Nice to read so much rubbish on here! Memories fade, eh?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Lloyd
I remember that boat and that team very well. They raced against us in the Guernsey Worlds in Cruiser B and paced behind us (Flippin 'Eck) for three laps and then shot past us on the final leg of the final lap, they had never gone that fast before so obviously they had "done something" but they got their just deserts because two miles from the finish they blew a drive leg, they never looked up as we passed them!! The next year they came out with the Guinness sponsorship. The boat turned into a real dog and went about ten miles an hour slower and upon investigation we found they had raised their drive legs about 2.5 inches. Needless to say that was first illegal in Cruiser Class and secondly the boat just didn't work with the legs at that height. I never did see them again after that Poole “Needles” race which was the one where Buzzi averaged 100mph in CESA!
Sorry to arrive at this thread two years late! Thought I'd put the public record straight.
1. "Wonderfire" and "Guinness" were two different vessels - both Bonitos, the first a Falcon Royale and the second a Black Mamba. However, they both used the same set of engines - OMC big blocks - a mistake in retrospect.
2. Nick Edwards was my nav. Don't think he raced with anyone else and have been trying to track him down without success.
3. We didn't race in '85 or '86, although we did attend Guernsey in '86 in one of Brian Whitmarsh's stock Bonitos and caught the racing bug there, skirmishing with Jonathan Livingstone Seagull all the way back to Christchurch. (And I'll never forget spoofing for £12 bottles of Bollinger in the driver's tent! £12)!
4. Wonderfire was built in '87 and raced from June. The first race was the Cancer Research with Jamie Whitmarsh showing me what to do! We got a 2nd in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes and quite a few placings through the rest of the year.
5. In '87, we 'only' had to finish 1st in the last race at Bournemouth - with Flippin 'Eck hopefully doing a DNF - to take the NCB championship by one point. But (in front of almost the whole Wonderfire company who were watching from the end of the pier) we only did about a mile before breaking!
6. We raced with some success in '88 - mostly podiums and DNFs! When we finished, I don't recall ever finishing less than 3rd.
7. We did Guernsey Week with Wonderfire in both '87 and '88. The big boat always went well in Channel Islands waters. I think we got a couple of 3rds in '87. The Raven brothers were our big rivals there. We won Heat 1 in '88 and came 3rd in Heat 2 - finishing on one engine with a broken gearbox (although the organisers f*cked up the results on the day and gave us a cup in the car park)! I think (somehow) Bob Horwood won the Cruiser Cup that year in his Allround 'Penthouse'. Not bad for NCA.
8. Guinness DID NOT have "raised drive legs about 2.5 inches.... that was first illegal in Cruiser Class". This is total rubbish. It always scrutineered fine with no protests. Our issue was the port engine which had suffered a bit too much in Wonderfire and without additional funds we never really got it going properly, although we did get a 3rd in Fowey in '89.
9. There's a nice video snapshot on YouTube of Guinness - looking very cool in all black finish - in the Needles Trophy amongst the Class Ones, although we retired later with no power steering http://youtu.be/yFfE8TZQMG8 It wasn't only Buzzi that had a wing!
10. As I recall, it was Flippin 'Eck that was the subject of the odd protest. Colin Curran will know.
11. Guinness DID have engines at the London launch (but lacked water pumps). At least Sarah-Jane Varley did a great job of christening her!
12. Wonderfire went up in flames in storage sometime after I sold her and Guinness went for £5k as a kit of parts when I needed the money. I'd love to know were she is now.
13. BTW, "Dowdy" the fires were good enough to net me over £1m when I sold the company in 1991 - and it's still going strong today!
No match for the COSYMIZER which i made by the thousands for John Beaumont,outsold yours everywhere we put them.Nearly twenty years ago now and still glowing merrily away,spares readily available from SEAGAS,are yours?
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when in doubt trim outCARPE DIEM
No match for the COSYMIZER which i made by the thousands for John Beaumont,outsold yours everywhere we put them.Nearly twenty years ago now and still glowing merrily away,spares readily available from SEAGAS,are yours?
... we made money on ours! And where is John Beaumont now?
My team ran Valor for quite a few years and Willie is now a top dog at Dimplex.
I'm sure with some private investigations you could find both Nick Edwards & the Guinness Bonito if you really want to.
Let us know how you get on
Got two leads for Nick, (1) He works for a chemical company 'oop North and (2) apparently he's still in touch with Andre, for whom I now have an email address courtesy of the RYA.
As to Guiness, where to start? Was sold around 1998 to someone, I think, from the Poole area. Anyone seen a big black boat?
It was made of Kevlar, had a wing and was sold with a pair of Bluewater Mercs. Had some swish Yankee outdrives from a guy (in Littlehampton?) who's name I should remember, but can't. SSR registration name was Pure Genius, natch.
