17 replies to this topic

[kayemod]

A few days ago, I spent a pleasant two hours sitting in the sun chatting to a couple of friends outside my local yacht club. One friend was accompanied by Mike, who I hadn’t met before. The club is almost all power boats, including some serious racing stuff, you’re more likely to hear the bark of a small block Chevy than the flap of a sail, and offshore powerboat racing was the main topic of our discussion. The other pair already knew, but Mike casually mentioned to me that he had one of the original Dry Martini racers stored in his factory about two miles away. He had owned the boat, but had sold it a year or two ago, and was looking after it for the new owner. Now, Dry Martini, there were several of them, is pretty much the holy grail among offshore racers, it’s a bit like being told that one of your neighbours has an original ex-Mille Miglia Mercedes 300SLR in his garage, it’s that special. As we prepared to leave, he asked if I’d like to come to his place to see it, I laid rubber out of the car park.

 

 

And this is it, surrounded by the clutter of Mike’s go-kart business. The boat dates from around 1973. He restored it a few years ago before he left the USA, but it’s in pristine condition and just about ready to race again. It’s one of Don Aronow’s Cigarette 35s, maybe slightly less successful than the Cigarette 36 that preceded it, but a winning boat all the same.

This is the bit that you’ll probably be most interested in, the engine room, apologies for my knees in the photo, but my life was hanging by a thread as I balanced there, camera in hand. Those are two Mercruiser units, essentially big iron block Chevys, bored and stroked to 9 litres, mechanically fuel injected and converted to run on lead-free with slightly reduced compression ratio, but still developing almost 600hp apiece.

 

 

The current owner is thinking of selling it, and if any TNFs are interested, he’ll be looking for something around £70,000, if you can afford that, the vast running costs probably wouldn’t be a problem.

 

Fast boats aren’t often mentioned on here, anyone else interested in this kind of thing?

[RobMk2a]

I mentioned one boat Yellowdrama on a post when trying to get info on Ken Cassir and John Kennerley but got no replies. Quite a lot of ex racing drivers moved to Offshore races in the 60/70's, including Norman Barclay, Hon Ed Greenall, Tommy Sopwith et al.

[kayemod]

I mentioned one boat Yellowdrama on a post when trying to get info on Ken Cassir and John Kennerley but got no replies. Quite a lot of ex racing drivers moved to Offshore races in the 60/70's, including Norman Barclay, Hon Ed Greenall, Tommy Sopwith et al.

 

That’s true, and Didier Pironi was one of those. After his Hockenheim crash left him too damaged to race again in F1, he turned to offshore powerboat racing, with some success. He crashed whilst taking part in the Needles Trophy race in 1987, hitting the wake of a tanker during a turn, the boat flipped and all three occupants were killed instantly. The museum caption claims that he was killed “off Poole” where I live, though I’d have thought that somewhere off the Isle of Wight was more likely. Remarkably, the carbon fibre ACX-built Lamborghini powered Colibri was almost undamaged, and although now structurally unsound, it was sold for one Euro to millionaire publisher Michel Hommell, who owns the beautiful Manoir de l'Automobile at Lohéac car museum in Brittany, France.

 

 

This is the actual boat, restored to superficially perfect appearance, where I photographed it at Lohéac a few years ago. It was in a very photo-unfriendly position, and this was the best I could do.

[Vitesse2]

 

That’s true, and Didier Pironi was one of those. After his Hockenheim crash left him too damaged to race again in F1, he turned to offshore powerboat racing, with some success. He crashed whilst taking part in the Needles Trophy race in 1987, hitting the wake of a tanker during a turn, the boat flipped and all three occupants were killed instantly. The museum caption claims that he was killed “off Poole” where I live, though I’d have thought that somewhere off the Isle of Wight was more likely..

Probably a confusion due to the start being in Poole Bay. The report in The Times records that it occurred in the Solent and this would seem to be confirmed by the inquest being held in Ryde. If the course was the same as 1988, there's a map in this video:

 

https://youtu.be/n7RvkTLJjqc

 

Go to about 1'50" for both the map and a tribute to Pironi.

[Sharman]

I mentioned one boat Yellowdrama on a post when trying to get info on Ken Cassir and John Kennerley but got no replies. Quite a lot of ex racing drivers moved to Offshore races in the 60/70's, including Norman Barclay, Hon Ed Greenall, Tommy Sopwith et al.

Rob

JR Kennerley raced rather more often than Ken Cassir but the pair were a duo in power boats.

 

I once took a Barcone with 4 X 5litre Ford V8s installed from Miami to the Berry islands, I think that was when my hair began to turn grey.

[D-Type]

I remember DSJ waxing lyrical about a power boat he'd had a ride in.  It had four Chevy V8s

[RobMk2a]

Rob
JR Kennerley raced rather more often than Ken Cassir but the pair were a duo in power boats.

I once took a Barcone with 4 X 5litre Ford V8s installed from Miami to the Berry islands, I think that was when my hair began to turn grey.

John,

Was this part of the Nassau Speed Week.

Rob

[Sharman]

John,

Was this part of the Nassau Speed Week.

Rob

No Rob, a fair time post Nassau Speed Week 1974/5, Bill Roosevelt asked me to bring the boat over for him, he knew I had done the trip a few times in my own boat which was a 25 foot Aquasport  with twin 150 Evrinudes on it.. Very trusting was Bill

John

Two untruths in there. It was 1976 and my boat had 115 hp engines not 150s, senior moments, after all it was 40 years ago.

