Although Mercedes is stamped on the engine covers, they are in fact manufactured in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England by Ilmor Engineering Limited. Who are the gray men from Brixworth? Ewan Tytler tells their story Former Cosworth Employees Mario Illien and Paul Morgan decided to set up their own "Cosworth" in January 1984 with the help and financial backing of Roger Penske. Since 1986, Ilmor have supplied engines for the Indy car series, the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and the Indy Racing League (IRL). The Early Years: 1989-1993 Ilmor entered Formula One when the 3.5 Litre Formula was introduced and the 1.5 Litre turbocharged engines were outlawed by the FIA. Ilmor's first Formula One engine was the 2175A, a V10 that was designed in 1989. Ilmor formed a partnership with Akira Akagi's Leyton House (which sponsored the March Team) in 1990 and the Ilmor 2175A engine made its Formula One debut at Phoenix in 1991, coupled with the Leyton House CG911 chassis. Ilmor's first and only point with Leyton House was won by Ivan Capelli at the Hungaroring in their 10th Grand Prix. In 1992, Ilmor supplied the 2175A engine to March F1 and Tyrrell. Tyrrell-Ilmor finished 6th in the Constructors' championship with 8 points while March-Ilmor finished 9th with 3 points. In 1993, Ilmor exclusively supplied the 2175A engine to power the Sauber C12 with the revised 2175B engine being introduced at the Italian Grand Prix. Sauber-Ilmor finished 6th in the Constructors' championship in 1993, scoring 12 points. The Mercedes Years: 1993 -2000 Mercedes-Benz took a 25% stake in Ilmor in November 1993. Ilmor then made Mercedes engines for CART, IRL and Formula One. Mercedes-Benz's mission was clear - to dethrone Renault as the leading Formula One engine. In 1994, Ilmor designed a new Mercedes-Benz Formula One V10 engine to power the Sauber C13. The Sauber-Mercedes team finished 8th in the Constructors' championship in 1994, again scoring 12 points.

It was also clear that Ilmor and Mercedes had to go back to the drawing-board to produce an engine that would be able to win a Grand Prix with the reduction of the Formula One engine capacity

In 1996, the driveability and power of the FO110 V10 engine was improved. This engine was coupled to the McLaren MP4/11. Hakkinen bravely returned and was partnered by ex-Williams driver David Coulthard. This was another difficult season for McLaren-Mercedes, again finishing 4th in the Constructors' championship with 49 points and six podium finishes, with their highest finish being 2nd.

The FO110E had a string of failures with Hakkinen's engine failure at Silverstone and the A1-Ring. But Ilmor's darkest day was

In 1999, Ilmor produced the FO110H V10 which was coupled to the McLaren MP4/14. Ilmor-Mercedes faced a greater challenge since Ferrari were closing the performance gap with their 048 engine. Jordan-Mugen Honda also picked off 2 victories and Stewart-Ford were also in the hunt with their new-generation Cosworth CR1 engine. Mika Hakkinen narrowly won the Drivers' championship for the second year in a row, but McLaren-Mercedes had to settle for second in the Constructors' championship with 124 points and 7 Grand Prix wins.

McLaren-Mercedes found themselves as the unexpected underdog, when they had 3 DNFs in the first 2 races. Ironically, the FO110J V10 would become a very reliable engine, but the engine failures proved to be very costly in terms of championship points. McLaren-Mercedes once again had to settle for 2nd place in the Constructors' championship with 152 points and 7 Grand