---
title: "What’s It Like Testing Mercury Racing’s 750-HP Small Block Crate Motor?"
description: "Here's a hint: Pretty [expletive deleted] fun."
date: "2017-10-06"
modified: "2017-10-06"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/video/14877/whats-it-like-testing-mercury-racings-750-hp-small-block-crate-motor"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "General Motors"
  - "mercury marine"
  - "Mercury Racing"
  - "small block"
  - "Ultima GTR"
  - "V-8"
---

# What’s It Like Testing Mercury Racing’s 750-HP Small Block Crate Motor?

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/10/screen-shot-2017-10-05-at-12-08-35-pm.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

When it comes to crate motors worth dropping into road-going speed machines, Mercury Marine likely isn't the first name that comes to mind. (A fact which likely has quite a bit to do with the word "Marine" in there.) But in spite of its aquatic roots, the company has a bit of history building sweet engines for high-performance cars. It was Mercury Marine, after all, that handled assembly of the Lotus-designed DOHC V8 that hid beneath the C4-generation Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1's hood.

In recent years, the company has begin making more of a point of showing off how nicely the assorted wares produced under its Mercury Racing brand work in an automotive context. Back in 2015, the company modified [a twin-turbocharged 9.0-liter V8](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/7745/these-crazy-1550-horsepower-engines-cost-200000-each>) for duty in [SpeedKore Performance's carbon fiber-bodied '71 Dodge Charger known as "Tantrum."](<https://www.thedrive.com/vintage/2324/the-1650-horsepower-sleeper-in-jay-lenos-garage>) In that SEMA-spec muscle car, Mercury's motor cranked out a seismic *1,650 horsepower*.

Cut to the present day, however, and the company has launched its latest foray into crate engines specifically designed for automotive use. It's a little more tame than the Bugatti-beating engine crammed into the Tantrum...it's hardly a wimp.

The [Mercury Racing SB4 is a 7.0-liter four-valve-per-cylinder small block engine](<https://www.thedrive.com/video/11943/mercury-racings-new-750-hp-corvette-based-crate-engine-is-one-mean-green-machine>) based on the beloved LS7 V8 found in the C6-generation Corvette Z06 and the former Camaro Z/28. The LS's in-block cam and pushrods get the old heave-ho, replaced with Mercury Racing's own dual-overhead-cam valve train. Thanks to engineers careful handiwork, [the SB4](<https://www.mercuryracing.com/automotive/>) revs to 7,500 rpm and cranks out a stunning 750 horsepower—about 50 percent more than the engine it came from.

![message-editor%2F1507147271564-sb4\_slider-image-1500-e1477934062977.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1507147271564-sb4_slider-image-1500-e1477934062977.png>)
*The Mercury Racing SB4 small block. , *Mercury Racing**

In order to help get the word out about the new Corvette-based engine, Mercury invited *The Drive* out to the company's Wisconsin headquarters (or, to be more accurate, a closed-off airstrip nearby) so we could have a chance to open the taps on the SB4. And since bench-racing an engine is only fun for nerds, the company gave us a chance to test it out by driving an Ultima GTR—a mid-engined track machine that weighs roughly as much as a Mazda Miata—equipped with the manic small block between its axles.

What was it like? Well, hit play and find out.

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

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