Mercury racing 360 hp NA v8

**mercace** · 09-16-2020, 08:27 PM

Congratulations Mercury. Looks like the new F1 motor will be a winner! My only question is how far will this go? In the article it says that there are on 20 F1 teams worldwide. All this development for only 20 engines? I hope the door has been left open to build this platform up for drag, offshore, and weekenders.

**Capt.Insane-o** · 09-16-2020, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by JPEROG

Doesn't effect me. I am just happy that we have new stuff available. 2006 and the next 11 years offered us what for performance outboards?? (Nothing new) and I was running old 300X and 280 stuff. Now seeing what we have and what is continuing to come down the pipe gives me a reason to be excited "not to bash the new product that most haven't even experienced". The new stuff is more then shiny, it is revolutionizing performance boating as guys are either replacing there inboard offshore boats and or adding outboard power to their fleet. Its nothing to do with money "anyone that could afford a new 300XS 3 years ago can afford most likely afford a 300R today and the sales numbers prove that.

Go on the jasper river run and see how many of the new motors are there. Ask the owners what they think,-let me know how many guys with them are worried about fuel capacity like we were in the past--These new motors simply make everything more user friendly for the majority and perform better for the majority--hats off to Mercury.

Joe

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**JPEROG** · 09-16-2020, 08:39 PM

I will say that the price I was quoted *which is not set in stone) because it was never intended for sales in the U.S., "if I am allowed to buy one"-took me out of the picture. I was envisioning running the river in a STV MOD VP with my son next to me in his STV. That vison was very cool but quickly faded when I added things up in my head lol...

Joe

**AZMIDLYF** · 09-16-2020, 08:50 PM

So we get the "Trickle Down" theory again? I do agree with JPEROG though, exciting to see the new tech coming into the market.

**Capt.Insane-o** · 09-16-2020, 09:00 PM

ANYWAY it would be nice to see the Mercury truck pull into Jasper with a 450 Drag instead of the 450 Center Console, maybe some one will actually race one of these R motors like back in the day.

**JPEROG** · 09-16-2020, 09:38 PM

The "race" left Mercury as we knew it when the name Kiekhaefer left the building. Brunswick doesn't run their racing division like a boutique race shop rather an advanced product line that still offers warranty and advanced customer support for their line "they need to make money by selling to the masses and have a C.E.O. who needs to answer to their shareholders". I imagine they will stick to the audience as pictured below rather then catering to a dozen guys that might buy a new drag based product-what needs to happen is to have a private sector guy build something from the platform that Mercury has provided (no different then what John Ligenfelter did with General Motors LS platform) Remember Carl had something to prove-he wanted to beat the then giant that was in his back yard and showing up to compete against him at every venue there was. Mercury no longer has to worry about competition rather just keeping their customers happy and they seem to be doing a really good job.

Joe

**nitro_rat** · 09-16-2020, 10:08 PM

An interesting old post that Lars Strom shared over in his thread brought up an interesting point about what OMC learned back in the 80's about fronting an exclusive V8 F1 class in UIM and later APBA in the US. I'll just leave my reply here as it pretty much sums up how I feel about the new F1 Merc engine...

Originally Posted by nitro_rat

To quote Mr. Strang: "The only limitation being that the engines must be available to anyone on the open market---to avoid the expensive and promotionally useless factory competition of the past."

Attachment 473514
History repeats itself when we do not learn from the past. RIP Charlie Strang...

**Mark Poole ModVP** · 09-17-2020, 04:11 AM

Mercury owns racing and high performance...period. Yamaha owns the working man's boat market and OMC is dead. The truth is, everything OMC did led to their demise. The horse has been dead for 20 years but if you want to keep beating it..............

**Da Bull** · 09-17-2020, 06:57 AM

Brunswick doesn't run their racing division like a boutique race shop rather an advanced product line that still offers warranty and advanced customer support for their line "they need to make money by selling to the masses and have a C.E.O. who needs to answer to their shareholders". I imagine they will stick to the audience as pictured below rather then catering to a dozen guys that might buy a new drag based product-

You right about that but the warranty sucks on these 450R motors right now. My Bud has two on a DCB and after 45min of operation one of the lowers froze up. I was in the boat when it happened and couldn`t believe it. Merc sent him to Bass Pro Shop (Dealer for Mercury) and it`s been two months so far and still not repaired. Their excuse is "We don`t have the proper lower unit tools to fit the retainer nut". He paid large money for the engines so Mercury needs to send him a new replacement Lower unit, NOW!