Edited by Sharman, 23 May 2016 - 08:12.

[F1matt]

Thanks to the OP for those photo's, on boats or cars the Martini colours look wonderful.

 

 

IIRC Colibri Offshore was relatively undamaged and raced several times after the Pironi accident, it may even have raced with a canopy at some point when they changed the rules after Stefano Casiraghi's accident? The idea of wearing seatbelts in a powerboat without a canopy is terrifying and i think Casiraghi's throttleman survived because he was thrown clear of the boat when it flipped because he didn't have his belts done up unlike Casiraghi.

 

 

Can anyone tell me if Didier Pironi tested a F1 car in 1986 with a view to a comeback to racing? I am sure I read an article in Autosport around the time of his death but I may be getting confused!

[kayemod]

 

IIRC Colibri Offshore was relatively undamaged and raced several times after the Pironi accident, it may even have raced with a canopy at some point when they changed the rules after Stefano Casiraghi's accident?

 

 

All true, and it did indeed later race with a canopy. The reason for eventual retirement was that the boat's composite structure was delaminating, making it unsafe, probably nothing to do with Didier's fatal crash, but after it failed a safety inspection, ending its days as museum exhibit it had to be.

[Tim Murray]

Can anyone tell me if Didier Pironi tested a F1 car in 1986 with a view to a comeback to racing? I am sure I read an article in Autosport around the time of his death but I may be getting confused!

You're definitely not confused, Matt - he tested for both AGS and Ligier in August 1986. There's some useful info in these earlier threads:

Didier Pironi's Ligier test - August 1986

Didier at Dijon in the Ligier – 1986

[F1matt]

Incredible that he managed to drive an F1 car again after the injuries he sustained and a full time return to the sport was surely nothing more than a pipe dream? I presume Class one powerboats require no serious pedal work but possibly offer a similar exhilaration as a open wheel race car but sadly we will never know what his racing intentions where, I know he was a vilified character but I often wonder how history would have remembered him if he never past Gilles that day.


Returning to topic I remember Lamberto Leoni having a more successful career in an offshore powerboat than he did in F1.......

[Sharman]

Incredible that he managed to drive an F1 car again after the injuries he sustained and a full time return to the sport was surely nothing more than a pipe dream? I presume Class one powerboats require no serious pedal work but possibly offer a similar exhilaration as a open wheel race car but sadly we will never know what his racing intentions where, I know he was a vilified character but I often wonder how history would have remembered him if he never past Gilles that day.


Returning to topic I remember Lamberto Leoni having a more successful career in an offshore powerboat than he did in F1.......

Driven standing, absolutely no pedal work, throttles and trim done by co-driver

[Lee Nicolle]

Those offshore boats always amaze me, One steering and one throttles. You would have to work in great harmony,,, or crash. 

My very limited experience in boats is  pleasure ski boats where you tend to drive looking behind and listening for the observer. Though you can usually feel the boat accelerate usually when the skier falls off. 

I have NO wish to ever do anything more in a boat, I think they are mad racing them,, though some of those drivers think I am mad racing on a hard surface.

[Sharman]

As said in my first post on subject. the beginning of my grey hairs. Inexperienced crew (me and a Bahamian friend), 40' Deep V monster with 1800 hp, crossing Gulf Stream which kicks up into 12' short seas when there is any wind with a bit of North in it, pretty well 100 miles out of sight of land (so low in water no visibility) = Four hours of sheer terror.

[kayemod]

Driven standing, absolutely no pedal work, throttles and trim done by co-driver

 

Standing room only. Can't imagine how Didier's recovering legs could have coped with the strain for any distance, I know that mine never could.

 

 

I showed this to my wife. Her comment, "How were they able to go to the loo?"...

[Tim Murray]

The Colibri when raced by Pironi was fitted with seats and lap belts. The driver's seat can be seen in one of the photos on this page:

http://www.didierpir...r_offshore.html

According to the account of the accident below, two of the crewmen were seated and belted in, while the third was standing unsupported in the cockpit:

http://powerboatarch...7/Needles_2.pdf

This discussion of the accident on a power boat forum includes an eye witness account from a fellow competitor in the race who was around 50 yards behind Colibri when the accident happened:

http://www.boatmad.c...-next-1683.html

Edited by Tim Murray, 24 May 2016 - 10:14.

[46700]

 

That’s true, and Didier Pironi was one of those. After his Hockenheim crash left him too damaged to race again in F1, he turned to offshore powerboat racing, with some success. He crashed whilst taking part in the Needles Trophy race in 1987, hitting the wake of a tanker during a turn, the boat flipped and all three occupants were killed instantly. The museum caption claims that he was killed “off Poole” where I live, though I’d have thought that somewhere off the Isle of Wight was more likely. Remarkably, the carbon fibre ACX-built Lamborghini powered Colibri was almost undamaged, and although now structurally unsound, it was sold for one Euro to millionaire publisher Michel Hommell, who owns the beautiful Manoir de l'Automobile at Lohéac car museum in Brittany, France.

 

 

This is the actual boat, restored to superficially perfect appearance, where I photographed it at Lohéac a few years ago. It was in a very photo-unfriendly position, and this was the best I could do.

Pironi & crew lost their lives some 600 metres off the Needles IOW I was crewing on one of the rescue boats on the event Living at Totland at the time & involved with J&B power boat at that time

Edited by 46700, 21 June 2016 - 16:07.