“We are ready and super excited to start on the next chapter in our powerboat racing career,” said racer Marit Stromoy. “A brand-new, custom-made DAC has now been collected from Italy and is in our workshop in Norway. The new boat has been specially designed to fit the new Mercury Racing four-stroke F1 engine, the 360 APX. The 360 APX is a huge step forward in technology and sustainability and reduces emissions to the environment by over 90 percent. This has become a big factor for our sponsors and together we made this decision.”
The Mercury Racing engineering team was on hand for the test sessions August 16-18 at Songe, Norway, on a small lake that Stromoy Racing uses as a testing venue.
“The new DAC boat worked very well right away,” said Jeff Broman, director of engineering. “The boat is designed specifically for the weight and performance characteristics of the 360 APX motor. It’s a little wider than the boats currently running Mercury two-stroke outboards in the F1 series, and the weight distribution is optimized. The boat was developed by Stromoy after her Lake X session with the Mercury Racing DAC test hull, and work done by Guido Cappellini at DAC in Italy. The boat is all carbon fiber and, I’ve got to say, the craftsmanship in this boat is fantastic.”
The Mercury Racing 360 APX combines a durable, low-emissions, four-stroke powerhead with amazing performance. The motor is based on a modified version of the Mercury Racing 300R 4.6-liter V8 powerhead. The 12-inch midsection is designed specifically for Formula 1 tunnel boat applications, with a structural wet sump driveshaft housing and integrated power trim and lift with remote pumps. An overdrive spur gearset between the crankshaft and the gearcase increases the input shaft speed to the gearcase to match that of the current 9600-RPM two-stroke race engine and produces the left-hand propeller rotation desired for Formula 1 circuit racing. The overdrive is designed to accommodate multiple gear ratios, so the teams can select the ratio that best fits each particular race.
Broman explained that Stromoy Racing Team, always competitive but at a budget disadvantage to other teams in the series, is perfectly aligned to make the switch from two-stroke power to the 360 APX.
“This is a sharp team but they have to compete with fewer resources,” said Broman. “They are ready to buck the two-stroke paradigm and try something new. It’s a chance to get out front with this new power option. For this team the lower cost of ownership offered by the 360 APX will be a big advantage. The two-stroke outboards need to be rebuilt after each race. The 360 APX will race for a season with just oil changes. There will be a lot of eyes on Marit and this boat at the next race.”
Marit Stromoy burst on to the F1H2O scene in 2007. The 46-year-old racer from Sandefjord, Norway, has made history on two occasions. In Portimão, in 2011, she became the first woman in the history of the sport to claim a pole position and, four years later, in Sharjah, she claimed her first Grand Prix victory. Stromoy has competed in over 100 Grand Prix events and finished third in the rankings in 2019, with the last of her five podium finishes coming in Xiamen that year. She made her racing debut at the age of 12 and started out in S-550, winning the European title on three occasions and the Nordic Championship twice.
The UIM F1H2O World Championship is the flagship international series of single-seater inshore circuit powerboat racing. The series attracts up to 20 of the world’s leading drivers competing in tunnel-hull catamarans capable of making hairpin turns at more than 90 mph and achieving top speeds in excess of 140 mph on the straights.
Want to learn more? Take three minutes to watch Jeff Broman discuss the APX 360 with Powerboat Racing World.
Explore more about the Mercury Racing Wide Open lifestyle and all Mercury Racing high-performance products at Mercuryracing.com.
