Transmission solutions

For all its power, the outboard engine on a boat had no radiator, clutch or gearbox. A separately mounted five or six-speed Norton (later Quaife) gearbox was used, along with Austrian-made Schafleitner gears. Primary drive to the gearbox was originally done by chain, but constant breakages of the single and then double-row chain determined that a Morse toothed-chain was required.this proved reliable with a squirt of chainlube before each race. The clutch was built at the factory using sintered metal plates from a lathe clutch. Due to the length of the engine it was necessary to keep the gearbox as close to the powerplant unit as possible. This kept the wheelbase to 1430mm, leaving little room to remove the rear spark plugs easily. Unfortunately, the transmission drive system proved to be one of the most unreliable elements of the entire package. “They had a lot of trouble with the primary chains until they got onto a toothed chain, which solved all the problems. I think they started off with a single, like Nortons, then went to a duplex and then to a triplex.they had a lot of trouble early on with the chains overheating and breaking.that must have got him down as every time they got to a track they’d have a breakage. After they put that chain on I don’t think they had any trouble again,”tingate explains.