Black Tornado

Were Midstar-Taurus and Whiplash original Mag 28' or they come out of an Australian mould under license?
Midstar was a single engine and Whiplash?

Black Tornado

I would like to see a colour image of that American Eagle.

kubcat

Wow, loving the history lesson.

Good to see some names I recognise, didn't realise they had been around that long.

powerabout

Both Class II single under 500ci
I would be guessing to say they were both imported?
anyone

powerabout

I cant believe any Australian ever paid a licence fee?
The wholeboating industry in OZ was built on flopped hulls in the 60's

Although saying that, Glastron was here and the Haines's built Formula 233's under license
and off course there was Bertram ( sport fishing boats only) and Riviera built some Hatteras's in the 80's

We also have plenty of runabouts built for circuit racing and ski racing that are as good as anybodys.

Rob Bailey

I think midstar became Camstar owned by Brian Fisher.

pete60

Yes it did. It went from Barry McMillan to Doug Bricker, who raced it as Taurus, before going to Brian Fisher as Camstar.

Whiplash was a different boat...it went to Geoff Dicieri who raced it as Courage and then to Tony Low who raced it as Force.

Midstar was built in about 1976 and raced with 3 crew, with a carbied Mercruiser 496, while Whiplash was built in 1977 and raced with 2, and had a fuel injected Mercruiser 496.

They were great boats and at one point in about 1977 were the "big" boats of Australian offshore, before Peter Dean reappeared and Whippy's Eagle and Hainesy's Eagle evolved.

Both Midstar and Camstar carried Cigarette logos but I have a feeling they were built here in Australia from a mould owned by Peter Dean.

Some great pics above. I recall tracking Wyld Cat ( a 25 Cougar Kevin Wyld built in about 1976) down in southern Brisbane in the mid late 1980s..it had been sitting in the weather for a few years and was pretty far gone.

pete60

Also, boat 99 in the picture in post#61 is the American Eagle Tom Gentry brought o Australia in 1978 ( the boat built to his own design, not the Cigarettes he had at the time). The boat stayed in Australia with John Haines and became Hainesy's Eagle. It was destroyed in the Pacific 1000 later that year.

7xchamp

WOW !!!!!! Nice article, thanks for posting it. That was the Gentry built boat, the one that was built by Rudy Ramos, at rayson Craft in Calif. to Tom`s specifications. The boat delaminated in that race, and was sold to John Haines of Haines Hunter boats. There are lots of stories I have written in these threads about that race and that boat. There were only two ever built. This one was red Metal Flake, and the other was Silver Metal Flake which was never raced. The decks were pretty cool looking, real Calif. look and style.

Black Tornado

Well,well,well!
Is making to know a little bit of history of the Australian offshore there.
Go on if you can!