Got a pass to the "Hot Pits" at the recent Columbia Cup Unlimited Races. I love the old Unlimited Class piston engine boats and there were 4 restored ones there doing exibition runs. Those V12 Merlins and Allisons have a sweet sound for sure. Way better than the vacumn cleaner sounds from the newer turbine powered boats.
Oh man, that brings back a lot of fond memories... I lived in Seattle back then and the shop I worked for made most of the boat hardware for the Seattle based boats...I ground the cams for most of them. The owners, drivers and crew of them were some of the nicest people I ever met.
Cool stuff OldBob, I was a big fan of the Bardahl and Thriftway boats when I was a kid. We tried to listen to the races on the radio if we could catch them and on rare instances on TV. Here is a link to a recent video of either a pair of clone boats or restored original versions. Turn the sound all the way up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dHQD-D98sQ It must have been quite a site an sound event for the traffic on the Lake Washington Bridge.
I know where you are coming from Bob ,I have always loved the sound of a v12 hydro.We used to have a few in Oz but they are getting thin now.
When I was younger my dad volunteered @ the vintage hydro & raceboat museum, when it was in south park.. I used to go help them work on the Slo-mo 5, thriftway, the dropped sponson budweiser, man oh man I miss that. That was a big part of my "education".
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