The Embassy Grand Prix – Bristol 1982
It has often been described as the greatest
circuit powerboat race ever. Some, not many,
may contradict this but if you were there on
that weekend of the 5/6th June, 1982 you
would probably be in agreement.
As 1982 dawned the ON class had been
renamed – not Formula One but Formula
Grand Prix and the OZ class became Formula
1, as was right and proper for the leading
class in the sport.
By 1982 the ON and OZ camps had gone
their separate ways. It hadn’t started like that
back in the late 70s, when the two big engine
manufacturers were fighting it out for
supremacy; OMC with their 3.3 litre, 235hp
V8 and Mercury with their 370hp T4. It took
some skill to handle a catamaran with that
level of power on the back.
There was only one event during the 1982
calendar where the FONDA Formula Grand
Prix World Series and the John Player
Formula One Series happened over the same
weekend. It was the weekend of June 5 and 6
at Bristol, then the premier event of the sport
– the Monaco of circuit powerboat racing.
It was in 1980 that the big split came
between OMC and Mercury Marine with
Mercury deciding to withdraw the T4 and go
with the 2 litre class. It was assumed that
Outboard Marine Corporation would follow
suit but following the last race of the 1980
Canon Trophy Series, OMC announced their
intention of producing an even more
powerful OZ engine for the 1981 season. A
3.5 litre 400hp V8.
The 1981 3.5 litre OZ season was given a
tremendous boost when the John Player
Special brand, already sponsors of the Lotus
Formula One motor racing team, announced
a three year contract for sponsorship of the
OZ series.
So what made that event so special?
Besides the fact that those who were there
got to see many of the best powerboat racers
in the world through all classes – The John
Player World OZ Series; The FONDA World
ON Series; The Aspen World OE
Championships and the World Monohull
Championships, plus rounds of the Formula
three and four National Championship. What
more could you ask for squeezed into a
weekend’s powerboat racing? What more
indeed.
The final vital ingredient was an
American powerboat racer, already the
darling of Bristol, having won the Duke of
York Trophy a record four times.
In that same year the founder of the
Bristol races, Charlie Sheppard, decided
along with WD and HO Wills, that the
Embassy Grand Prix and the Duke of York
Trophy would be contested by the 2 litre ON
class with no OZs racing at Bristol.
At this point the ON class was renamed
Formula One.
Billy Seebold had stayed loyal to Mercury
and their desire to limit their racing to the 2
litre class. Only on this particular weekend