If you’re like many and are simply amazed at the speeds coming from so many of the industry’s new performance boats featuring the popular Mercury 1350 twin turbo engines, then maybe there is more to the story. Let’s look at Bob Bull’s rocket like performance at Lake of the Ozarks Shoot Out in a 48′ MTI or the Gasse racing team at Key west. Fact is Mercury Racing has been testing, refining and tuning the durability of the 1350 Turbo engine, upping the boost and raising performance levels substantially. Until now this privilege was available only to a mere few special boat owners so they could give Mercury Racing the ability to truly dazzle in the eyes of the public. While it could clearly be stated that this is straight from the rumor mill, a very reliable inside source leaked last week that Mercury will indeed debut a “1700HP Race Version” of the engine based on the 1350 Twin Turbo architecture during the 2013 Miami Boat Show. This 1700HP race version will require race fuel as it will not be designed to run on normal pump gas. This is sure to up the ante in the the performance engine wars as Mercury Racing has thrown down the gauntlet to it’s challengers, if there are any!
