an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . november 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message ilmor engineering limited type private limited company founder mario illien paul morgan and roger penske headquarters brixworth northamptonshire united kingdom website www.ilmor.co.uk mario illien co founder of ilmor ilmor founded by mario illien and paul morgan in november 1983 is a british independent high performance autosport engineering company . with manufacturing based in brixworth northamptonshire and maintenance offices in plymouth michigan the company supplies engines and consultancy to the indycar series and motogp . after originally developing indycar engines the company built a partnership with mercedes benz to power f1 cars for both the sauber and mclaren teams . after the death of paul morgan in a vintage aeroplane crash in 2001 mercedes increased its stake until it owned the entire company and renamed it mercedes benz high performance engines ltd. in 2005 mario illien concluded a deal to purchase the special projects part of the company in partnership with roger penske which was under contract with honda performance development to jointly develop indycar engines from 2003 2006 with the relationship continuing through 2011 . 1 this new company which is totally independent of mercedes is once again known as ilmor engineering ltd. they once again developed the ilmor x3 for the 2007 motogp world motorcycle championship which they entered in one race before withdrawing and effectively shutting down the race team due to funding problems . racing remains the core part of the business today and ilmor acts as a consultant for motorsport clients from all forms of racing . however the business is now using its racing expertise to diversify into other areas such as oem automotive defence marine and energy efficient engine applications . contents 1 2.65 liter indy car v 8 2 f1 debut 3 sauber 4 racing in the united states 5 mercedes benz in formula one 6 ilmor engineering inc. expansion to the u.s. 7 diversification ilmor high performance marine llc . 8 powerboat racing world champions 9 motogp 10 complete formula one results 11 notes 12 see also 13 external links 2.65 liter indy car v 8 edit the chevy indy v 8 both engineers were working at cosworth on the cosworth dfx turbocharged methanol engine for the cart indy car world series ; differences of opinion over the direction in which dfx development should go cosworth were inherently conservative as they had a near monopoly led them to break away from their parent company to pursue their own ideas . there was some acrimony in their split from cosworth their former employer claiming that the ilmor engine was little different from their planned modifications to the dfx . 2 founded as an independent british engine manufacturer in 1983 it started building engines for indy cars with the money of team owner and chassis manufacturer roger penske . the ilmor chevrolet 265 a debuted at the 1986 indianapolis 500 with team penske driver al unser . in 1987 the engine program expanded to all three penske team drivers rick mears danny sullivan and al unser patrick racing and newman haas racing . mario andretti driving for newman haas won at long beach the engine s first indy car victory . he also won the pole position for the 1987 indianapolis 500 . a year later the engine was rebadged as the chevy indy v 8 and rick mears won the 1988 indianapolis 500 the engine s first win at indianapolis . the engine went on to have a stellar record in cart . from 1987 to 1991 the engine won 64 of 78 races . the 265 a engine was followed up by the 265 b engine . the chevy b was fielded singly by penske racing in 1992 and won five cart series races . all other ilmor teams remained with the chevy a for 1992 . it was at this time that ilmor was receiving new competition from cosworth which had just introduced their new powerplant the ford cosworth xb . for 1993 the 265 c engine was introduced replacing both the a and the b . the chevy c was used widespread and produced continued success for ilmor . chevrolet dropped its badging support after the 1993 season . for the 1994 season two new engines were introduced . the 265 d engine replaced the c although some of the smaller teams associated with ilmor still ran the c in 1994 . without badging support the engines were referred to simply as the ilmor c and the ilmor d . the other engine introduced in 1994 was the top secret 265 e see below which was actually a 3.43 liter pushrod engine used by penske racing at the 1994 indianapolis 500 . for 1995 mercedes benz became the badging manufacturer for the ilmor indy car engines . the engine continued to be a strong contender on the cart circuit . in 1996 the open wheel split began between cart and the irl . ilmor primarily was a provider for cart based teams and did not provide engines for any full time irl teams . at the 1996 indy 500 the ilmor mercedes benz d was used by galles racing and finished second the powerplant s one and only start in an irl sanctioned race . when the irl switched to normally aspirated engines for 1997 the 265s were no longer permitted in the irl and the indy 500 and raced in the cart series exclusively . f1 debut edit in 1991 ilmor entered formula 1 with a v10 engine as exclusive supplier to the ambitious leyton house team formerly march . after some troubles leyton house returned to racing as march again in 1992 still using ilmor engines . ilmor also supplied engines to the tyrrell team starting from 1992 . powered by the ilmor v10 tyrrell scored 8 points through andrea de cesaris and