Monthly Archives: December 2011

December 28, 2011

Our Colors Are Your Colors!

Mercury Racing

Mercury Racing’s color options provide unique combinations for your boat’s theme. Seeing what others have chosen for color options or customization can be inspiration for your Mercury Racing engine application. You can go mild; you can go wild. It’s your canvas! It’s your taste.

Your choices from our palate include:

Standard QC4v (1350 & 1100) colors — Super Silver metallic over Raven Black non-metallic

Standard big block (700SCi – 525EFi) colors — Racing Blue metallic over Raven Black non-metallic

Cigarette AMG with standard 1350 colors: Super Silver over Bling-Bling Black. The finished boat was tasteful and rich looking.

 

Raven Black non-metallic

 

Bling Bling Black metallic

DCB added a splash of custom orange to our carbon covers. The engines are custom colored in Raven Black inlet and exhaust over a Raven Black block.

 

Dandy Candy Red metallic

This Skater customer chose Dandy Candy Red over a Super Silver block.

 

Mercury Racing Blue metallic

Nor-Tech’s customer chose Mercury Racing Blue metallic for his blocks. Engine room LEDs in blue really finished off the effect!
Being assembled is Racing Blue over Raven Black I’m betting this DCB has some blue going on.

 

Super Silver metallic

Nordic chose a conservative double Super Silver to power its new 43 Enforcer.

 

Devil Red Eye non-metallic

Devil Red Eye 1350s installed in a Skater which was displayed in Key West’s Poker Run Village in November.
Skater Nation chose double Devil Red Eye non-metallic.

 

Fire Orange Pearl metallic

An owner’s Fire Orange Pearl on his 850SCi engines — returned to Racing for refresh.

 

Slate Grey metallic

Slate 700SCi engines look classy with this orange and grey theme.

 

Hulkin’ Green Pearl metallic

This is a research engine going together in Super Silver over a Hulkin’ Green block.

 

Beefy M8s in Nanna Pearl! I can hardly wait to see this boat!

Nanna Yellow Pearl metallic. (We have Nanna engines in the pipeline, but not built yet. So, there are the M8 upper housings.)

 

Joyze Poypole metallic. A pair went out the door and nobody snapped a photo! UPDATE: I found this EU662 in Shipping on Jan 17, 2012, before heading to Europe!

And the winner is…

Nanna and “we don’t do white” research engine.
Here’s an EU662 in “Joyze Poypole” metalic.

 

 

For John Woodruff, MTI painted boat colors over his 1350 top and front covers for a truly custom touch to our standard colors.

 

 

Mike and Dave put the finishing dress on this outrageous 1100. This power is wearing Hulkin’ Green and Fire Orange! Yeow!
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December 23, 2011

Racing’s Elves Are Humming!

Mercury Racing
Crankin' out the Quad Cams before Racing's brief Holiday plant closure.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around Mercury Racing. All our elves are racing to beat the year end clock. There is so much hardware in progress that you can hardly see the little Christmas tree! (Here’s last year’s.) A mix of 1,100 and 1,350 horsepower QC4v packages and other big blocks are scheduled to ship before December 28, 2011 when we close for the New Year Holiday. (Yes, we take a short break for Christmas, too.)

Four Mercury Racing big blocks await crates and boxing.

 

It has been a while since I’ve seen Zeus drives, Sport Jets, 300XS outboards, NXT and M8 sterndrives, 1350s and big blocks all queued in our Shipping Department at the same time!

Between boat builder demand for the 2012 boat show season and immediate needs for consumer boats in production, Racing is Rockin’.

The only blues singing out at Racing will be this guy and its partner -- wailing in dyno cell #5 at 6,500 rpm!

No Holiday blues ringing out here — at least until these blue 1350s light up! A QC4v’s song will lift spirits almost anywhere, whether it’s the Holidays or not. It’s a downright giddy tune when you hear these bad boys in a boat like John Rosatti’s 50 Cigarette Marauder.

