“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_battleship_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..!!

Update 2:

First picture show our double trailer in Paris. Boat 64 was my brother Lennart and Anders Fallman.

The boat on the bottom is “Potemkin”..

Paris 1980..starts here: