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That boat is not a Buzzi. After working with us on the "Rocky" Conquest in 1984, Didier Pironi had George Linder fly over and visit the ACX yards with him. The goal was a "pre preg" ultralight hull to be finished in the autoclaves at ACX, at that time the home of France's America's Cup sailboats. Didier had a fixed notion about a monohull with "tumblehome" sides. When George and I looked at his desired narrow beam and the complete lack of recovery in the event of a barrel roll condition, we backed away from the project fearing the worst. For the record we had nothing to do with the final design. There was some conversation around safety canopies and a sit down configuration for the boat that also fell on deaf ears. Didier was a charming guy who used to call me from his car phone from France at the oddest hours. French sponsors were lined up to back him. He was a French national hero and had Carte Blanche at the finest restaurants and could seemingly flaunt the traffic laws with immunity (parking on the side walk, driving at 150-200 mph on the highways, etc). This, coupled to his Formula One racing background with Ferrari, made him a bit disdainful, I believe, of the relatively modest speeds in Offshore racing at that time, and the false sense of security that the big hulls give someone who did not grow up with smaller boats (same problem today). Sadly, this combined to make a fatal brew.
By the way the Lambo V-12's came out of their huge SUV's which were made for "off road" excursions in mostly Arab countries. Didier was the connection that got a set for Jean Pierre Fruitier, and we put them in "Rocky".
T2x
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Obsolete and proud of it
Last edited by T2x : 02-25-2008 at 02:50 PM.
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