Great Photos! Yes, a very young "SIR" Steve Curtis with the Toleman Group boys and Sammy James giving Vince Fasano another "smooth" ride in Vincentive #26.
A few know what and where the pics are, anyway here's a list as I remember. Does anyone know Tanks real name ? I will try to find more pics. I went to work for Gentry shortly after Smitty arrived.
1, American Eagle in Gentry's shop, Hawaii.
2, Betty and Bernie, ? probably Key West worlds
3, Blitz before start of CTC, 76
4, Me, Toleman Bertram, Hamble UK
5, Me, Tanks son, Steve Curtis, Tank, Viaregio.
6, Rampage, Key West?
7, Toleman wood Cat. center cockpit.
8, Same
9, Toleman Bertram and Cat, Melbourne, Aust.
10, Toleman 482 in Toleman colours.
11, Me and Tank talking with Toleman, He arrive by helicopter.
12,Toleman rigs in ferry parking lot
13,Tom Gentry, Bobby Beich, Hawaii
14, Velocity, Key West Worlds
15, Vince Vasano's Vincentive
1983 Boat.Somehow that deck livery doesn`t quite match.Magnifying glasses to the fore BT,but it is called Hawaii and that`s where the boat is.
I posted info. on this boat, I think when it was in the Scarab boats post, not sure, anyway again. This was one of the latest Scarabs from Larry Smith for TG. It was rigged in Calif. at the Gentry shop by Freddie Millere and crew, set up as a two man bolster boat. I was the T-Man at the time, I recieved the boat in Fondulac @ Aeromarine for testing. Testing went terrible best we could get was barely 80 MPH. we tried everything, boat had a really bad attitude, nose down keel steered etc. Finally after two full days of testing and no improvements, we checked the bottom and found it had almost 3/4 inch hook, which was way to much for us to undertake, so the boat was rushed back to Calif. bottom straightened and returned for testing, we picked up almost 10 mph and good attitude. We used that boat to test several experimental props using different rake angles etc. also ran the only supercharged motors that Kiekhaefer ever built, only ran twice, New Orleans which was washed out, although we did lots of testing, and Key West for the worlds where we blew the motors while in the lead. The boat was beautiful and I think it became an Edelbrock boat, not sure
Thanks for the potted history Richie,that plugs a few gaps in my records.Did you ever come across a boat called `Harley Davidson` a Picchiotti/CUV hull when J.Wharton raced it in 1987.Both `Black Tornado` and myself have never really sorted it.We think it maybe was `Bandit` and later `Caliente`.
I think this one raced in 1978 Worlds in Mar del Plata 17th Dec,and retired.Was it a one off,or did go on to race under a different name.
This was an all kevlar laminate boat very light, only raced twice. Boat was new for Mar Del Plata worlds, never properly tested before the worlds etc. we finished it in the parking lot before the race. The race was rough as hell huge water, we led the race until the boat started to come apart, we alsmost sunk, just barely made it back to the crane before going down.When the boat came back to the USA we gutted it, at the Wellcraft factory, and sand blasted the entire engine room, everything was broken throughout the entire boat. Next race the boat raced was pt. pleasant, when Kieth Hazell throttled for TG, on the way to the start they must have stuffed it as they blew the hole nose off it, took the first 20` completly off the front and sunk. I was with Joel Halpern in the Michelob Light wood 35` Cougar, we stopped to make sure they were OK then proceeded on. Boat was then scrapped as far as I know.
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