---
title: "These Crazy 1550-Horsepower Engines Cost $200,000 Each"
description: "Mercury Racing's super heroic marine powerplants are works of machine art. And you can order them in green."
date: "2017-02-17"
modified: "2017-02-17"
authors:
  - name: "Mike Spinelli"
    job_title: "VP of Content"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mike-spinelli"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/7745/these-crazy-1550-horsepower-engines-cost-200000-each"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "boats"
  - "Cigarette Racing Team"
  - "Marine Engines"
  - "Mercury Racing"
---

# These Crazy 1550-Horsepower Engines Cost $200,000 Each

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/02/hulk_hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com\</em\>*

Among landlocked engine nerds, high-performance marine powertrains are a mere glimmer on the edge of consciousness. As such, Mercury Racing's nine-liter, dual overhead cam, four-valve, twin-turbocharged [madness machines](<https://www.mercuryracing.com/sterndrives/engines/1550-2/>) have likely slipped past unnoticed. That's a shame, because they’re an engine-nerd’s paradise.

For power junkies, marine engines offer the best of all worlds: less-stringent regulations, unlimited cooling possibilities—for both engine and intake air charge—and access to super-rich customers willing to pay for high-end engineering. It’s a trifecta that opens up mega performance possibilities, including those of Mercury Racing's hulk-like 1550.

Built for top-of-the line pleasure boats, this badass mill, part of the company's QC4V (quad-cam, four valve) engine platform, combines outrageous performance with low-wake flexibility that won’t piss off the harbor patrol. That, plus its smooth throttle won’t have the owner of a $1.4 million speedboat slamming into a pier while he’s trying to modulate a quirky racing engine.

Getting full-monty horsepower means filling the tanks with race gas. On 91 octane pump fuel, they’ll still turn out 1350 hp. The engine calibrations are switchable via a "Race" key fob, which unlocks the top spec, and a "Pleasure” fob that limits horses to the base.

The Marine Racing 1550 propels the [Mercedes-AMG 50 Marauder GT R](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/7707/mercedes-amg-built-a-3100-horsepower-cigarette-boat>) to 130 mph on water—which feels like 1000 to land lubbers. It’s also a direct relative to the racing-built 1650 that powers the [1970 Dodge Charger Tantrum](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts0Z030mucc>), shown at the SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas last year.

The company also sells a similar, seven-liter engine [for performance cars](<https://www.mercuryracing.com/automotive/>), as a direct competitor to GM’s ubiquitous LS crate motor.

And what's more, you can order the 1550 in [a range of shades](<https://www.mercuryracing.com/sterndrives/engines/1550-2/>), and even make the heads and intake separate colors. Unless you want that apropos Hulk effect.

![message-editor%2F1487364777246-screenshot2017-02-17at12.00.57pm.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1487364777246-screenshot2017-02-17at12.00.57pm.png>)

Lest it remain unsaid, MERCURY SMASH.

## Author
A sucker for Ford-era Jaguar XJs and glitchy, early-90s BMW V12s, Mike was the founding editor of car culture site Jalopnik, and a former editor-in-chief of 0-60. He's also a co-host of the TV show /DRIVE on NBC Sports, which can be seen from time to time on NBCSN, usually after midnight.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mikespinelli>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/mikespin>)