MilesMaster Boat

[Zonker1]

I'd like to say it was guts. In truth it was a combination of stubborness (I'm German/American and it comes with the territory) and my mediocre ,yet dramatic, driving style. By the way The flip occurred right at the finish line........ I actually got points for that mishap...

T2x

And the judges award a 9.8....good execution, good form,...bonus points for total destruction and scaring the %^$# outta us!

Very impressive performance from the East Coast Team! They will do well in the Finals!

Sorry T2X...it was right out there,,,I had to jump on it..it's my sick nature!

Zonker1

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I gotta say T2X, that being so close to the finish line it's human nature to keep your foot in it and I would have done the same. What a great story to tell (notwithstaning the pain and expenses). I could picture the whole keystone cops scenario as you explained it. This story should have a link to Russ's BS Boat Racing thread. Not saying that it is in the actual BS category, but in the "Now this ain't no &#*+"" category.

[BrianSmith]

Quite a "spill" and story............I have read quite a few stories about how "unforgiving" the Miles boats were. I drove 4 different ones over the years, won a lot of races (including region 2 championships and Cdn. Nationals in U and S classes) and had only 3 mishaps.......2 were my own fault racing with Andre Savard where once he hooked in front of me in a corner and I drove across his cowl, and the other at Parry Sound where I should've backed off and let him thru the first corner ahead of me instead of trying to turn like the OMC drivers and barrel rolling in the backwash off the breakwater. (I drove the following weekend with broken ribs and a punctured lung in a Region two river race and lapped everyone except Spencer Dunn).
The third was kind of my fault too at the start of another river race in Ohio when Dick and I wanted to see how close we could be to shore while leading the pack to the first turn. I didn't see the partially submerged log untill the last minute which of course immediatly tore off the lower unit and with it all steering!
Like in slow motion the boat slowly swerved toward shore and climbed a steep imbankment between trees and people and came to rest on a gravel road. I turned off the ignition, climbed out and got a ride back to the pits with a stunned lady in a volks wagon!
I really loved those boats. They treated me very well and we beat many Molys and others of course.

[David Alaniz]

Here's the "other" one, the Bradshaw boat that was pulled back by Mercury due to "politics"......( Me I guess).

It was the worst P.O.S. I ever drove. It had "Hard" chines ( perfect for barrel rolling in a choppy turn ( I did that at Picton)....and it had a "lope" that didn't go away until you reached about 95........ if you caught a gust on the "up" stroke....This happened.

T2x

Well I don't know about all those problems but the one we had was a good actor. As I brought her up she would lay down and build from there on, just like in the pictures. Only had one episode, (not my fault, I don't think). Racing in Conroe one year. There were some engineers at Nasa that talked my dad into using a special "go-go" juice they blended in the fuel (tax payer dollors at work). We added it before arriving at the race because we didn't want anyone seeing what we were doing. I went out for a test run and came back telling my dad...#%$@&*. Speed speed with no lose of power in the turns.

I got a late start maybe the fuel. Once I got going I stayed to the outside with all the speed so I didn't have to deal with all the slower traffic. It didn't take long before I was in second. The first place was a Miles (don't know who). Since I had "excess" speed I decided to stay behind him to see how he ran/reacted etc. He kept looking back at me on the turns so I would try to get in his blind spot. I just wanted to know how he would react before I approaced.

Now, Going down the back stretch a large house boat decide to pull up anchor and leave. I saw the first place boat go over the wake. I started slowing down...but....I hit the first wake and she lifted. I leaned forward hoping for the best and she slowly started coming back down only to land in the middle of the big wake. This shot me straight up. It got quite and lonesome real fast. I knew it was going to hurt when all of a sudden she rolled again right side up and landed transom first. So there I was still in the cockpit looking at the rest of the pack coming my way. They all missed me and that was the end of the day. Freddy's Miles was smaller than mine, perhaps that is why it had some of those probems.

[BrianSmith]

Some Cantek Milesmaster racing hulls from the early 70's;

Brian could tell the story about each one better than I can.

I think the full-front picture was taken at St. Jean 1972, the #988 at the Welland kilo runs (105.934 mph) and the #588 with the Twister II was the PS 100 in Toronto September 1973.
Attached Thumbnails

[T2x]

Well I don't know about all those problems but the one we had was a good actor. As I brought her up she would lay down and build from there on, just like in the pictures. Only had one episode, (not my fault, I don't think). Racing in Conroe one year. There were some engineers at Nasa that talked my dad into using a special "go-go" juice they blended in the fuel (tax payer dollors at work). We added it before arriving at the race because we didn't want anyone seeing what we were doing. I went out for a test run and came back telling my dad...#%$@&*. Speed speed with no lose of power in the turns.

I got a late start maybe the fuel. Once I got going I stayed to the outside with all the speed so I didn't have to deal with all the slower traffic. It didn't take long before I was in second. The first place was a Miles (don't know who). Since I had "excess" speed I decided to stay behind him to see how he ran/reacted etc. He kept looking back at me on the turns so I would try to get in his blind spot. I just wanted to know how he would react before I approaced.

Now, Going down the back stretch a large house boat decide to pull up anchor and leave. I saw the first place boat go over the wake. I started slowing down...but....I hit the first wake and she lifted. I leaned forward hoping for the best and she slowly started coming back down only to land in the middle of the big wake. This shot me straight up. It got quite and lonesome real fast. I knew it was going to hurt when all of a sudden she rolled again right side up and landed transom first. So there I was still in the cockpit looking at the rest of the pack coming my way. They all missed me and that was the end of the day. Freddy's Miles was smaller than mine, perhaps that is why it had some of those probems.

