and saw the problems with it mentioned above, plus the starting procedure with the electric starter etc. I have no idea what the cost was or would have been, but I would think at least twice the price of a 500 at the time as there were of course two of the powerheads used plus the special lower unit. Add to this the observations that interested parties must have made when seeing the motor run against other "F's" of the day, (see Wayne's description of the race at Marine Creek Lake in Ft. Worth) and it is fairly easy to understand why the majority would be reluctant to be among the first to try that type of motor. That would have certainly have changed if the motor was finishing and winning races, when run hard all the complete race, turns included.

I may be not thinking of all the reasons, but surely those mentioned would have some bearing on a competitors thinking about the possible purchase of the engine, and then the real job of making it competitive on a typical race course of the day. It surely had the speed, but that alone does not always win you boat races. You have to finish also.

[Tomtall]

Roger Dykehouse gave me a set of Konig specs from 1969 (the type used when submitting motors for APBA approval) that lists my motor as an "LF" model.

Here is what Mark was refering to.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You pretty much nailed it on the head Bill Van. And to add to what you said....the intro to the motor was at Lakeland 1974. As all the PRO racers, as well as many Stock and Mod guys know, Lakeland was the opener for the season. OPC guys also went there for records. As a consequence, there were racers from all over the country there at the first race. This was a tune up session for Marshall and Dieter as well. This motor must have been finalized right before the race, and having been in Dieter's dyno room, I doubt very seriously he fired it up in there. He had been to Lakeland before and knew he could find a place to test. Word quickly got around the outboard community about this motor. This took place during some troubled times and I am sure that also contributed to non commitments from others. But in this class, there were not a large group of teams to begin with, and I doubt there were any truly serious buyers at this time.


When Charlie Bailey took it out and it ran too rich, Dieter grabbed a pair of pliars and pinched the dump tubes. I wish I could recall all that happened during those initial trials. I did take some pics, but I didn't take any notes. Tim had brought our experimental boat "Honcho" down as well and we were busy rigging it up as well as a "B" boat. Ironically, "Honcho" was the boat that the 8 ran the best on. A different boat could probably have been better built, but that's what it ended upon the last I heard.

And Jeff (re 12 cylinder Konig).....I thought about that boat at first, then discounted it. But then I got to thinking about the design and what it would have taken to float that motor. It certainly looked like a boat Scott would discourage anyone from driving, so I'll take a second look. I'll post some other shots of it here for clues.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Would it be possible for you to crop that section and enlarge it Tom? I have a hard time with the details at that size.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Wayne:

I always was told and understood that protein lost from the top of the head migrated to the eyeball, so what was lost in one area made the other stronger. Not true??