Nothing like a big-power engine shot to get your heart started—or at least defrosted—in the off-season. So for your viewing pleasure: The two 1,300-hp beasts in the photo above are from Potter Performance Engines in Bradenton, Fla., and were built to re-power the well-known Speed Racer catamaran. In fact, if everything has gone as scheduled the engines are already in the 44-foot-long Marine Technology, Inc. cat (thanks to Typhoon Service Center in Toms River, N.J.), which will be headed to Florida later this month for propeller testing.

“With race fuel, those engines would have no trouble making 1,400 horsepower—you should see the dyno sheets,” Bob Christi, the owner of the boat, told me over the phone a few days ago. “Ron (Potter, the owner of Potter Performance Engines) has done an incredible job. His engines have always been great for me.”

Christi said that with the new power Speed Racer should top 170 mph. I sure hope so—it’s my ride for the Florida Powerboat Club’s Miami Boat Show Poker Run Feb. 18-21