Monthly Archives: February 2011

February 25, 2011

Racing’s Miami Experience

Rick Mackie

The 2011 Miami Boat Show was a great success. Almost everyone in the industry was upbeat. Deals were made, boats were sold and Mercury Racing propulsion was featured in numerous boats at the show – including eight 1350 powered boats!

We hit the ground early on Thursday, Feb. 17, opening day. Fred Kiekhaefer got things rolling with a 10:15 a..m. press conference in the Mercury booth where he unveiled the new 1100 sterndrive.

Cigarette Racing unveiled the all-new 42X Ducati boat powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 engines coupled to NXT #6 SSM sterndrives.
Staggered 1100s neatly insgtalled in the Cigarette 42X Ducati.

Fred assisted Cigarette Racing later Thursday evening with the unveiling of the new 42X Ducati boat featuring Mercury Racing’s new 1100 engines coupled to NXT #6 SSM drives.

As Fred mentioned in his earlier blog (Theres a new predator in Miami), Cigarette, MTI, DCB and Nor-Tech all had boats on static display featuring 1350 power. Bob Bull’s 1350 powered MTI 48 Race/Pleasure was the talk of the in-water show.  Read more

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February 17, 2011

There’s a new predator in Miami!

Mercury Racing

No Miami International Boat Show would be complete without something up my sleeve. This time, it’s the “younger brother” to Mercury Racing’s 1350 engine. (I just could not call this tough fella “little brother.”)

Mercury Racing’s new 1100 twin turbo V-8 hammers with 1100 lb-ft of torque on 89 octane, mid-grade pump gasoline.

Ta dah!: Our 1,100 horsepower, twin turbo V-8 is here! Like the big guy, it’s a 9 liter, all aluminum, close cooled, quad-cam, four-valve engine. It begins production in April.

The 1100’s benefits are pretty straight forward: Compared to our 1075 SCi, it has a little more power and a lot more torque; compared to our 1350, it has a little less of each.  However, our new 1100 has over 1,100 lb-ft of torque on tap – in a wide RPM band all the way from 2,500 to 5,250! That’s more torque than our 1200 SCi engine! It delivers 1,100 horsepower at 6,500 RPM (red line). It requires less gasoline – less of it and lesser octane: It takes 89 (R+M)/2, mid-grade pump gas (the 1350 takes 91; the 1200 SCi takes 110 race gas!). The 1100 complies with EPA and CARB exhaust gas emissions limits. Maintenance requirements are less frequent, too. This is ideal power for offshore vees and cats.

Even with all its technology, our 1100 is offered at a price favorably comparable to Mercury Racing’s 1075 SCi. As good as our 1075 SCi is, it is out-performed in every metric by our newer technology. Therefore, the 1075 is discontinued. So too, is our 1200/1025 SCi dual fuel engine. Of course, refresh and service parts will continue for our SCi platform. Also, our 850 SCi through 525 EFI will remain in Mercury Racing’s product line.

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February 7, 2011

50 Years of Racing merCruisers – Part 2

Mercury Racing

Racing MerCruisers: 1988 – 2010 (continuing from 50 Years…Part 1)

1988 Superboat World Cup Champion, Don Johnson, with Sterndrives by Kiekhaefer and engines by Gentry.
The deal that wasn’t: Mr. Seger had big ideas, but did not follow through. Ah, what might have been.

First, a relevant side bar: In 1985, a Swiss businessman and offshore racer, Hugo Seger, approached Kiekhaefer Aeromarine (KAM) to design a racing drive. He had tired of his drive failures. We agreed to a deal: KAM would design a drive, he would pay as we made progress, and would become our European distributor.

KAM looked back at the K-600 sterndrive because it was already tooled! But in the dozen years since 1973, we learned a propeller was happier when positioned higher and farther back. Since we dared not start with any handicap, we began to design anew. “Sterndrives by Kiekhaefer” was conceived. Designers, Larry Lohse and Tom Theisen, didn’t sleep much. Me either. Read more

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