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. #8 Gasse, Tor’s 48 MTI with 1350s was only a few seconds behind.
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?