Lars OE “mega crash” at the OMC factory 1975

 


After the success in the Rouen 24 hour Race, we began
to rig a new Burgess OE boat at OMC in Bruges.This was one of the first  boats David Burgess built.
The OMC “Racing boss” Paul Kalb had got the idea that I
would run this boat because my driving style could fit this very special sprint
boat he ordered.

The boat was only 4″ back in the tunnel and that seemed not right, I thought. (Far too low)
Paul was not easy to deal with and he said that you can race with this boat or go home to Sweden.
Okay, I thought and we rigged the boat with a new Evinrude OE engine that
would run on methanol for the first time.
In addition, Paul refused to mount the power
trim buttons the way I wanted and the way we did it for the Rouen boat.

He said that when he raced in the United States long time ago he held
the speed gauge in one hand and steered with the other !!!!!
and he would not rig all the boats my way,
“in button for my left foot and out in all three buttons on the steering wheel”

So now it was “in and out in the steering wheel” and I was completely confused when you turned the steering wheel, which one was in / out,!

The boat was  ready for the first test on the river behind the “boat house” (nick name for the racing department) at the factory.
The water is always smooth there and the boat ran pretty good, but I told Paul when I backed  off the throttle before the turn, the engine continues to run wide open for a few
seconds.
Turned out that it is necessary to have different butterflies in the
carburetors, without holes when running on methanol and Paul did not have any
for the moment.

The boat was very fast, close to 100 miles, but very
hard to handle.

Paul wanted to do more prop testing , I thought we should wait for
the new carburetors, but he did not listened to me.

Paul put a different prop on and told me to make a really high speed test and check the RPM.
Lunch break at the factory now and around hundred workers where watching me testing.

I went as far as a could away from the factory and turned back.
The boat was really flying and I remember the
RPM was in the red and just before the turn in front of the factory I by mistake
pushed the wrong power trim button on the steering wheel and backed of the foot
throttle but the engine was still wide open,
I was heading for the moon…
and was told later that I was higher than the building
before the crash.

I ended up at the hospital.
The boat was in pretty bad shape and the engine needed new connecting rods etc.

After this , Paul installed the
power trim buttons the way I asked him to do, but I still hated that boat.

Unfortunately, Burgess repaired the boat and I had to continue with
it for a while, before we finally realized that the boat was only for flat water
and maybe kilo records, and not good for racing

Disqualified..!!!..???

That  story her..https://svera.se/blogg/racing-historier/disqualified/

 

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