Image Above: The 46’ Skater, Zero Defect, had an undefeated season with Weismann Marine drives. Photo Courtesy Freeze Frame Video.
Weismann Marine, the company that is best known for its dry sump drives on the undefeated 46’ Skater, Zero Defect, has purchased Speedmasters Inc., in DeLand, Fla.
Pat Weismann, president of Weismann Marine LLC, said he is completing the purchase in the coming weeks and will relocate from Southern California to central Florida. The new company will be called W Marine Inc., and will eventually be located in Titusville, Fla.
“That’s the reason I need a base in Florida,” Weismann explained. “I have to export to Europe and moving things to Europe from California would require the Panama Canal.”
He plans to put his WMD drive, which is like a Mercury Racing M6, into production in single and twin-propeller versions. “We used to do Six stuff,” he said. “Since it was banned 21 years ago, we figure our prison sentence is over.”
The good news for poker runners who have boats with older Mercury Racing Speedmaster drives is that W Marine will continue to service Speedmaster III, IV and V and M6 and M8 drives.
“We’re going to continue with the R&D side heavily,” said Weismann
Weismann’s family also owns the company Traction Products that builds transmissions and custom performance equipment for off-road trucks, Formula 1 cars, and vehicles that race at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Weismann Marine and Traction Products are known in performance circles for their innovative mechanical solutions. For example, in addition to the Dry Sump drives, the company also had multi-speed transmissions in Zero Defect.
One of W Marine’s current customers is Kenny Mungle who owns the Gone Again racing team that appears at many high-speed shootouts around the country. Moving forward, Weismann said he wants to develop his drive for diesel applications for the military. Once the durability is proven, he said the demand for the drive will bleed off to the performance market.
He’s also working with a diesel-engine manufacturer and plans to install the engine and WMD drives on a few boats to go after some endurance records. One of the first boats will be a single-engine 32-foot Phantom with a single diesel and that will be followed by a twin-engine V-bottom that Weismann will market to the military in Europe with a three or four-speed transmission.
As for the endurance records he wants to break, Weismann is targeting a well-known name. “Wherever Buzzi has a record, we’re going to take a shot at it,” said Weismann referring to the famous Italian boat and engine designer Fabio Buzzi. “We’re going to build on what we do, which is R&D,” said Weismann.
