Help - American drivers in Paris

[RobertoBigi]

Hello to all the members
It's my first time on the forum

I've in my collection two photos of American drivers in 6 hours of Paris
but I don't know the names

The boat n.20 is a Cormorant (1975)
The boat n.87 is a Molinari (1976)

I ask if someone can help me.
Thank you.

[tthibodaux]

I'm thinking thats Johnny Sanders in the 87!!

[RobertoBigi]

Thank you Tim

I think also that the first driver was Johnny Sanders.
With a magnifying lens it's possible to read something.

The problem is the co-driver

Thank you again

Roberto

[mintominto]

Great photos Roberto,

It's rare to see pictures like that from those great Paris events, please share more if you have any.

[RobertoBigi]

Thank you Mintominto

a friend was in Paris in that period so I've a lot of pics.

Ok, in the next days I can show also some photos of

british drivers (so it's possible you know the co-drivers)

Roberto

[mintominto]

Roberto

Many thanks, looking forward to seeing those.

[RobertoBigi]

Other two pics of Paris 6 hours 1976:

Jackie Wilson (Hodges - Cosworth) and
John Millward (Cougar ?? I think - Mercury)

Mintominto (or whoever) know the name of the co-drivers
please tell me.

Thank you

Roberto

[Mark75H]

Wow Those are great!

Please post more!

Jackie Wilson seems to have good recall of most of these races. Maybe he can fill in the missing drivers

[mintominto]

Hi Roberto

Once again your pictures are amazingly good.

I think the original boat No.20 picture from 1975 could be Tom Posey, not sure who the second driver was.

Second picture of boat No.87 in 1976 was Johnny Sanders/Geoff Briggs.

Again not too sure who Jackie Wilson's co driver was in 1976 but I do speak to him occasionally on another forum so could ask him.

John Millward in the 4th photo was driving with Jim Peverelle in 1976. Jim built his own boats including the one in your photo making it a Peverelle hull rather than a Cougar.

Thanks for posting these, are there still more to come?

[Mark75H]

Geoff Briggs signed up as a member here on BRF this week! :)

[RobertoBigi]

Thanks everybody for the answers and excuseme for my english...
I hope you understand...

Mintominto your reply it's very important.

Behind the pics (boat n.87) some times ago I wrote:
Johnny Sanders / Barry Briggs with three ???
I don't know why Barry ?? You confirm that is Geoff ?

Tom Posey ('75) in the Cormorant boat... is possible.
In Paris '76 Posey drove a Molinari hull with Bob Hering and
always with a Johnson engine.

J.Millward with J.Peverelle co-driver and builder. OK I can
definitively to file the photo.

Other 2 pics (Paris '76) and other 2 questions:

Didier Josseaume (with Cormorant boat)
the british co-driver is.....

John Hill (OE Molinari boat)
the co-driver is....

Thanks again

[mintominto]

Nice pictures again Roberto, don't worry about the English I am understanding
you perfectly well.

The British co-driver for Didier Josseaume in 1976 was Steve Pinson.

John Hill's co-driver in the Molinari OE was another British racer named Tony Williams.

I have a few old magazine reports containing information on these events. I will try and find them to see if it helps clear up the Briggs and Tom Posey question marks. Got a feeling the Sanders/Briggs Molinari boat might in fact be a Stippich, a Molinari copy built in Wisconsin USA. Hopefully some of the folk on this site may be able to confirm that.

Great seeing some of these old boats, please keep the pictures coming.

[RobertoBigi]

Mintominto

I've these photos (in stand-by) from 1990 and now with your resarch
I can file definitively in the archive.

It's intersting the hystory of the Molinari copy built in USA.
The official Molinari boats of '76 was different and had a Mercury engine.

I wait confident in your ability to resolve the other "problems".

Thank you.

In the next days I will post other pics.

[RobertoBigi]

Other 2 pics (Paris 1975)

The first
ON Van der Velden / B.Woods (Velden boat - Molinari Copy)
OE Derek Rundle and co-driver ........... ?? (boat Milesmaster)

The second
OE R.Jenkins and co-driver............... ?? (boat............?? Clerici??)

