Ilmor looks to add more teams in 2008

Thursday 09 October 2008

The #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette and #88 Kiton Outerlimits boats mix it up in Malta

US-based engine manufacturer Ilmor Marine Engines has said it is looking at adding more teams to its Evolution class roster in 2009, having benefited from running with the #53 Pignolo 53 Skater outfit as well as the double title-winning #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com during the course of the 2008 season.

Rival engine builder Mercury Racing significantly stepped up the number of teams it is working closely with in the Evolution class this year as it bid to fight back against Ilmor in the title stakes. Ilmor added Max Ferrari’s #53 Pignolo outfit to its line-up, helping the Italian team to its first win, and says there were numerous benefits to running a multi-team assault on the Powerboat P1 championship.

“Having two teams is beneficial, as we get twice as much information about the product, including different boats, drivers and talent,” Ilmor Marine Engines President Paul Ray said. “We get to benchmark our performance better. In motorsport, there is a tremendous amount of performance information available. There are track times, split times and you can tell down to thousandths of a second where you are fast or slow.

“In boat racing, there are also so many large variables. The courses are longer, the track is wider, and there are so many ways to take a turn. Boat racing has become imperative to our marine product as it has taught us a huge amount about the strengths of the engines and all our products will incorporate what we learned.”

Ilmor could have more teams on its roster in 2009, as the #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com team is looking at adding at least one more Evolution class entry to its line-up. The outfit is also looking at adding a couple of SuperSport boats – Ilmor currently has no representation in the production boat-based class.

“We’d like to have more teams,” Ray said. “We plan to carry on with Max Ferrari and, of course, Fountain Worldwide. We have had enquiries, but nothing firm, on new teams, and none are expected until next year. We’ve also had conversations, although our current engines might be too heavy for a smaller boat.”