As David Foulkes, the chief executive officer of Brunswick Corporation, said during an interview for Tuesday evening’s speedonthewater.com story about Mercury Racing’s new 450R outboard engine, a supercharged version of the 4.6-liter V-8 300R outboard introduced last May by Mercury Marine was inevitable. But as anyone with even the most passing understanding of engine design and building can tell you, that’s easier said than done. Engines component don’t just need to “fit” within their given design and performance envelopes, they need to fit within their inherently limited physical confines.

Sometimes, just getting everything to fit perfectly can present a mighty powerful challenge. Photo courtesy/copyright Cigarette Racing Team.

And that’s where the fun started for Jeff Broman, the director of engineering for the high-performance marine engine company in Fond du Lac, Wis., and his talented crew.

For Broman, who began his career with Mercury Marine 18 years ago, it was a long process that actually began six years ago.

“That was when we started conceptualizing our new V-8 and V-6 outboard engine program,” said Broman, who served as the technical director on that project. “We knew that it would be a great foundation for another outboard more powerful that the 400R. So three years ago we integrated the coming 450R into that platform approach.”

Read More: Inside Mercury Racing’s 450R Outboard: An Exercise In Packaging

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