Quote Originally Posted by jackie wilson View Post
How come you guys make statements and THEN ask the questions, and as for OMC and Mercury funding the development of the safety cell----YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS !!!!!!!

Let's go back to the beginning. Spalding ---Percival---and Hodges with OMC big bucks, formed a race team with Hodges being the manager ----cum boatbuilder, and Bob and Tom the drivers. Tom had a biggie in Liegge and died a week later.

Hodges was devastated-------and set about making the sport safer. He had already worked with the formula one cars at Nicholson McClaren and had built safety cells for them with great success.
SOOOOO with his own money, and no financial help from anyone, he got to work on building the cell as we know it today. He wanted it tested to destruction-so he dropped it from a helicopter from about 100' -it stayed intact and did not damage the mannequin which was strapped in was unharmed. There were many sceptics ---so Hodges strapped himself inside and was dropped . It was a success.

Meanwhile there were other efforts being made by Velden working with one of the universities in Holland-but he kept getting bogged down and was asking Hodges for advice which he gave him free of charge.

Another route was being taken by Bill Brown [ex Cosworth director] he HAD funding from the UIM and was working with alluminum. It all came to a juddering halt when he dropped the mannequin from the chopper and killed it a couple of times . [ the dummy was on loan from the british car industry and was full of sensors and trick **** and cost thousands to make].

Parkinson and Fred Hauenstein got together and squeezed a couple of thousand out of Mercury to help Chris with the escalating cost of the cell. THAT WAS THE ONLY CASH HE EVER GOT FOR THE CELL.

He GAVE the design, and the drawings, and the methods, and the know how for free to anyone who built race boats. He never made a red cent out of the deal.

What really pisses me off is the fact that if the 2 factories gave him a million apiece-----It still would not have been enough to compensate for all his own bloody efforts [ OBE ] his innovation saved countless lives.

So NOOOOOO ---NOOOOOO- a thousand times NO ----- OMC and MERCURY were not in any way -shape or form instrumental in the creation of the safety cell.

Lars was right in the fact that Spalding and Erickson were the first 2 drivers with cells. think the swede took Percy's place in the team.

All i want is for the world to recognise the fact that Hodges thought of it ----made it---and gave it to the world.
Jackie,

I raced with Tom Percival at Paris in 1976 and 1977 in the John Player Special and he raced on Lake Havasu and in Philadephia in Dr. Phil Wagner's boat sponsored by Colman's English Mustard in 1979 or '80. During that time frame, Tom sent me drawings of a Safety Cell that Chris Hodges was developing. I think these drawings were published by Powerboat and Waterskiing magazine.

Anyway, I glad you are shinning a light on the people responsible for the brilliant creation of the safety cell.

Lee