Had a nice chat with Fred Kiekhaefer, the president of Mercury Racing, over the weekend. Kiekhaefer told me that construction of the first “production” pair of the company’s twin-turbocharged 1,350-hp engines was underway.

When I told him I would have been disappointed with anything less because had Mercury Racing representatives had repeatedly promised that production of the quad-overhead cam powerplants would begin in July, Kiekhaefer chuckled.

“Well, it was darn near the end of July,” he said. “But July, nevertheless.”

Production of the engine reportedly is sold out through March 2011.