The Six Hours of Paris: A History Thread

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Charley, I'm no engineer, and Jack Chance was a far better mechanic than I ever will be. I overhauled mine once and it was easy to work on. I have a great respect for the rotary design and am sorry they are not in more wide use, but I have no clue how to come up with the kind of stuff John did on crankshafts and all the other stuff they did. I'm just grateful I got to watch the rotaries race two different times. Regretfully I don't have photos of the first time.

[Rotary John]

OK guys. The boat in the middle appears to be blue and could be Barry Woods with a rotary. The boat on the left has pickle forks and the rotaries never ran with pickel forks. Woods was very late getting started. Ended up changing the flywheel and primed the hell out of the engine. If you recall from my rotary stories, this was the engine sabotoged by loosening all the carb bolts. Thats why it wouldn't start; air leak. The additional priming made it rich enough to start and the intake vaccuum held the cards close enought to keep running. The mist you talk about was cause by the 2 exhaust relief tubes. When stationary in the water, the bottom 2 rotors were under water and to relive the exhaust back pressure for starting 2- 1" brass tubes were installed in the exhaust manifold above the water line. The manifold had its own water supply and a portion of that water dumped thru the relif tube. There was a secret part of that manifold that caused alot of the water to be deflected thru the relif tubes. The OMC rotaries were not like the Maxdas with a seperated oil feed. We mixed oil in the gas 20/1 just like the 2-strokes (different oil). The premix lubricated and cooled all the internal parts.

[Lars Strom]

Thank you Rotary John for explaning the "mist" issue..!!

When I am reading this report 38 years later..I can see there was a problem with the "mist" when the Rotary boats where passing me in the Paris race 1974.

Here is the report with a large picture of the start..Post # 523 http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...477#post114477

Sorry..it is in Swedish..!!..

[Lars Strom]

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[Master Oil Racing Team]

Thanks John for the explanation, and I didn't go back to your thread to see if you had brought up that info before because I didn't have time. I couldn't remember because you had posted so much inside information before, and I figured Lars comment as a racer could lead to more comments as well as people checking out your excellent thread.

As a racer looking....at the water, and what was going on around him, I am very impressed with Lars memory of such details. Paris must have been very taxing to the brain having to read the water, feel what's going on with the boat and motor, fuel, driver fatigue, etc.

Lars....We have all heard lots of stories about the racing and such, but I like also to hear about details in the pits. What it was like when you arrive and see who has come to race, registration, where you pit, and who says where, or do you find a place you want, how you go about getting into the water, and what kind of anxiety is there making sure it happens, how you go about refueling, how you communicate with your pits, repairs, etc. I hope I didn't ramble too long with the sentence, but the behind the scenes stuff and people involved, and the stories they tell are some of the most memberable I share with my boat racing friends. You have a remarkable ability to fill us in on such details.

[Rotary John]

The article #478 above states OMC had V-6's at this race are ncorrect. The 1 and only time rotaries and V-6 ran against each other was Peewalkee in Wis. in 1975. It was the last time the rotaries ran.

[Lars Strom]

I am pretty sure Scotti used a Evinrude V-6 at the time of the accident in
Paris 6 hours 1974..

I have more pictures..coming soon..must first go boating today..

[Lars Strom]

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[Lars Strom]

John..this is how I know there was Evinrude V-6 outboards in Paris 6 hours 1974..
I am on the inside..boat # 48..I think it is Briggs on the outside #30 with a Scotti boat-Evinrude V-6 ..

[Rotary John]

I guess after 38 years my memory has gone to hell. Not only is there V-6's, but Woods boat in another picture sure looks like a pickel fork.
O'well. I'm still alive. that has to count for something.