The Mercedes-Benz Indy V8 engine, known as the Ilmor 265-D (1994), and later the Mercedes-Benz IC108 (1995-2000), is a powerful,

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

, 2.65-liter,

Indy car racing Indy may refer to: Computing and technology *Indy (software), used for Internet access to music *Internet Direct, or "Indy", a software library *SGI Indy, a computer workstation Periodicals *''The Indy'', shorthand for newspapers that include " ...

V-8

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

, specially designed, developed, and built by

Ilmor Ilmor is a British independent high-performance motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and maintenance offices in Plymouth, Mic ...

, in partnership and collaboration with

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, to compete in the CART series; between

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Background

The 265-D engine was introduced for the 1994 season, which replaced the 265-C, although some of the smaller teams still ran the "C" throughout 1994. Without badging support, the engines were referred to simply as the "Ilmor-C" and the "Ilmor-D". This engine was said to produce about more than the Ford-Cosworth XB used at the time. In 1995,

became the badging manufacturer for the Ilmor Indy car engines. The engine continued to be a strong contender on the CART circuit. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, the open-wheel "split" began between CART and the IRL. Ilmor primarily was a provider for CART-based teams, and did not provide engines for any full-time IRL teams. At the 1996 Indy 500, the ''Ilmor Mercedes-Benz D'' was used by

Galles Racing Galles Racing is a former auto racing team owned by Rick Galles that competed in the CART series, Can-Am and the Indy Racing League. The team won the 1990 CART championship as well as the 1992 Indianapolis 500 with driver Al Unser Jr. The team ...

, and finished second, the powerplant's one and only start in an

IRL IRL may refer to: Places * Republic of Ireland (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code) * Irlam railway station (National Rail station code IRL), England Organizations * International Rugby League, the governing body for the sport of rugby league * I ...

-sanctioned race. When the IRL switched to normally-aspirated engines for 1997, the 265s were no longer permitted in the IRL and the Indy 500, and from that point on raced in the CART series exclusively.

Applications

Penske PC-22 The Penske PC-22 was a CART Penske Racing car which competed in the 1993 season. It raced in all sixteen events, scoring eight wins, three with Emerson Fittipaldi and five with Paul Tracy. The most remarkable success of the PC-22 was the 1993 India ...

Penske PC-23 The Penske PC-23 was a highly successful CART racing car that competed in the 1994 IndyCar season with Penske Racing, and in the 1995 IndyCar season with Bettenhausen Motorsports. It was designed by Nigel Bennett, who based its design on the 19 ...

Penske PC-24 The Penske PC-24 was an open-wheel CART racing car that competed in the 1995 IndyCar season with Marlboro Team Penske and Hogan Penske Racing. It was designed by Nigel Bennett. It scored a total of 5 wins that season; 4 wins for Al Unser Jr., and 1 ...

Penske PC-25 The Penske PC-25 was an open-wheel CART racing car that competed in the 1996 IndyCar season with Marlboro Team Penske and Hogan Penske Racing. It was designed by Nigel Bennett. Development Roger Penske made several changes for 1996, particularly ...

Penske PC-26 The Penske PC-26 was designed by Nigel Bennett and manufactured by Penske Cars in Poole, Dorset, for the 1997 CART Championship. Whilst a development of the PC-25, the PC-26 was designed to address the twitchy nature of the previous year's car. Fi ...

Penske PC-27 The Penske PC-27 was a CART racing car designed by John Travis and manufactured by Penske Cars in Poole, Dorset. The design was based around the team's 1997 car, the PC-26. It competed in the 1998 CART season and, as the PC-27B, in part of the 19 ...

Reynard 94I The Reynard 94I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1994 and 1995 IndyCar seasons, notable for winning the first CART race it entered. The car continued to be raced in the 1996 and 1996 ...

Reynard 95I The Reynard 95I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1995 and 1996 IndyCar seasons, notable for winning the first CART race it entered, and later going on to win the constructors' and driv ...

Reynard 96I The Reynard 96I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1996 and 1997 IndyCar seasons, notable for winning the first CART race it entered, and the constructors' and drivers' titles later that ...

Reynard 97I Reynard Motorsport vehicles The Reynard 97I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1997 IndyCar season. It won the constructors' and drivers' titles later that year, being driven by Alex Zanar ...

Reynard 98I The Reynard 98I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1998 IndyCar season. It won the constructors' and drivers' titles later that year, being driven by Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Z ...

Reynard 99I Reynard Motorsport vehicles The Reynard 99I is an open-wheel racing car designed and built by Reynard Racing Cars that competed in the 1999 IndyCar season. It was extremely dominant winning 18 out of the 20 races that season, including the seas ...

* Reynard 2KI * Lola T94/00 * Lola T95/00 *

Lola T96/00 The Lola T96/00 is an open-wheel racing car chassis, designed and built by Lola Cars that competed in the CART open-wheel racing series, for competition in the 1996 IndyCar season. It was slightly more competitive than its predecessors, scoring 8 ...

* Lola B99/00 * Lola B2K/00

References

{{Reflist

External links

Which Mercedes Model Is Most Reliable?
Engines by model Mercedes-Benz engines IndyCar Series Champ Car V8 engines Mercedes-Benz in motorsport