Indy Racing

Precision engineering is required to withstand the stresses of completing 500 miles flat-out at Indy averaging more than 225 mph - and to win takes extreme dedication. At Ilmor each of our engines carries our Indy heritage with our unparalleled commitment to be the best.

Ilmor got its start in 1983 when Swiss-born Mario Illien and British native Paul Morgan contacted American businessman and racing team owner Roger Penske with a proposal for a new company to design and build turbocharged engines for the American-based Indy Car Series. Within three months, with Penske's backing, Ilmor Engineering was born.

Penske secured funding from General Motors for the team to develop an all-new eight-cylinder turbocharged Chevrolet engine. In 1986, four-time Indy winner Al Unser became the first to race with the Ilmor-designed engine and in April 1987 Mario Andretti was the first to win a race for the company. The Ilmor-Chevrolet engine rapidly became the dominant engine in Indy racing, winning multiple times with stunning performance and reliability.

In 1993, Chevrolet opted out of open-wheel racing, and Ilmor found a new partner in Mercedes-Benz, and the introduction of the MB500I, perhaps the most powerful engine in the nearly 100-year history of the Indy 500, driven to victory by Al Unser Jr.

After seven seasons of racing, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from the Indy Car ranks and Ilmor once again worked with GM for the 2001 and 2002 Indy Racing League seasons. In 2003 Honda Performance Development entered into a partnership agreement with Ilmor to jointly design and develop an all new Indy Car engine. An extremely successful partnership that remains intact to this day.