4 Attachment(s)
Our SE class Victory in the Rouen 24 hours 1975
Our SE class Victory in the Rouen 24 hours 1975
http://svera.se/blogg/racing-histori...24-hours-1975/
This was my first race as an Evinrude factory driver for OMC 1975
The racing season in Europe normally starts with the Rouen 24 Hours, but I was invited to South Africa earlier 1975 and drove the famous BP 200..(PB 200 story here)..http://svera.se/blogg/racing-historier/1975-2/
I was not crazy about being part of the Rouen race but it was part of my contract with OMC
I flew to OMC in Belgium a week before the race to help out rigging the boat.
Important for me to have power trim buttons and some other things my way.
The rules said three drivers per boat and OMC recommended using two OMC test drivers who where my size.
Two SE class Clerici boats was prepared at the OMC factory. One for me and one for Roger Jenkins.
Roger was a fun man to hang out with..strong personality and Roger was in racing to win..but so was I.
We installed head lights and other “funny things” on the boat. Racing non stop for 24 hours means driving at night in the darkness and the commercial barge traffic
was in business 24/7.
When we got there, it was a lot of boats and most of them were thick fiberglass cats run by local French people.
The next surprise was that the race was run clockwise
around the island!!!!
I was not used to right hand turns but raced and won the 2-hour of Duvnäsviken, Sweden the year before.. that was my only experience with right turns in boat racing.
As usual in France were all info in French only, and I understood nothing of what was said at the driver’s meeting, which lasted over an hour.
Paul Kalb..the new racing boss for Europe did not understand anything either but told me that I was responsible for the entire race planning.
Paul wanted me to start the race and hopefully drive the last hours to finish the race.
My plan was 2-hour shifts because lots of incidents happen in the pit.
The Clerici boat turned poorly when heavy but to many stops with 1.5 hour shifts.
We were out testing a number of times at practice..the waves from the commercial barge traffic was bad bad..but one side of the island the water was little bit smoother.
Well remember that famous Leif “Honken” Holmqvist of Sweden drove a V-bottom boat in the SD class and he came and asked me about the crazy water conditions.
His Volvo Penta powered V-bottom behaved strangely on the rough side of the island.
The start was sometime during the middle of the day and lots of boats took off at the same time. I got a great start and was one of the lead boats but on the other side of the island..all the heavy fiberglass cats came flying by in the extremely rough water.
Wow, I needed to slow down and save the equipment for the last hour instead of try to lead in the beginning of the race. Next thing in my head was..I am pretty stupid to be part of this 24 hour race.
Time for cruise control, we refueled and changed drivers a few times in daylight before it got dark, cold and rainy…!!
One of my shifts in the middle of the night went well .. but the next one like 4 a clock in the morning began with a flying experience from a big wave that I could not see on the back of the island.
I landed on top of one another race boat..the driver of that boat was OK but his boat sank..
that was good for me because I could get back to the pit .. where we took the boat out of the water..
Repaired the damage and replaced the gear case/ propeller and then we went back on the water to race further into the darkness…!!
At dawn we were a few laps behind Jenkins and the other SE class leaders.
Jenkins now disappeared from the race..his time for trouble and had to spend sometime on the trailer for repair.
Now there was a chance for us to win, so I drove like a mad man for the last hours of the race.
A Rouen 24 Hours SE class victory was now reality..extremely fun and a perfect start as a factory pilot for Evinrude.
After the race we return to the OMC Bruges to rig a new Burgess boat for the OE/Formula 3 World Championship race in Aix-les-Bains also France.
Lars mega crash at the OMC factory 1975..click below for that story.
http://svera.se/blogg/racing-histori...-factory-1975/
“Potemkin” ended up third in Paris 6 hours 1979..
The 1979 Paris 6 Hours started in the summer of 1979 when Sture Sjöberg´s OE class Burgess/Alfa Laval/Evinrude CC engine needed service.
The OE powerhead Sture had was not very reliable and Janne at my outboard service department worked hard to found a way make the engine last better.
Sture supplied a miracle three step spray to see better where the cracks on the exhaust bridges/block was and we finally figure out a way to do this in a way so the race engine lasted better.
Sture was busy building his first race boat in the old Alfa Laval building just south of Stockholm.
If I remember right we made a deal that I should test his Burgess/Evinrude engine fixed by Janne in the Drammen GP, Norway and if that turned out good the plan was the race Stures new boat in Paris 6 hours in October.
Well..the engine worked perfect in Drammen and I think I won the race.
Sture was late with the new boat and the last week before Paris, Janne helped him finish up the boat.
We installed the engine from the Burgess boat, steering and the hardware..No time to test the brand new boat.
Sture namned his first boat Potemkin..(famous old Russian battleship)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian...eship_Potemkin
We drove nonstop to Paris and did some testing at practice on the rough river Seine..
I do not really remember the details racing but the new boat worked good in this long tough 6 hour race.
I do remember that John Hill with his new Burgess and next generation Evinrude OE engine was faster then us. John used the Swede Pelle Larson as his co/pilot.
Hill/Larson won the race but Sture and I came in third in a untested boat with the older style less horse power engine.
After the race we where so happy with the result and Sture celebrated by taking the boat hook and slammed it through the deck of the “Potemkin”
The boat was still in the water and started to sink fast..well Janne saved the boat from going under in the dirty river Seine …with the slings and a confused French crane operator.
Well..back in Sweden Sture and I started to make plans for winning the Paris 6 hours 1980.
We now needed to develop a better boat and make sure to have the best power from the Evinrude racing department.
That is a fun and long story coming up next.
I do not have a picture of the “Potemkin” we used in Paris 1979, but this first picture below is Stures Burgess/Alfa Laval/Evinrude and me standing on the dock.
Update…Sture just sent me two old pictures of the Potemkin..from the Tollare grave yard for old race boats. The last two pictures.
Cees van der Velden was the overall winner 1979 and Jimbo McConnell had some problems..!!
Pictures here..http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/...-6-hours-1979/