Thank you

Roberto

[mintominto]

Hi Roberto,

The Velden was so close to the Molinari it was nicknamed "Veldenari".

Sorry just can't remember or find who partnered Derek Rundle in the OE. You were right about the boat being a Milesmaster.

Again I can't find who shared the drive with Roger Jenkins but the boat is listed as a Burgess.

There is no mention of either Rundle or Jenkins after the 2nd hour in the magazine reports I have. Only the top 3 placings are shown for each class in the results so I have no idea how far they actually made it in the race. If for example some competitors retired early in the event it is possible some drivers never got a chance to take the wheel.

What makes things even more complicated is it seems some drivers were able to change boats midway through the event. Tom Percival shared the driving with American Lee Sutter during Paris 1976. They worked their way into a leading positon but Mercury decided to replace Lee Sutter with Bob Spalding for the last 90 minute stint. Spalding had previously been paired with Earl Bentz but they were already out of the running with a holed boat.

The rules and regulations concerning drivers entered in specific boats certainly seems very relaxed in comparison to modern day endurance motor racing events.

Double checked and article mentions Geoff Briggs several times on the 1976 report. He also partnered Jimbo McConnell in 1975 at Paris driving a Scotti/Evinrude V6.

In 1976 Angelo Vassena had an Italian co-driver named VALDATA. They finished 2nd in the OE Class driving a Clerici/Evinrude outfit. Do you happen to know the full name of the co-driver or have a photo of the boat in your collection?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I found this article in the January 1977 issue of Powerboat and Waterskiing. Tom Percival mentioned the duo of Beker and Fountain coming in second. Who is Beker? Could it be Gunter Beker?

[RobertoBigi]

Mintominto

like as usual your research it's very good.

If Jenkins and Rundle don't finish the race and if the magazine, of course,
don't report the names of the team retired, only Jenkins and Rundle,
maybe, can remember the names of the co-drivers.

"Veldenari"... yes I read the complete history of this boat on a beautifull
book wrote by Kevin Desmond. I remember that I was very young but I see
this boat in Boretto Po (1975) for an ON European Championship.
Velden make a flip at first start.

Incredible history (Percival - Sutter) (Spalding - Bentz) I've the pics where
it's possible to read the names of the drivers in the boat but I don't know nothing about the change !!

The complete name is: Gabriele Valdata, if i've the photo I will post...
and I will post other pics.

---------

Master Oil R.T. - I think it was Philipp Becker... but Reggie Fountain in Paris
6 h. of '76 ran with Renato Molinari
I make a research

Roberto

[mintominto]

Master Oil Racing

Thanks for posting the Percival article, how do you manage to get it big enough to read on here?

Having read a few different articles on these events I've seen various spellings for Beker but never seen a christian name. I just can't tell if the various spellings are diffrent people or just type errors. I suspect type errors are the problem as the same articles contain names like Jeff Briggs and Roger Jenskins.

I seem to remember a German Gunter Beker/Becker running a Konig V6 on a Burgess OE cat during the mid 1970's, I suspect this is who you are referring to.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Yes Mintominto that's the Becker I was referring to. I first met him in Berlin in 1976, and I didn't think it was him at the Paris 6 hour, but I never heard of any other Becker/Beker before.

As far as sizing the article, I just use JPEG and change the longest side to 1000 when its a full page magazine article. When it is columns of different lengths I have problems getting the sizes right so they match. Also, I usually increase the brightness and contrast both to help with readability, but when photos are also included you have to be careful because you may create too much contrast. So sometimes it comes out too light

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Here's a few pics. Gunther Becker, his boat and Roger Jenkins. Berlin 1977.

[Sutter's Gold Jr.]

Some Pictures from my Dad's collection. Picture of Lee, Tom P, and Phil Wagner. Then Lee, Gilly (Tom's wife), and Phil. Lee and Tom P became very good friends after Paris win and Tom even came over to the US to race for a summer with my Dad and Phil Wagner. Very sad day when Tom passed.

[mintominto]

Hi Sutter's Gold Jr.

Nice shots, even the team gear was great during those days. Wonder how many of those jackets, belts etc are around today.

I think the Long John Velden boats were racing in 1978 if memory serves me right.

