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The Callahan Racing Page
December 6, 1997

Mercedes-Benz Tests New CART Engine


MONTVALE, N.J. — Mercedes-Benz's IC108E engine, the "clean sheet of paper" V8 powerplant with which the three-pointed star will defend its 1997 CART Manufacturer's Championship, is ready to make its first foray out onto a race track. After successful dynamometer testing, the first car-ready IC108E was installed in the new Penske PC27 chassis in England earlier this week and shipped to Fontana, Calif., where teammates Al Unser Jr. and Andre Ribeiro will give the 1998 Marlboro Penske Mercedes its initial run.

Al Unser, Jr.
Al Unser, Jr.

"As you might expect with a brand new design which incorporates so much new technology, we found some small things during early dyno testing of the ‘E' that we wanted to change right away, before installing it in a car," said Paul Ray, vice president of Ilmor Engineering, the race engine-building arm of Mercedes-Benz. "We've now made those alterations, and the first ‘Issue Two' IC108E was assembled at Ilmor Engineering in Brixworth (England) on Sunday and Monday of this week and run on the dyno on Tuesday. It was then shipped to Penske Cars in Poole (England) for installation in the car and flown to Fontana on Thursday for testing this weekend."

The first all-new Mercedes-Benz CART engine since the 500I which dominated the 1994 Indianapolis 500, the IC108E is smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the IC108D -- which powered drivers to nine PPG Cup wins and six pole positions in 1997 -- and incorporates technology from Mercedes' Formula One engine program.

Mercedes-Benz won 40 percent of the races it entered in 1997, and was the only engine manufacturer to power race wins in both CART and Formula One. In addition to nine wins during the 17-race PPG CART World Series, Mercedes-Benz's CLK-GTR scored six victories during the 11-race FIA GT Championship season, with driver Bernd Schneider claiming the driver's championship and Team AMG-Mercedes collecting the team title. In Formula One, the Silver Arrows visited victory lane three times in 17 races, continuing a history of success on the track that dates back more than 100 years to the first auto race ever held.

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