The whole time I ran the boat, I kept hearing that it needed low rake props and preferably two blades, which is what it was designed around. At that point all Merc had were three blade high rakes...and the boat didn't like them...obviously. One day at Picton a guy walks up to me and says, "We ran Miles hulls exclusively..... and you need this prop". He unwraps a towel and has a low rake two blade cleaver in his hand. I ask him what he wants for it....He laughed and walked away.

What a guy....!

T2x

[BrianSmith]

The whole time I ran the boat, I kept hearing that it needed low rake props and preferably two blades, which is what it was designed around. At that point all Merc had were three blade high rakes...and the boat didn't like them...obviously. One day at Picton a guy walks up to me and says, "We ran Miles hulls exclusively..... and you need this prop". He unwraps a towel and has a low rake two blade cleaver in his hand. I ask him what he wants for it....He laughed and walked away.

What a guy....!

T2x

I would guess that "someone" was Dick Summerfeldt! Having raced in Europe (where he was seriously injured) Dick of course met many of the Mercury people, Phil Rolla, Freddy Miles and others.
You of course know the "secret" of the Miles boats. The original rocker boats used large diameter (by comparison) cupped, zero rake, 2 blade props from Phil and re-worked by us. The others used varying degrees of cupping and rake depending on the conditions. We tested many others and Merc of course wanted us to use theirs, however the Miles were either undriveable or really slow (lower unit too far in the water) with the "standard" 3 blade props

[T2x]

I would guess that "someone" was Dick Summerfeldt! Having raced in Europe (where he was seriously injured) Dick of course met many of the Mercury people, Phil Rolla, Freddy Miles and others.

No it wasn't Dick, I met him a few times, but it could have been one of his guys. Freddie Fincham and I were pretty close in those days and he was constantly trying to find an older prop for the Miles. Bob Patterson worked on it as well, to no avail. Bottom line, I never got that thing propped out and hated it....... By the way, I barrel rolled the b*tch the following morning at Picton in testing and ran the race with one side of the boat duct taped back together.

however the Miles were either undriveable or really slow (lower unit too far in the water) with the "standard" 3 blade props

Mine was undriveable, except in rough water, where the chop "spanked" the lope out of it and gave it reasonable acceleration. The day before I flipped it in NJ as shown in the pictures above, it actually ran pretty good on a snotty course in North Carolina. I ran for 1/2 an hour with Buck Thornton in a see saw battle and basically had him on the straights..... The turns were another story. The bloody Miles actually rolled up on its inward hull side in one memorable maneuver which makes sense if you have too much blade area and torque transfer going on. WE actually wasted the time required to convert the thing from a T2 to a T2x and the fun really began then as we had even more excess torque to play with......
Merc quickly provided a string of Molinaris as a gesture of peace and they rode and handled like sportcars compared to the feeling of sliding downhill backwards in a wheel barrow that the Miles provided.

Sorry to go on and on about that P.O.S., but of the dozens of hulls I raced, I can honestly say that was the only one I ever hated. I often referred to it as " a British thing, from the people who gave us warm beer and won World War 2".

T2x

[BrianSmith]

No it wasn't Dick, I met him a few times, but it could have been one of his guys. Freddie Fincham and I were pretty close in those days and he was constantly trying to find an older prop for the Miles. Bob Patterson worked on it as well, to no avail. Bottom line, I never got that thing propped out and hated it....... By the way, I barrel rolled the b*tch the following morning at Picton in testing and ran the race with one side of the boat duct taped back together.




Mine was undriveable, except in rough water, where the chop "spanked" the lope out of it and gave it reasonable acceleration. The day before I flipped it in NJ as shown in the pictures above, it actually ran pretty good on a snotty course in North Carolina. I ran for 1/2 an hour with Buck Thornton in a see saw battle and basically had him on the straights..... The turns were another story. The bloody Miles actually rolled up on its inward hull side in one memorable maneuver which makes sense if you have too much blade area and torque transfer going on. WE actually wasted the time required to convert the thing from a T2 to a T2x and the fun really began then as we had even more excess torque to play with......
Merc quickly provided a string of Molinaris as a gesture of peace and they rode and handled like sportcars compared to the feeling of sliding downhill backwards in a wheel barrow that the Miles provided.

Sorry to go on and on about that P.O.S., but of the dozens of hulls I raced, I can honestly say that was the only one I ever hated. I often referred to it as " a British thing, from the people who gave us warm beer and won World War 2".

T2x

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experiences..............mine obviously were quite the opposite. If you didn't get the prop from Dick or myself personally.....it wasn't one of ours. I drove a few Molys too............each one seemed slightly different to me. The boat, set-up, confidence, etc. did have a great bearing on how any boat ran.

Does anyone know if Freddy Miles is still around?

[T2x]

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experiences..............mine obviously were quite the opposite. If you didn't get the prop from Dick or myself personally.....it wasn't one of ours. I drove a few Molys too............each one seemed slightly different to me. The boat, set-up, confidence, etc. did have a great bearing on how any boat ran.

Does anyone know if Freddy Miles is still around?

Brian:

The guy never gave me the prop....he simply showed it to me to bust my chops.

T2x