Thread: Molinari Racing Boat History and Information

  1. #241
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    Default Giorgio Molinari, Steven Ridgell, Dave Brier, Bob Hering, Rick LaMore at Como shop.

    Name:  Como race shop, early 1970s..jpg
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    This is the bottom floor –rigging area- of Renato Molinari’s race boat shop, in Como, Italy during the early 1970s.

    At the bow of the race boat in the foreground is Giorgio Molinari (Renato’s younger brother) looking at Steven Ridgell and Dave Brier. The guy looking at the camera, at the race boat behind the foreground boat is Bob Hering. The big guy with his back to the camera, at the other race boat is Rick LaMore.

    The other three gents in the photo, I cannot identify, sorry.

  2. #242
    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Renato in Como last year.
    .(2013)

    Picture by Nino Molla
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    Lars Strom

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    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

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    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Boat racing meeting at Lake Como 2014

    Angelo Vassena to the left and Renato Molinari to the right.
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    Lars Strom

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    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

  4. #244
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lars Strom View Post
    Boat racing meeting at Lake Como 2014

    Angelo Vassena to the left and Renato Molinari to the right.
    Very nice photo.

    Below, Havasu place mat from 1977.
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    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    Default A not so happy Renato in Bristol 1979..

    Mercury debuts the big stuff in Bristol 1979. The F1-T4 for the OZ class.

    http://svera.se/blogg/mercury-debuts...-the-oz-class/
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    Lars Strom

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    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/

  6. #246
    Team Member Willabee's Avatar
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    Default The picture .....

    Quote Originally Posted by dave hensel View Post
    Looks like a two or three engine mod to me. If you look at the tunnel roof you can see the 1/2 moon cut out for the motors.
    I believe the boat in the picture was built to be a twin engine rig for Renato to run in special events, I think it was about a 20'er. The brain trust at Merc decided to use a different approach for the 71 Paris race. The year before we ran all sprint type setups, boats were propped out for speed. We learned that as rough as the River Seine gets, we couldn't use all of that speed in the race. For 71 the thinking was good bite, acceleration and stability over top speed. Propshafts were set below the boat bottom rather than above! The big boat was also entered as a single, as you can see Renato added a third transom in the center. We couldn't make it competitive with a Twister I on the tail, but got enough more out of it with the C6 doing the pushing that they put Billy Don Pruett in it for the race. It was the slowest of what we took to Paris, about 85 mph, but was in fact running third deep into the race when the engines coil mount broke and ended it's day. The pieces of lumber you see in front of the original two transoms were added to eliminate the "air brake" effect that the transoms created when it was rigged as a single.

  7. #247
    Team Member Willabee's Avatar
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    Default Powerhead timeline .....

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Hill View Post
    . Any chance that you could give me the time line of a Twister I, and Twister II and a C-6. Or what was the difference? ..... I know things were changing fast during the "WAR" years. ..... Do you ever eat tomato soup with rice...?????
    Yes, I think I can give you a timeline .....

    Team Mercury started running the Twister in the later part of 1970. The Twister was really just the 1350 direct charge powerhead that they had been running in 69 and 70 with water injected stacks. The "silo" exhaust system not only took the noise away, it got the boats around a course faster because it had better low end punch. The entire team ran them in Paris. Several more were run at Havasu with the full silo log as well as the shorter, open exhaust log nicknamed the "cowbell". The Twister (red decals) was made available to the racing public in 1971 with a McI SSM lower unit.

    In 71, engineering added a third transfer port, scalloped reed blocks and made some exhaust log modifications to the Twister. This new combination was called the Twister I, still a 1350 direct charge motor with three Tillotson carbs. The TI (blue decals) was made available to the racing public in 72 as a complete engine or as an update kit for the Twister.

    The C6 made it's first appearance in Berlin in 1970. It was used sporatically during 1971. Sometimes it ran with a single pipe exhaust system, sometimes a two pipe system and usually with a closed system. The C6 was the 1400 block with six rectangular carbs. They were referred to as Morgan carbs, named after the engineer responsible for it's development. It got better and better, won first single finishing fourth overall at Havasu, and all team boats were running it at the beginning of 1972.

    As good as the C6 ran, the carbs remained a problem as they were very tempermental. Utimately a six Tillotson carb system replaced the Morgan carbs in 1973. The 1400 block received some porting changes and the TII was next in line to be made available to the racing public in 1974.

