At Orbital, I heard 2 interesting things from the Mercury guys (talking 25 years ago though), this being prior to the intro of the Optimax range of engines.
1. Apparently in Rouen in France on the Seine River, there is an annual 24 hour speedboat race. The Merc guys, to keep the engines alive, would run 8:1 fuel oil mix. To prevent oiling up on starting, they filled the carb bowls with straight fuel. Dunno if there was ever smoke, probably hard to see with all the spray.
2. As with all manufacturers, they always have odds and ends left over, perhaps waiting for some good destructive tests. How long would an engine last if left idling with no oil in the fuel? Apparently 200 hours plus.
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
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