46 F1 RACING JANUARY 2020
A littleover 200 metres down the
road from the Mercedes-Benz High
PerformancePowertrains campus,
Ilmor Engineering still plies its trade in
an industrial estate on the outskirts of
Brixworth.Foundedby US motor racing
magnate RogerPenske andCosworth
engineers Mario Ilien andPaul Morgan
in 1983to develop enginesfor IndyCar,
initially with General Motors backing,
Ilmorexpanded intoFormula 1 in 1991.
The Leyton House chassis was
perhaps not the best advertfor Ilmor’s
V10 butby 1992Tyrrell had taken up
an engine supply as well.At this time
Mercedes had been planningto return
to the F1 grid after a hiatus of nearly 30
years in a jointventure with its sportscar
partner Sauber, but its commitment
wobbled as the global economy slid into
recession. Sauber ploughed on regardless
with low-key support from Mercedes
and obtained a supply of Ilmor V10s
for its debut in 1993. Carrying ‘Concept
by Mercedes-Benz’ on their bodywork
(and Sauber logos on the engines’ cam
covers), the carsexceededexpectations.
Mercedes reacquired its corporate
nerve and beganto invest in Ilmor, buying
General Motors’ 25% stake and taking
naming rights on both Sauber’s V10
and atop-secret engine Ilmor had been
researchingfor Penske’s Indy 500 assault.
Believing Sauber was inadequateto
the task of delivering a race-winner,
Mercedesformed a partnership with
McLaren in 1995 which soon delivered
two F1 drivers’ championships. But its
interest in US racing fizzled out at the
end of the decade.After Morgan’s deathdifferently interm s of where theancillaries are
located, amea sure of how everynuance ofan
F1 car changesfrom season to season.
Brixworth’sintegrationwiththe chassis factory
at Brackleyis famously tightand this is a powerful
factor in therace team’s success.The powertrain
engineersare eminently willing to compromise on
design features– even if that means loweringthe
horsepower ceiling – whenaerogains resulting
from that trade-off yield betterresults.
“We work collecti vely on laptime,” says Cowell,
“That means everyidea, whether it’s generatedBIRTH OF A TITAN
in a plane crash in 2002 it increased
its stake in Ilmorto 55%, and in 2005
it bought out the company entirely
and renamed it Mercedes-Benz High
PerformancePowertrains. Ilien and
Penske acquired the special projects
division, which retained the Ilmor
Engineering name.llien(below,left)andMorganweresuccessful
enginebuilderswhenMercedescamecallingin this location or Brackley, isequated to laptime
in milliseconds. We look atwhat will make a car
quickest over a race lap. Our durability isa given,
so we put a lot of engineering resourceon the
powertrain into thingsthat might not make Lewis
smile ashe goes down the straight but should
make him smile as hegoes round the corner.
“That’san element that perhaps the powertrain
doesn’t get much credit for. There arethings we’re
doing with the cooling, so that the package can be