Paris 6 hours 1980 the way I remember it..!!
We finally got the second Sture Sjoberg OE class boat right and was ready in time for the big race.
Our race number for the Alfa Laval/AKAI/Sjoberg was #45 and the latest Evinrude CC engine from OMC.
My brother Lennart and Anders Fallman was racing our boat from last year with #46.
Lined up next to each other for the start.
(Red mark)
A few more picture of the start 1980.
The start is not very important in a 6 hour race but you need a safe start without damaging your boat. 80 boats taking of at the same time is a recipe for disaster.
This year(1980) was not as windy as 1979 and the conditions perfect for our #45 boat.
Fueling and driver change was done every hour and a half.
Meaning I started and Sture was racing the last hour and a half.
John Hill run in to problems already the first hour and we was more or less flying without any problem’s for 6 hours..
I love the way Powerboat & Waterskiing wrote..
Sunday 5:00 PM October 5 1980..( 40 years ago) our #45 boat won the very large popular OE class in the famous race.
Eight years of trying finally gave us the result we wanted so bad.
Here we are at the fancy dinner Hilton, Paris Sunday night receiving trophies and price money. A memory for the rest of our lives.
Paris 6 Hours 1980.
I got for me a new beautiful picture from the Paris pit 1980 with the tower in the background thanks to Sture Sjoberg.
The #45 boat in the middle is our winning boat in the race.
The one to the left is the boat we came in third with the year before. (1979)
#44 to the right is a Mercury powered OE boat..(newer a threat for us OMC drivers..!!)..
Another new picture above..its me and Sture Sjöberg on top of the winning boat after 6 hard hours of driving. Out friend Bo Nilsson is helping out with the trailer. Life was great in Paris 1980..!!