You make it sound like Merc is horrible!...if Merc really was FORCING racers to use the next gen engine, then why were the 500hp engines still in the contingency program for 2003?...why was the contingency program STILL there after the fallout between the merc and apba?....phil and i spent a lot of time a merc this year...i just don't see it bro....kinda like when tony e. of merc said, "look around joey, where are my merc banners...other than on our truck?"....i just don't see 'em!....this was at marathon when mike said EVERYTHING is great between us and had tony stand up in the meeting!....you know the same meeting where we were told we would get 100 bucks off our preregistration...a month later it's really a $100 penalty for NOT preregistering!...you know the meeting where ted z got up and told us about the K&N product deal...CASH at the races for 3 places and free products...hummm no money i ever saw,,,K&N was not aware this program!! but we sure as hell got the stickers!...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by audacity
[B]....phil and i spent a lot of time a merc this year...i just don't see it bro....kinda like when tony e. of merc said, "look around joey, where are my merc banners...other than on our truck?"....i just do see 'em!....this was at marathon when mike said EVERYTHING is great between us and had tony stand up in the meeting!....

At Marathon the banners were getting taken as quick they got put up.
There was the Banner about the Marathon race in front of our hotel,it was gone the first night.

Okay, so EXACTLY how much does a pair of 496 HO's cost. No really, exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some one on here has to know. Then our team can make an educated decision.

JK

F2-24

I'm sure Al from Offshore Addictions can tell you he has been looking onto it and is a Mercury dealer....
Gino

Last year And I May Be incorrect

One of the problems 525,s What PCM was run ?
Unable to read at race . 525.s used a 555 microprocessers.
This year you want use to change engines again?
496,s used a 555 microprocessers.

Has this been correted ?

I may be wrong here, I'm not sure, but doesn't a 525 cost considerably more than a 496? Couldn't the teams with 500's and 525's sell them and be able to buy the 496's without much out of pocket expense?

I'm a big fan of racing, and I'd hate to see it die. It seems to me that the 496 is the path racing should take for the future of factory racing.

you mean sell them for WAY less than we paid for them? then install 496's in a boat that would NEVER sell with that kind of power. most in this forum would never buy a pleasure boat that had this little HP in it! ever drive a boat with 496's?,,,,pretty damn lifeless!

Formula says their race boats are too fast in the hands of a professional....so why would they build and sell pleasure boats that are faster to persons with ZERO boating experience??? that would seem like a legal mess to me!

Then the Black Motor Brakes

And the Blue Keeps Going And Going And Going.

Cuda,

The 496 is multi flavored. 425HP, 470HP, 555HP. Pretty much whatever you want. That makes the 496 a good platform for factory racing. The only variant that will bring the "factories" into factory racing is the 496HO. Mike made a good case for this.

I want a 496...just not a 496HO. If a new 496HO class were started and I wanted to race that class, I would build a boat specifically for that power.

It could be we start another class and see which one (todays factory or a 496HO factory) survives over the next couple of years. Let the market dictate.

Jim

RR,,,i would say your are correct if we are talking about <30' single engine boats...now in a 38 foot boat?? DONZI sells NONE...Formula you would have to ask....but some guy spending 300K on a boat is NOT going to want 496's in it! a friend of mine just got the 496's...i warned him...guess what,,, yeah it's a few MPH slower than the blue engines, but his cruising speed is WAY down! acceleration??what is that!