Remember the H-Bomb, that manic Mercury outboard powered special, on BAT a while back? Well, my buddy’s uncle snapped a few pics of the minuscule racer at Pacific Raceways, being shown off by the proud new owner, and I thought I’d share them with you.
In case you can’t remember or were too lazy to click through to BAT, this special weighs just over 500 lbs wet, and its 750cc two-stroke Mercury outboard make a healthy 65 hp, which was enough back in the day to make it dominate the H-mod class. At one 1964 race at Riverside, according to an article in Sports Car Graphic magazine from that year, it finished a minute and 8 seconds ahead of the closest class competitor, an otherwise competitive BMW 700. The H-Bomb was the brainchild of a couple of college kids in Oregon, who built a light birdcage type frame and stuffed the aforementioned Mercury out back. Note the chain drive to the rear wheels.
This car will be at the SOVREN races on May 15 and 16th, and barring a natural disaster of unprecedented magnitude, I’ll be there with my DSLR snapping away, so look for some photos of the H-Bomb and many others running in anger in about a month!
Thanks to Tim and his uncle for the photos and background!
Dropping the H-Bomb on the World of Vintage Racing
By Alex Kierstein
Apr 13, 2010
Jeff Glucker
That is a pretty good power to weight ratio. Plus 2-stroke! I loves me the smell of hydrocloraforbins in the morning.
I was in this car's corner during BaT's Best of the Year thread – the Belly Tank Roadster was a great choice but I'd take this little bastard 10 times out of 10.
One way to add lightness is to subtract size. This isn't a race car, but a go-kart on a cocktail of steroids, meth and espresso.
I love the nod to safety that is the roll hoop.
Death trap on wheels…..I want two….
That's a
grocery sackbrown paper lunch bag full of awesome! I love it!Formula SAE before it's time.
And the winner of the Colin Chapman Award for Obscene Lightness goes to….seriously though if you dont just get all tingly in the nether regions over this, you have no soul whatsoever!! ME LIKEEEEEE!!!!!
That's the same power-to-weight ratio as, what, a Veyron with three JATO rockets?
Absolutely, positively DO WANT.
No expansion chambers. You should be able to get at least 100hp out of it.
You should assemble an Expansion Team and relate the importance of Dilated resonance tubes to these People.
See what I did there?
So how do they cool the engine? Aren't most outboards water cooled by nature? A lake makes a great radiator.
Probably just run water through the motor, simple closed system. Plus, less algae. Win-win.
Where's the radiator? I don't think the races are THAT short.
Every outboard I've seen that was in that size range has been air cooled, it's not until you get up into the four cylinders that they start sucking water.
This takes the word "barchetta" to a whole new extreme!
Absolutely sick. I love it. It must be some kind of a wild ride. Hey, that transmission looks suspiciously like the one on my old Norton, down to the inspection plate.
Am I the only one hitting up Craigslist for old outboards and go-karts right now?
On a more serious note: the roll hoop doesn't appear to be inline with the steering wheel – whereas the steering is clearly LHD, the roll hoop appears only slightly left of center. What is the driving position like?
Also, the crotch-mounted gauge must be to evaluate one's sack size as a measure of pilot-worthiness.