Of course, while it’s Winter here, it’s Summer down under… And the “99 Psycho Clowns” ski racing team is putting its single, 1350 powered ski boat through its paces. Their video of testing earlier this year in Australia is surreal. Click the link if you haven’t seen this clip already.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Mercury Racing! Enjoy the season — and your next boating season, too! You can bet that I’m going to. Ho, ho, ho!

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December 21, 2011

RetroJet

Rick Mackie
The 1959 Glass Craft Aero Dynamic Citation as it looked prior to the restoration.
A custom graphic adorns the top of the replica "alien" engine cowling.

Chris Fairchild is a busy guy. His passion is powerboat racing. He’s been racing tunnel boats for over 20 years.  He not only races his own boats in F1 and SST 120 classes, he also builds and repairs race engines and gearcases. He manages to do this in addition to his “real job” of building custom homes with his father, Jim. So, when he sent me pictures of his latest project, I wasn’t surprised. But it still impresses me that he accomplishes what he does with all of the things going on in his life.

A neurosurgeon approached Chris with the idea of restoring the family boat he grew up with.  The boat started life as a 1959 Glass Craft Aero Dynamic Citation outboard runabout.  The doctor wanted to restore the Glass Craft so he could have something to run on the river during the limited time he is “off-duty.” The challenge was the water levels are too low for traditional outboard propulsion. The doctor asked Chris if the boat could be converted to a jet boat. Chris, always up for a challenge and a journey into the unknown, said, “why not?” Read more

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December 16, 2011

On Their Own Plane

Rick Mackie
The cover of the original K-Plane Trim Tabs brochure.
K-Planes continue to prove themselves in offshore powerboat races around the globe. Photo credit: Paul Kemiel Photographics.

I was going through my literature archives the other day and came across a copy of the original Kiekhaefer Aeromarine, Inc., K-Plane Trim Tabs sales brochure. I’ve always respected the quality and functionality of Kiekhaefer’s literature.  I  thought a blog post regarding the history of K-Plane trim tabs would be of interest. More importantly, it will serve as a refresher regarding the fit, form and function of the world’s most durable trim tabs.

Kiekhaefer Aeromarine Motors first introduced K-Plane Trim Tabs in 1970.  They were designed to keep the fastest, hardest running racing boats on an even keel in just about any water condition. US (APBA) and World Offshore (UIM) champions, Doc Magoon and Carlo Bonomi ran nothing else. In the mid 70s, Fred Kiekhaefer upgraded the product for recreational use. Read more

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December 2, 2011

Now What?

Mercury Racing
Steve and Charlie are up to more good!

There’s another monster quad cam four valve platform motor going together in the engineering lab at Mercury Racing. Engineering tech, Charlie Reiter is getting a pointer from R&D engineer, Steve Wynveen.  These guys, and the rest of the engineering team, are always up to something interesting!

Could they be discussing another variant of Mercury Racing’s QC4v? Maybe a global emissions compliant model? Ethanol? (Naw, that stuff is poison in a marine engine.) Sure is GREEN, though!

Maybe it’s a racing engine? Just imagine if we really turned up the wick. What if we ran it on race gas? Sure a lot of speculation about that. But why? Bob Bull’s 1350 powered 48 MTI turned in the fastest lap time of all the boats in Key West — including the turbine.

Perhaps they’re just testing components. Or paint (maybe we have too much “Hulkin’ Green” in inventory). Another endurance engine? Not glamorous, but we do a lot of that kind of testing around here, too.

I guess I’ll have to ask our Engineering Director, Erik Christiansen. Wait, at the Lake of the Ozarks shoot-out and again at the Key West races, he already told interviewers, “We don’t discuss new developments.(Sounds like something I’ve said.) Mum’s the word.” (Sounds like something my dad would have said.)

So, speculate. First, we’re flattered. Second, maybe you’re right. Maybe not. Third, maybe you will plant a seed. Fourth, the Miami Boat Show is just around the corner (February16); Mercury Racing often presents new products in Miami. This year will be no exception. Anyway, we will not say what’s next until we are ready. So please, don’t expect an answer before February 16, 2012.

What the heck is a mum, besides a flower?

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