A Glittering night of celebration at the prestigious Rushton Hall, near to Ilmor’s UK HQ saw many of motorsport’s iconic names out in force to congratulate Ilmor on 40 years of incredible success and innovation.
What other engineering company can boast such achievements in motorsport and automotive spheres as Ilmor, the list of successes just keeps on coming.
Perhaps best known for powering F1 cars to success, Ilmor has an enviable record in IndyCar and success in World Rally and Moto GP, success after success on track and on the water. The stats shout from the page; 716 wins across 7 motorsport disciplines!
The list of achievements goes on and on from the 1994 Indy 500 push rod engine, the first Ilmor win at Long Beach in 1987 with Mario Andretti behind the wheel, the closest ever Indy finish back in 1992 where they powered the Galles team to victory, the Ilmor Chevrolet V8 that took all 16 wins from 16 and Joseph Newgarden’s 2022 Long Beach win that notched up Ilmor’s Indy car wins to a remarkable 350, through to multiple World Championships in F1, two World Powerboat titles in P1, World Rally success and now a partnership with Mastercraft that is reaping rewards for both companies. Add in engines for Formula Nippon and Australian Supercars, there’s almost no area of motorsport that Ilmor’s golden touch hasn’t enhanced. It all started back in August 1985 when one of the legends of Indy car, Rick Mears tested the first Ilmor designed and built engine at the Bedfordshire track Bruntingthorpe
Some of the biggest names in motorsport were there to toast the 40 years of success. Roger Penske, Ross Brawn OBE, Juergen Schremp who headed Daimler Benz for a decade including the halcyon days of Mika Hakkinen’s two World titles. Former Ilmor UK bosses Hans Ulrich Maik and Steve Miller were there, so too Paul Ray, Ray Gosselin and Wayne Bennett from Ilmor Inc and some of the influential former employees and current day staff, as well as Neil Oatley - McLaren F1 design guru and Nick Goozee, the force behind Penske Cars in Poole back in the 80s and 90s. Both Mika and 13 times GP winner David Coulthard joined the evening, beamed in LIVE from the Miami Grand Prix paddock and paid tribute to founder Mario Illien and Paul Morgan whose wife Liz was there to join in the celebrations that her husband and Mario created from the same factory that still stands on the same land today. Mika achieved two World Championships, McLaren a Manufacturers title but the partnership of McLaren, Mercedes and Ilmor took 20 F1 wins, including the first win in Melbourne with “DC” behind the wheel.
Roger Penske paid tribute to Ilmor the engine partner to Penske for all of the 40 years and what a partnership! 365 IndyCar races, and 22 Indy 500s, and of course Penske talked up the enormous contribution of co-founder Paul Morgan, the ‘Mor’ in the company’s name. Morgan, sadly taken in a vintage aircraft accident. Paul a brilliant Engineer, like Mario, the two complemented each other and cemented the incredible success of Ilmor.
40 years of success celebrated in style and given Ilmor’s Engineering expertise and creativity, what price an even bigger party in 60 year time to celebrate 100 years of one of Motorsport’s finest success stories.
