MERCURY - FourStroke Ski Success

27.11.2009

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Mercury Verado ski racer breaks cover at Bridge to Bridge

Mercury Marine has once again proved it's the industry's true innovator - surprising many by running a highly-competitive FourStroke outboard at the Feros Hotels Sydney Bridge to Bridge ski race classic.

It was the first time a FourStroke has ever powered a SMOC boat in Australian competition.

"The boat was called Silent Black, it's a LAB sports powered by a stock 250 Verado, and it's certainly got people asking questions," said Guy Williamson, Mercury's Director - Service & Quality.

"I think this could be the start of a major shift in ski racing."

Ignoring the myth that serious ski racers can only use TwoStroke engines, Mercury knew its supercharged Verados were capable of mixing it with the fastest boats in competitive SMOC racing.

On the day Silent Black started the event carefully, but once past the first bridge its FourStroke power saw it start to move up the field.

"Then just as we were about to pass second place finisher Stalker and our propeller failed," said David Aggar, Silent Black's driver. "We were gutted."

Throughout the entire development process, the team at Mercury Racing were confident the FourStroke would be ultra-competitive.

"At the point we lost the propeller Silent Black had exceeded our expectations and we were definitely competing for a podium place which, in such a quality field, would have been the ultimate debut," Guy said.

"Mercury has fantastic race engines with the OptiMax DFI products, and now we know we can add Verados to the mix."

The concept started at this year's Sydney Boat Show when Troy Wood from Sea Quest Performance and boat owner David Aggar approached Mercury to discuss the possibility of running a Verado in SMOC class. Thus Mercury's latest science project was born - code-named "Silent Black".

Over a six week period Mercury worked closely with Sea Quest Performance to develop and hone the boat's set until they felt that they had a potent package that would meet all expectations and exceed some.

"We had to throw out everything we knew about setting up a ski racing boat and start again. We had to write some new rules to optimise the boat with the engine, but when we got it right we knew we had a racing machine," Guy said.

With the success of Silent Black's debut, Mercury has proved that its FourStroke Verados, partnered with the right team, can match it with any competitor in SMOC which is now probably the most competitive class in ski racing.

"We learnt a lot from the Bridge to Bridge and we're going to come back faster and stronger," Guy said.

Silent Black is scheduled to race next at the Southern 80 and once again a podium finish is the goal.

"We didn't have time to test all of our ideas before the Bridge to Bridge, so now we've got a chance to get the boat back in the water and continue the fine tuning."