Boat make: Ring 21 marshan 17 four winns horizon, hydro 3 pointer, f2 cat, backdraft 22
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Oops just read above, it sat for a while at Eastlands yard at the front nr Midas
Don't know what others thought but at the time it was a nice looking boat,
The motors were out but the drives were still on at the time, 96 ish
... we made money on ours! And where is John Beaumont now?
My team ran Valor for quite a few years and Willie is now a top dog at Dimplex.
So did me and J.L.B. Hes got a Ponderrosa in north wales now,ran Valor himself for a while after Fibreflame U.K. went up in smoke,his lad had a play at it but wasnt a patch on his dad,i was partners with Chris Ruddle for a while in mold,made more ceramic coals than citizens in the u.k. at the time,some of them for you Tony,remember Jimmy Lamb at all?Had a stroke last year,another one were we made zillions of coals and ceramic hotboxes.
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when in doubt trim outCARPE DIEM
5. In '87, we 'only' had to finish 1st in the last race at Bournemouth - with Flippin 'Eck hopefully doing a DNF - to take the NCB championship by one point. But (in front of almost the whole Wonderfire company who were watching from the end of the pier) we only did about a mile before breaking!
6. We raced with some success in '88 - mostly podiums and DNFs! When we finished, I don't recall ever finishing less than 3rd.
7. We did Guernsey Week with Wonderfire in both '87 and '88. The big boat always went well in Channel Islands waters. I think we got a couple of 3rds in '87. The Raven brothers were our big rivals there. We won Heat 1 in '88 and came 3rd in Heat 2 - finishing on one engine with a broken gearbox (although the organisers f*cked up the results on the day and gave us a cup in the car park)! I think (somehow) Bob Horwood won the Cruiser Cup that year in his Allround 'Penthouse'. Not bad for NCA.
10. As I recall, it was Flippin 'Eck that was the subject of the odd protest. Colin Curran will know.
It still p......s you off then Tony? We (Flippin Eck) won everything in 1987 including being the 1st Cruiser home in the CTC (6th overall I think) in an average time of 56mph and winning the Guernsey Gold Cup - see pic! You guys tried to protest us but never succeeded - Colin Curren is dead now by the way and so is John Baker so let it go for goodness sake - it's ancient history.
ML.
.
Oops just read above, it sat for a while at Eastlands yard at the front nr Midas
Don't know what others thought but at the time it was a nice looking boat,
The motors were out but the drives were still on at the time, 96 ish
gaZ
I think that one was the Corniche 33 that was in another thread. I could see it was named Pure Genius but it wasn't a Bonito hull.
Guinness looked this attachment (poor image, sorry) before the wing was fully developed. Taken at Fowey '89.
It still p......s you off then Tony? We (Flippin Eck) won everything in 1987 including being the 1st Cruiser home in the CTC (6th overall I think) in an average time of 56mph and winning the Guernsey Gold Cup - see pic! You guys tried to protest us but never succeeded - Colin Curren is dead now by the way and so is John Baker so let it go for goodness sake - it's ancient history.
ML.
.
I'm never p*ssed off Mike - '87 was the first time I'd ever raced or even driven anything over 18' long, apart from the Bonito demo boat!
Sport is sport - and you can't finish first if you don't finish. For us, unreliability was our Achilles heel, more from the original build than for want of a decent race engineer.
I'm sorry to hear about Colin and John (RIP) but I can tell you that the Wonderfire team never protested anyone. I think it was something to do with the PCRA committee and organised by Colin.
See my subject line on my first response to this thread - "memories fade".
So did me and J.L.B. Hes got a Ponderrosa in north wales now,ran Valor himself for a while after Fibreflame U.K. went up in smoke,his lad had a play at it but wasnt a patch on his dad,i was partners with Chris Ruddle for a while in mold,made more ceramic coals than citizens in the u.k. at the time,some of them for you Tony,remember Jimmy Lamb at all?Had a stroke last year,another one were we made zillions of coals and ceramic hotboxes.
Yeah, I met Chris and Jimmy at Harrogate and industry events quite often. Sorry to hear about Jimmy, is he OK? I think Darren's doing pretty well, he has an amazing internet business. Do you remember Steve Harris? We've got an apartment next to him in Torquay.
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Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right thing.
Yeah, I met Chris and Jimmy at Harrogate and industry events quite often. Sorry to hear about Jimmy, is he OK? I think Darren's doing pretty well, he has an amazing internet business. Do you remember Steve Harris? We've got an apartment next to him in Torquay.
Chris retired 4 years ago,sold C.R.F to his staff,heard hes got cancer,jimmy is frozen all down one side but still about,havent heard anything about J.L.B. for years now.
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when in doubt trim outCARPE DIEM
Nice to read so much rubbish on here! Memories fade, eh?
Yeah, but ....
Ha, ha!
I found some more ...
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