Neal appears to be registered under 2 names
Neal appears to be registered under 2 names
Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.
I remember seeing this boat at the Dayton U.I.M. race in the early 80's. I was a very young kid and remember thinking the boat was something from outerspace. It had big diameter hoses running from the cockpit to the motor and the design of the boat itself was incredible! I'd never seen anything like it. Still today, looking at the photos of the aerowing outrigger, not sure of its actual name, it gives me goosebumps. I wish I could see this boat in person today. Anyone know if it is still around?
Joe Silvestri
CSH/500MH
My avatar picture is complements of Fred Eckert. 1997 Hinton, WV Nationals Thundermug 20-H Runabout.
John--I forgot to mention that the boat in the Avatar isn't the Windwalker. The Windwalker was built probably a little over a year after Tim built "Vibora de Cascabel". In that photo that Rusty Rae took, the stern portion is obscured by spray. (Note that the sponson are floating through the turn.) You can see some of the similarities in the boats, however.
Last edited by Master Oil Racing Team; 06-09-2005 at 07:42 AM. Reason: add photo
That is one very startling looking hydro!
When you compare hull pictures you can see similarities all over the place that tells you its a Tim Butts hydro between the various years of variants and even depending what the hull was used for. Did Tim ever have a trademark logo for his hydros as such? Do you have any idea just how many raceboats did he produce over his span as a builder?
The sponsons are floating cause' it looks like you have a left hand full o' pipes !!
I used to use a 2 stage air slide system in my 700 cause' my forearm used to cramp from holding the pipes up, and it looked cool too!
Got it from Kay.
Last edited by Jeff Lytle; 06-09-2005 at 12:25 PM.
How come Kay never told me about that? But then again, he never told me about how you could save the pipes that would fall off by aiming them forward over the cockpit.
In Texas we have a lot of ground to cover and I always had one of those gripper things to squeeze while driving down the highway. The photo was taken at Yelm, Washington, and what I always remember through the turns was that when the right sponson patted, my helmet bottomed out and blocked my vision for a split second.
The 1st time I saw one of Kay's air slide systems, I knew I had to have one.
Really cool set up-----2 air switches that were mounted just ahead of the throttle so I could flick them back and forth with my pinky. The 1st one would pull the pipes up 1/2 way, and the 2nd brought them up the rest. Knocking both switches back released the pressure so they would slide back.
I really only needed 1, since I always ran the rails on the outside, wide open with the pipes up 1/2 way anyway. The pneumatic cylinders were mounted on the cockpit side beside the fuel tank, with a throttle cable running to the pipes.
All done with push in type fittings and a can of R-12 refrigerant.
Kay explained to me the reason he designed it to be a 2 stage slide was the smaller displacement engines would barf if the pipes were pulled up too fast. Doing it in 2 stages worked better.
Neat stuff.
It never came up too fast? It's amazing the things racers come up with.
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