Ritepine 11 Think this was originally Wraggs Quarterback
Have photos of when the boys got wet in it.
They were fun machines, but as Jim say's, they took a bit to look after.
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Ritepine 11 Think this was originally Wraggs Quarterback
Have photos of when the boys got wet in it.
They were fun machines, but as Jim say's, they took a bit to look after.
Running past the blow hole at the Mount many years ago
Attachment 15781
You are a wizz Nigel. You must have an amazing collection of photos. Do you have any other offshore stuff.
That was a few years ago when you think back.
Cheers Rod. I don't have much [a film or two perhaps]
I'll see if I can find them and load a couple up. I think they're mainly black & white
Excellent photos Nigel. I did three races with Trevor Tucker in 1990 in the ex Ted Taiatini Robson cat called `Colesseum' after his original partner in the boat racked up bills and did a runner. Being on the throttles in these things gave a whole new meaning to the phrase `having a blast!' I think from memory Hills Flooring was Dick Marlow, Sunday News was Glen Urqhart, Calico Jack was the late Ginger Gibbs, and Visor was John Garrity. At Karapiro, not sure of Jagwah, then it`s Peter Knight snr in the original Boss hydroplane, then Keith MacGregor in Special Edition.
Cheers Steve, here's a few more from 1979
Attachment 15794
Attachment 15795
Attachment 15796
Attachment 15797
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/week...ew-no-401-1949, some old boat race footage
John Garrity bought the Aussie boat 'Shark Cat' raced out here by Peter Noonan with help from Wyndham Shirts, funny that name appeared on his cousin Tony Rutherfords Mazda around same time, and brother Rutherford was the Farmers clothing man an then into cars On Wairau.
I've got some more to process - here's one in the meantime
Attachment 15822
Your a gem Nigel, magic stuff. There are some historic shots of historic boats there. Lots of stories.
Typhoon Carma became EIT Mover became Ritepine Mover. Yes, Ritepine 2 was originally Wraggs Quarterback.
One of the reasons Tebbsy found RP II so expensive is that it had Mercury 3.4EFI engines on it and they had a bad habit of going pop. The smaller 2.4 model was the engine of choice for the Kiwi Class II boats and had proven to be pretty reliable when looked after properly. Tebbsy's 3.4 blew in a race not long after Ross bought the boat and Bob Menzies air freighted a new block down from the US. Rebuilt the engine and was giving it an initial run-in in his shop, at idle, when the second one let go.
Menzies phoned Mercury and asked WTF was going on and merc eventually came clean that they had problems with the 3.4s and that it was not unknown for them to blow at idle. I think the gudgeon pins used to come loose and hang up in the transfer ports (which is not a nice thing to happen on a 2-stroke). No warranty on a race motor....
With "Scrubbers" John Garrity thought he had the machine to clean up. It was an old hull - I remember seeing it in Scott Robson's shed in Christchurch upside down with industrial heaters going full blast to try to dry it out. It was hundreds of kilos lighter after that, but still far too heavy to challenge the super-light Cougar and Robson cats (and Graeme Horne's new weapon, the Eade-designed Kevlar EIT Mover II)..
Garrity wanted some Johnson V8 outboards but the only way he could get them was to buy the Australian bridge-to-bridge championship winning boat at great cost and take the engines off it. The V8s were new engines, and Johnson eventually released a recreational model as well, but they weren't a success either, being too heavy and lacking power.
It was a disaster. The engines were very torquey but didn't make much power and the old Scrubbers had not scrubbed up that well after all. It wallowed around barely getting on the plane and certainly not "flying" which is how the cats performed so well. That photo must have been taken after going over a big wave to get it off the surface. It was a good place to take photos just there (Mt Maunganui) because you could get close to the action and the standing wind-against-tide waves flicked the boats into the air.
I had good times covering the powerboat racing in those days - they were a great bunch of guys.
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/gran...own-under-1957
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/new-...rand-prix-1961
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/surv...zed-sport-1974
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/trio-at-the-top-2001
These are some old footage that some might find interesting, Trio at the top I have on disk.
Wow, staggering! These are amazing Nigel. How did you take these? Looks like you were in a helicopter or something.
Thanks for sharing those pics Nigel. I don't know anything about Boats but the guys who own the dealership where i work race boats, have for years. They are i think the current UIM World GP Hydroplane Champions.
Is that the Harrison"s?
Bondy, Did Grant recover okay from his accident?
Now that little boat 'Chindit', that is something else. Wouldn't mind a dollar for every race miles she has done.
Spotted this massive early 70's yankee station wagon behind a shed out in the Wild West of Auckland a few years back. It didn't look as though it was going anywhere in a hurray...[IMG]http://s12.postimage.org/9010qog55/1...photo_2005.jpg[/IMG]
Hi Gerard
In your Weekly Wanderings around the Way-Out and Wilder parts of Auckland's Wild West, did you ever notice a large greenish ? GM product permanently parked on the grass verge in Ferry Parade, Herald Island. It had the personalised plate "OBEASE", which seemed very appropriate, (i.e. "obese" on steroids). I had always intended to take a photo of it, before the grass grew too long around it, but it disappeared a couple of years ago.
Stu
The car was a mid 70's green "low rider" and was a massive four door tank with some quite fancy paintwork, parked outside a not quite so pristine dwelling... I saw it in a photo at the Beach Hop in Whangamata a few years back, but as you say its been absent from the island a year or two now and I didn't snap a photo either.
Heres a couple more Westie Waitakere pictures. The old graffiti covered 30's Ford V8 was scene around the Oratia/Henderson area parked in the same place for many years. I've also included a better pic of that wonderful Oldsmobile land yacht.
Gerard, I think your `30s Ford V8 is a mid - late `30s Dodge, Plymouth, Desoto, etc.
Attachment 16475Found this picture in a newspaper about 14 years ago,advertising ACC,have kept it ever since.Gets alot of comments. . . . Any one know more about this.
We have here a Jag 3.8 that - according to the writing on the back "hit marshalls post, back straight Pukekohe 1966?"
ID anyone - wasn't Dave S was it?