Category: General News

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Here it is..the OMC race engine/powerhead Cees van der Velden and Renato Molinari used to win many 2 liter UIM ON class World Championship titles.
I had the opportunity to race a Team Saffa ON boat 1978 for Renato Molinari  in Italy with this type of engine.
The OMC 2 liter V6 looper engine was way more powerful then the Merc 2 liter engine but OMC never made very many. Instead they built the 3 liter looper with carb and fuel injection for the OZ class and later the famous F1-V8 engine.
Velden won the ON World title 1975 in Cardiff, GB..see pictures below (the #1 boat) Fred Hauenstein was a big part of developing this engine.
1979/1980 Molinari won the ON World title using this type of power.

First picture #12 below  is Cees van der Velden in Paris 6 Hours 1975 running a new cross-flow 2 liter V-6 from OMC.

The second picture #29 is me (Lasse Strom) driving the Molinari/Saffa/Johnson V-6 RS 2 liter at Idroscalo, Italy September 1978.

 

Result from Cardiff, UK September 1975

Yes this is from Renatos final F1-V8 race 1985. He left the F1-V8 series for Offshore racing 1986.

Bertil Wik in the #12 Hodges/Evinrude V8, next boat is #2 Arthur Mostert in his Velden racing/Johnson V8 and Renato in his #18 Molinari/Dole/Evinrude V8.

Not sure about the Nordica boat. Barrie Woods or Kicco Vidoli is my best guess. This is from Idroscalo, Milano.

Thanks Oliver Keuth‎ for a very good picture.

Home made one pinion gearcase and methanol power..!!
This photo album makes me smile again.
The World Championship race in Drammen, Norway 1982
Won the race..not even the two F3 boats powered by the 6 cylinder Konig could keep up with my hot Evinrude engine. Well..some rooster tail spray from my boat slowed them down in the turns..
The party with my OMC friends that made the win possible turned out pretty crazy..
I still remember what OMC´s..Ric McChesney and Jim Nerstrom did to me..
Easy to smile now..but not 6 a clock in the morning..the day after.
Very good memories..

Thanks to over 2,500 likes making this a great boat racing site for history and current boat racing.

Lars Strom

(Photo: http://funintampabay.com/)

She can sing, entertain, be extremely charming and drive a Formula 1 boat better than the rest of the world.
The Grand Prix of Sharjah today was the most exciting boat race ever. Marit drove a perfect race and to see her win made me and the rest of the world a feeling of happiness.

This is so good for both Marit och the sport we love.

A ton of Congratulations to you Marit..I have known for a long time this day will come.

 

Picture by Vittorio Ubertone/Idea Marketing