The 430hp 6.2L engine Ilmor is supplying MasterCraft is based on GM’s LS architecture.

Ilmor Marine to Power MasterCraft Boats

MasterCraft Boat Co. announced an agreement with Ilmor Marine as its exclusive engine supplier beginning with the 2012 model year. Until now, Indmar Marine in Millington, Tennessee, had been the sole supplier of engine packages to MasterCraft. For 2011, Indmar and Ilmor engines will be offered in MasterCraft products.

Three Ilmor engines will be offered: an old-school 320hp 5.7L Small-Block, and a 375hp 6.0L and a 430hp 6.2L based on new LS engine architecture.
“Ilmor is one of the most impressive high-performance engineering companies in the world,” said John Dorton, president and CEO of MasterCraft Boat Co. “The same exceptional minds that dominate Indy are now dedicated to giving MasterCraft owners a powertrain experience unlike any the industry has ever seen. And it is all exclusive to MasterCraft.”
To meet demand for its new MV8 engines, which have been in development since 2007, Ilmor opened a new 50,000-square-foot marine engine assembly and test facility in Mooresville, North Carolina, in 2010. The move appears to be a logical next step for Ilmor, which entered the marine market in 2004 with a marinized version of the Dodge Viper V-10 engine.
Formed in 1984 in Northampton, England, Ilmor was originally conceived as a partnership among Mario Illien, Paul Morgan, Roger Penske and General Motors to design and build turbocharged Chevrolet engines for Indy cars. The company’s first Indy win came in 1988 with Rick Mears at the wheel.
“From the beginning, our goal was to provide MasterCraft with a superior product that would enhance their brand,” said Paul Ray, president of Ilmor Engineering Inc. “Since that time, our engineering staff has worked nonstop to design the new range of Ilmor MV8 engines, which are built to the same exacting engineering standards as our high-performance racing and powerboat engines.”