**powerabout** · 09-17-2020, 07:13 AM

I can see some parallels with what OMC did with the F1 v8 perhaps the story will be different as the block is production based ( I assume?)
Teams can keep their lowers and props....I guess that helps
F2 most likely end up with a V6 version?
All new hulls for everyone?

Thats going to leave a pile of stuff for local racing

**baja200merk** · 09-17-2020, 08:29 AM

$84k is a more believable number. Does anyone know if it will be as hard to get as the 400ROS was?

I read torrente posted they have been testing it on their boats for over a year and they r even using the same props as 2.5 thanks to the OD unit.

**JPEROG** · 09-17-2020, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by Da Bull

Brunswick doesn't run their racing division like a boutique race shop rather an advanced product line that still offers warranty and advanced customer support for their line "they need to make money by selling to the masses and have a C.E.O. who needs to answer to their shareholders". I imagine they will stick to the audience as pictured below rather then catering to a dozen guys that might buy a new drag based product-

You right about that but the warranty sucks on these 450R motors right now. My Bud has two on a DCB and after 45min of operation one of the lowers froze up. I was in the boat when it happened and couldn`t believe it. Merc sent him to Bass Pro Shop (Dealer for Mercury) and it`s been two months so far and still not repaired. Their excuse is "We don`t have the proper lower unit tools to fit the retainer nut". He paid large money for the engines so Mercury needs to send him a new replacement Lower unit, NOW!

I sounds like he talked to a customer service representative that directed him to the nearest authorized dealer. Nobody is perfect but I can tell you that if one of my gear cases goes South, I will get it to a dealer that has access to parts and not settle for some excuse like that. I watched the guys at Performance Boat Center get 29 boats (repairs of all types)-"one was a 450 gear case"- throughout the shootout week "while everything was running full tilt" all back up running and on the water. They run a top class operation and had guys working crazy hours to take care of their customers. We rented houses that are on the PBC compound so we were able to see a "insiders view" of the pressure zone for 10 days straight-

I have a few spare cases for 3.0 motors but realize that I need to acquire a new 5.44 back up as well. Its just part of the deal no different then knowing a prop is going break and having another on hand. You need to remember the number of miles these big boats travel Vs. a small single the other factor is that they are out of the water and re-entering a massive load in comparison. I am not making excuses but I see both sides of it and have been viewing things like this with a proactive attitude "If I don't want down time then I need to cover myself-not depend on someone else" I think that comes from living up North and having a 4 month window to boat every year along with traveling for poker runs (I used carry spare power heads and cases for fear of missing a run).

Joe

**JPEROG** · 09-17-2020, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by baja200merk

$84k is a more believable number. Does anyone know if it will be as hard to get as the 400ROS was?

I read torrente posted they have been testing it on their boats for over a year and they r even using the same props as 2.5 thanks to the OD unit.

Kev,

The price I was told is nowhere near that much but it is still expensive and they are not intended for U.S. sales (this is coming from the sales director at racing). I won't know until next week if obtaining one is even an option and as with the 400 ROS there is no warranty if they do allow a sale.

Joe

**InjectorService** · 09-17-2020, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Da Bull

Brunswick doesn't run their racing division like a boutique race shop rather an advanced product line that still offers warranty and advanced customer support for their line "they need to make money by selling to the masses and have a C.E.O. who needs to answer to their shareholders". I imagine they will stick to the audience as pictured below rather then catering to a dozen guys that might buy a new drag based product-

You right about that but the warranty sucks on these 450R motors right now. My Bud has two on a DCB and after 45min of operation one of the lowers froze up. I was in the boat when it happened and couldn`t believe it. Merc sent him to Bass Pro Shop (Dealer for Mercury) and it`s been two months so far and still not repaired. Their excuse is "We don`t have the proper lower unit tools to fit the retainer nut". He paid large money for the engines so Mercury needs to send him a new replacement Lower unit, NOW!

This is 110% a Bass Pro issue, not a Merc issue. The dealers are expected to stock any and all tools that are required to repair the motors that they sell. I would SERIOUSLY suggest finding a dealer that deals with 450r motors more often, I highly doubt Bass Pro deals with them often.

**Markus** · 09-17-2020, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by JPEROG

The "race" left Mercury as we knew it when the name Kiekhaefer left the building. Brunswick doesn't run their racing division like a boutique race shop rather an advanced product line that still offers warranty and advanced customer support for their line

Yep.

Once you have the 4.6 liter V8 platform, you can create a bunch of variants at a reasonable cost, and this is one of them.

There is most likely much more to come from Mercury.<object id="__symantecPKIClientMessenger" data-supports-flavor-configuration="true" data-extension-version="1.0.1" style="display: none;"></object>__PRESENT