    Hope this answers your question, but I would have thought that you already knew most of this just from reading the decals on the powerheads as they motored on by your Johnrude over the years.

    Oh, I should add that I quit ordering soup with extra protein after our "swimming" meal in Spain!

    Here is a pic of a C6, a TII and a 'Cowbell' Twister.
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  8. #248
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    Default 1971 paris 6hr race

    Quote Originally Posted by Willabee View Post
    I believe the boat in the picture was built to be a twin engine rig for Renato to run in special events, I think it was about a 20'er. The brain trust at Merc decided to use a different approach for the 71 Paris race. The year before we ran all sprint type setups, boats were propped out for speed. We learned that as rough as the River Seine gets, we couldn't use all of that speed in the race. For 71 the thinking was good bite, acceleration and stability over top speed. Propshafts were set below the boat bottom rather than above! The big boat was also entered as a single, as you can see Renato added a third transom in the center. We couldn't make it competitive with a Twister I on the tail, but got enough more out of it with the C6 doing the pushing that they put Billy Don Pruett in it for the race. It was the slowest of what we took to Paris, about 85 mph, but was in fact running third deep into the race when the engines coil mount broke and ended it's day. The pieces of lumber you see in front of the original two transoms were added to eliminate the "air brake" effect that they created when it was rigged as a single.
    I can remember in the 1971 Paris race looking around that large Molinari in the pits before the race and we discussed with Don Pruett about how large it was and showed him round the two Shakespeare outfits my team had brought to race these were grp boats and both were over 19ft but that was the year they stopped the barges running so the race wasn`t as rough as usual I drove one of these outfits it ran a stock Johnson stinger would barely manage 80mph it was so big and heavy but I can remember Georgio Molinari running alongside of me with a 89cu inch Mercury special engine fitted with a silo he was keeping up with me no trouble till my engine expired `that same 89cu engine Georgio used Jackie ran 2 weeks later at the Windemere 3hr race.

  9. #249
    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Default Tommy Posey's 1979 Molinari?

    This rig sits in the show room at Dockside Marine in Galveston, managed by Keith Scotten who
    bought it. He says that Renato brought it here for a race and then left it in the U.S., and that
    Tommy Posey drove it afterward. I guess the race could have been Havasu 1979 but don't know.
    The boat was later sold to someone in Austin who ran it on Lk. Travis and blew the powerhead,
    according to Keith. If it was Tommy's rig then I've seen it run multiple times in Tx.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Willabee View Post
    I believe the boat in the picture was built to be a twin engine rig for Renato to run in special events, I think it was about a 20'er. The brain trust at Merc decided to use a different approach for the 71 Paris race. The year before we ran all sprint type setups, boats were propped out for speed. We learned that as rough as the River Seine gets, we couldn't use all of that speed in the race. For 71 the thinking was good bite, acceleration and stability over top speed. Propshafts were set below the boat bottom rather than above! The big boat was also entered as a single, as you can see Renato added a third transom in the center. We couldn't make it competitive with a Twister I on the tail, but got enough more out of it with the C6 doing the pushing that they put Billy Don Pruett in it for the race. It was the slowest of what we took to Paris, about 85 mph, but was in fact running third deep into the race when the engines coil mount broke and ended it's day. The pieces of lumber you see in front of the original two transoms were added to eliminate the "air brake" effect that the transoms created when it was rigged as a single.
    On the long boat (with the three-engine transoms, on Post# 255) when Don Pruett drove it at the Paris 6 Hour, Carlo Rassini was teamed-up with Don. Size wise those two drivers, Don and Carlo, were two of the bigger race drivers. I was told it was Gary Garbretch idea to pair an American with a European driver. In retrospect it seems to have been a good idea with potential team crossover-cooperation.

    Other pairings were Renato & Bob Hering, Cees & Bill Seebold, Pellolio & Mike Downard, as I recall. But I do not remember who Tom Stickle shared seat duty with, when he came to the Paris 6 Hour. Bob Spaulding and Tom Percival always seemed to be teamed-up together in the same endurance race boat.

    Regarding after-hour activities, when Don was in town, be it Paris or Como, Italy, he was the ringleader. Don even knew this cab driver in Paris (from previous visits) who took us on an interesting Paris escapade.

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