MERCURY’S NEW TRAJECTORY

IIf you were a boater growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, you had your eye on two techno races: the Space Race to the moon between America and Russia, and the outboard horsepower battle between Mercury and Evinrude. We settled the race to the moon, but the race for outboard horsepower supremacy has simply never stopped to this day, and other brands such as Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki have entered the contest.

It was the latest round of “if you build it, they will come” that recently brought me, along with a select group of America’s boating press, to Mercury’s legendary, top-secret test facility on Lake X in central Florida.

There, we learned Mercury had defied most rumors of pumping out a new 600-horsepower outboard to take a shot at the Seven Marine 627. Instead, it introduced a completely new line of four-stroke V-6 3.4-liter outboards that might redefine boater expectations when it comes to marine power.

But the biggest surprise was just how big a blastoff these new engines would be. Cranking out 175, 200 and 225 horsepower, Merc’s new FourStroke V-6 motors are designed to change the contest from maximizing raw horsepower to creating more elegantly designed, naturally aspirated, superior-handling outboards.