[mintominto]

Hi Roberto,

Just had Jackie Wilson confirm his co-driver was British racer Peter Inward, another small piece of the Paris puzzle solved.

[RobertoBigi]

Hi Mintominto
thank you for the new (Peter Inward)
I will post other pics that need an answer.

I don't imagine that R.Fountain finish the race with Becker
(after the stop of Molinari)

I post two pics:
the first is Gunther Becker at OE World Championship in Auronzo 1976
the second is Philipp Becker at ON World Championship in Auronzo 1976

Philipp Becker (n.13) drove a Velden boat with the same sponsor of is Team Leader Cees Van der Velden (boat n.11)
The boat of Cees was powered by a Johnson V6 and the boat of Becker with
with a standard Johnson with a long leg.

It's strange that in Auronso (29 august 1976) this two boats use a Johnson engine and about 1 month later (3 october 1976) at Paris 6 hours they use
a Mercury.

I've the photo of C.Velden and Bill Seebold in Paris but sorry I haven't a pic
of Becker / Fountain... but I think (I'm not sure) that the Becker in Paris was
Philipp.

I post also the complete classification of the 2 World Champions in Auronzo
1976 (Vela e Motore, an Italian magazine)

[mintominto]

Hi Roberto,

With Paris so late in the season Cees must have taken the early oppurtunity of a Mercury ride before switching camps for the following season. Would like to see your picture of the Cees/Seebold entry for Paris that year. It was listed as a Velden hull but I'm struggling to remember it in any detail.

Gunter Becker, Erwin Zimmermann, Georg Krage and Roger Jenkins all seemed to have various combinations of hulls with the Volvo/Konig motors for the Auronzo worlds. Erwin Zimmermann sounded quick according to reports, do you remember much about the event?

[RobertoBigi]

here you can see the complete classification of the Auronzo race 1976

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5517/velaem76cm3.jpg

[mintominto]

Thanks for that Roberto.

[RobertoBigi]

Other 2 pics, other 3 (difficult) questions

Paris 1975

The first is the SE of Nick Cripps
co-driver.............? Boat..................?

The second is the OE of the french driver Jacky Bernard
the boat is a Clerici. Co-driver................?

[mintominto]

Hi Roberto,

Sorry can't find either co-driver at the moment. The smaller classes like SE are very hard to pick up information on as they don't seem to be reported as well as the larger category boats.

On the positive side, I can tell you the Nick Cripps boat was a Scotti hull.

Interestingly he also ran a Cougar that season, mainly on home waters I think, hope the picture loads OK.

[RobertoBigi]

OK Mintominto

I finish to stress you

I've other pics but all of french drivers (and OE / SE)

Thanks for all

Roberto

[tthibodaux]

Hi Roberto,

Sorry can't find either co-driver at the moment. The smaller classes like SE are very hard to pick up information on as they don't seem to be reported as well as the larger category boats.

On the positive side, I can tell you the Nick Cripps boat was a Scotti hull.

Interestingly he also ran a Cougar that season, mainly on home waters I think, hope the picture loads OK.Hey Mr. Richardson, thats a pretty cool picture! Do you have any idea what those tunnels on the sides of the decks are there for? Don't guess I've ever seen anything like that before.

[mintominto]

Hi Tim,

Can't really say as I'm not too sure exactly how the air was re distributed after entering those pods.
In relation to length the SE boats usually carried more beam than the larger tunnels theoretically making them more prone to blow over. It's possible Cougar played around with such ideas in an effort to counteract the problem while also hoping to create a more stable aerodynamic ride.
Don't remember seeing them on later Couger cats and never saw them on the larger capacity ON/OZ size boats.

You can clearly see they are totally absent in this later pic from 1978.

[Manda]

Hi. I'm new to the forum. I am Derek Rundle's daughter. His partner in Paris was Peter Faithful.

[Manda]

Hi Roberto

Do you mind if I use this pic of my dad Derek Rundle for his Fast on Water profile? If OK do you want me to credit it?

[RobertoBigi]

Hi Roberto

Do you mind if I use this pic of my dad Derek Rundle for his Fast on Water profile? If OK do you want me to credit it?


Use that pic without problem ... no problem also for the credit
... and thanks for the information