march another 3 through karl wendlinger . sauber edit ilmor were gaining a reasonable reputation in f1 citation needed and so the sauber sportscar team and mercedes benz who were planning their formula one entry together signed a deal with ilmor after scrapping plans for a mercedes engine . in order to protect their image mercedes took on an observational role in the project and the cars had concept by mercedes benz written in the engine cover . after scoring 12 points in 1993 mercedes entered officially in 1994 using an updated version of the 1993 engine and now powered by mercedes benz was seen on the sauber engine cover . the same year mercedes benz acquired chevrolet s 25 % share of ilmor . in 1994 ilmor also supplied the new pacific gp team of keith wiggins with the old 1993 spec engines . in 32 attempts the pacific cars qualified seven times . racing in the united states edit the 265c v8s ran the entire 1994 indy car season badged as ilmor indy v8 with team penske headlining the program . but there was another extraordinary engine from ilmor in 1994 the mercedes benz 500i although work on this started long before the mercedes takeover as a private project between ilmor and penske . the 500i exploited a loophole in the engine rules at the indianapolis 500 which was run under slightly different rules to other cart races . originally stock block engines based on production units fitted with two pushrod and rocker arm actuated valves per cylinder were permitted to run at increased cubic capacity 3.43 litres vs 2.65 litres and significantly greater turbo boost than the pure racing engines . for several years buick v6 units had been extremely fast but fragile ; the restrictions were relaxed with the intent of permitting buick like engines to use stronger but still production like blocks the menard engine based on the buick took this approach as did the unsuccessful greenfield v8 . ilmor realized that this provided scope for a completely new pure bred racing engine it would need to retain pushrods but could be designed specifically for the requirements of the indianapolis 500 and in strict secrecy schemed a completely new v8 engine which was approximately 200 bhp 150 kw more powerful than the cosworth xb and ilmor 265c opposition . team penske s cars were by far the fastest at the 1994 indianapolis 500 and al unser jr. won the race with emerson fittipaldi also figuring strongly until an accident on lap 184 . the loophole was closed for 1995 and penske a year behind on development for indy failed to qualify their 265c powered cars for that year s 500 . for 1995 the 265c v8s were rebadged mercedes and continued to be highly competitive with al unser jr. finishing runner up with four wins . rahal hogan racing joined penske as major teams as bobby rahal collected five podiums to finish third in the overall standings . in 1996 penske s unser jr. finished fourth rahal seventh and his teammate bryan herta eighth with neither collecting wins . in 1997 unser jr. had a poor season whereas penske teammate paul tracy claimed third wins but retired in the last five races to finish fifth in the standings . pacwest drivers maur cio gugelmin and mark blundell claimed four wins combined and finished fourth and sixth in the standings . forsythe driver greg moore got two wins and three second places but retired in eight races and finished seventh . after the cart irl split mercedes gradually lost interest in american racing and left cart after the 2000 season . ilmor continued working in the united states on the oldsmobile aurora v8 for the irl penske entries 1 and later developed the normally aspirated chevrolet irl engine which was used from 2002 2005 . in 2003 honda partnered with ilmor on the honda indy v8 engine which was used in various forms from 2003 2011 . 2 3 in 2007 honda took a more prominent role in engine design and development which culminated in moving their engine design development and production completely in house and discontinuing their partnership with ilmor after 2011 . in 2012 chevrolet returned to the indycar series partnering with ilmor on the highly successful chevrolet indy v6 engine program . mercedes benz in formula one edit a 2000 mclaren mp4 15 s mercedes benz fo110j 3.0 litre v10 engine made by ilmor back in f1 for 1995 mercedes had set its sights on higher goals and went looking for an engine supply deal with a more competitive team . sauber had the opportunity to become a customer team but team principal peter sauber opted to sign a deal with ford instead . from then on ilmor built the mercedes benz engines exclusively for mclaren . the ilmor engines went on to be hugely successful with mclaren scoring several podiums in both 1995 and 1996 leading to three wins in 1997 and back to back drivers championship in 1998 and 1999 as well as the constructor s championship in 98 . although they did not win another championship until 2008 the ilmor mercedes engines won several races . in 2001 paul morgan was killed while landing one of his vintage airplanes a hawker sea fury at sywell aerodrome northamptonshire . in 2002 daimlerchrysler increased its share to 55 % and renamed the company mercedes ilmor . in 2005 daimler chrysler became the sole owner of ilmor and renamed the company mercedes benz high performance engines ltd. ilmor engineering inc. expansion to the u.s. edit ilmor engineering inc. a sister company to ilmor u.k. was incorporated in 1990 president paul ray with the primary goal of providing engineering support to customers using the ilmor ltd. manufactured chevrolet 265a indy car engine . in 1998 the headquarters moved from its