New Member

[ElGrecko]

Looking forward to tapping into the extensive experience base going forward.

Aerospace and marine propulsion engineer with about 40 years of experience, nearing retirement and looking to do an E9 next.

Long time sports car fanatic and BMW guy. Had 1602 and later a 2002. Built the 2002 with a TI/SA ZF dog leg 5 speed, a TI/SA head with the "option" cam, 45's with 40mm chokes. Modded the head to fit the 13:1 Venolia pistons and put it all together. It was a very strong 02, probably a bit too much on the street for today's fuels, but it ran fine for years.

Did a lot of autocross in the 80's and in the 90's, when working for GM running Corvettes, still have a C5 Z06 in the garage and manage to take it out for a few events each year. Won the Corvette club national time trials in low speed (autocross) and high speed (open track time trial) a couple of times.

Restored an old race boat that was on the bucket list from when I was a kid. It's a "D" class runabout that does around 70 mph on a 50 hp Merc. Used to watch these run as kid on a lake near my house growing up just south of West Palm Beach Fla in the 60's and I've finally got it running as it should.

 

[boonies]

Welcome to the madness (or fun) depending on the day!

 

[ElGrecko]

Welcome to the madness (or fun) depending on the day!

Yea, I had a prof in college that had a saying when we were working on projects.. He would shake out his pipe and say "just remember gentlemen, things are only hard and harder"... Ole Vern wasn't wrong...

 

[ElGrecko]

My interest in an E9 comes from when I was buying my first BMW in 1968.. In the showroom at German Motors in WBP there was a Nevada E9 with an off white pigskin interior. The leather was glove soft and the car was striking. Way beyond my means then but it certainly left a lasting impression. Just like the boat it's a "one day" kind of thing...

 

[tdgray]

Welcome. Look forward to the sharing

 

[Lucas]

Restored an old race boat that was on the bucket list from when I was a kid. It's a "D" class runabout that does around 70 mph on a 50 hp Merc. Used to watch these run as kid on a lake near my house growing up just south of West Palm Beach Fla in the 60's and I've finally got it running as it should.

This Mercury engine seems to make this boat a speed demon...
You must feel good when sailing this boat with the throttle wide open, considering that you feel the speed on the water much more than on the road.
The Corvette set with a trailer and a boat on it must command respect.
With such interests and experience, you have definitely come to the right place.
There are also a lot of positive gas freaks here.
Welcome aboard.

 

[2000CS]

Welcome back to the fold. It's been a long time since hogtown days, accidental titanium front spoilers and building electric cars too far ahead of their time.
Still have the AC?

 

[ElGrecko]

Welcome back to the fold. It's been a long time since hogtown days, accidental titanium front spoilers and building electric cars too far ahead of their time.
Still have the AC?

No, the AC went when I left Toledo for Indy. It's been a very long time, we need to reconnect. I tried to look you up a while ago but didn't find much. It's great to hear from you again...

 

[ElGrecko]

This Mercury engine seems to make this boat a speed demon...
You must feel good when sailing this boat with the throttle wide open, considering that you feel the speed on the water much more than on the road.
The Corvette set with a trailer and a boat on it must command respect.
With such interests and experience, you have definitely come to the right place.
There are also a lot of positive gas freaks here.
Welcome aboard.

Lucas,

It most certainly demands your complete concentration otherwise you can end up swimming and that is not uncommon although I've not accomplished that in this rig. I had the hitch on the Corvette to take race tires to track days or autocross, it's a very good tow vehicle. Plenty of power and it gets about 25mpg towing at 80mph. The boat rig is light. The trailer is all aluminum and the boat only weighs 300 lbs. Towing less than 500 lbs, you don't even know it's back there.

 

[Lucas]

It most certainly demands your complete concentration otherwise you can end up swimming and that is not uncommon although I've not accomplished that in this rig. I had the hitch on the Corvette to take race tires to track days or autocross, it's a very good tow vehicle. Plenty of power and it gets about 25mpg towing at 80mph. The boat rig is light. The trailer is all aluminum and the boat only weighs 300 lbs. Towing less than 500 lbs, you don't even know it's back there.

Certainly, sailing on such a boat requires a lot of skill and control.
Corvette pulling a trailer with a water go-kart...
Such a set says a lot about the owner.
If I saw such a set somewhere by the water, I would immediately want to meet its owner.

 

[Ohmess]

Welcome to our little corner of the world. These cars (and lots of the people who own them) are great.

 

[Stevehose]

How does the boat float with no one in it? Does the bow point straight up? Very cool.

 

[ElGrecko]

How does the boat float with no one in it? Does the bow point straight up? Very cool.

The motor is really light. It has a racing (shorter and lighter) tower and a much smaller direct drive, no neutral, no reverse lower unit. You aim it and toggle the starter and are off. The entire motor only weighs 120 lbs. The battery is a small garden tractor battery and the gas tank only holds 3 gallons, there isn't a lot of weight in the back and more of the floatation is in the back. The nose hangs out of the water by a good and that helps balance it. Here's a pic of how it floats with no one in it. It sits lower in the back for sure but you don't park these things in the water unattended. Most of the time when it's in the water we sit it on a small cart that we use to launch them, that is sitting on the cart in the second pic. It's actually worse with the driver in it. This boat has a full height motor board/transom. That is, it's 15 inches from the bottom to the top of the motor board. If I had to I could reach the pull start and crank it from inside the boat (it has electric start so don't need to). The same boat can be had with a lower transom in the modified classes that run an even shorter (10 inch) tower. For those boats you have to have someone wade into the water and start it with a rope or, more often nowadays using a detachable starter on the flywheel nut. I wanted to be able to single handed be able to launch and start, and I could but don't have to usually. These boats aren't toys, they are serious race boats and you don't just go down to the lake and run around. When running at high speed they only turn left and if you dump one over at speed you can get seriously hurt. I run it only at AOMCI events where there's a course set up and safety crews, and wear proper protection, a Kevlar driving suit that if you got run over you won't get cut by the razor sharp props, a rated helmet and a special racing life jacket as well as kevlar shoes socks and gloves.. Having fun is a lot of work, but the sensation of speed and the challenge of driving it gets your blood pumping.

 

[rsporsche]

love the boat ... looks very cool. definitely could tell that the lower end was much shorter.