Racing season 1952


The record obtained by Selva the year before was further improved in 1952, on January 14, on the new measured base of Campione d'Italia by Achille Castoldi.
The Milanese driver on an Abbate hull with a 2650 cc 12-cylinder Ferrari engine powered by two Weber carburetors, set a new world speed record in the 2800 M cc class with Km/h 180.

Again on the waters of Campione, on December 10, another speed record was set by Ezio Selva in the 800 kg racers class, with a 3-point hull of his own construction called "Moschettiere" equipped with two BPM 4-cylinder engine blocks each of the 2800 cc type reduced to about 2200 displacement so as to be able to enter the category up to 4500 cc; these are engines fed by 8 Dell'Orto carburetors of motorcycle design that deliver a power of between 310/325 HP. Ezio Selva achieved the exceptional record of Km/h 194.437, a not bad result that goes to add to the continental and Italian titles won in the 2800 M class.

Two days pass from the Selva performance, when again in Campione d'Italia the Veronese Augusto Cometti also takes to the water with the intention of attacking the world speed record of the 1500 cc racer class, a record held by Dino Sestini in the same base measured on 9 April 1952 on an Abbate-BPM ("Tamiri") hull with Km/h 128.15.
Augusto Cometti fresh from the Italian title of the aforementioned category manages with the three-point "Squinzia" Timossi-BPM 4 cylinder powered by 4 Dell'Orto carburettors (with the same characteristics as the one used by Sestini) to improve on the previous limit reaching the speed of Km/h 137.412.

After the speed records, let's examine the circuit competitions, focusing on the beautiful world championship of the 450 Kg racers class held in the waters of the Idroscalo in Milan, a challenge that after four years of silence returns to the forefront and that in this case sees the participation of only seven European pilots of three nationalities.
With the Italians Ezio Selva, Mario Verga, Dino Sestini, Augusto Schapira, Aleandro Polli also the German Christophe Von Mayemburg and the Frenchman Luis Delacour.
Analyzing the line-up of the boats in the race we have Ezio Selva and his three-point twin-engine designed and built with the help of the employees of his company very satisfied to collaborate in the creation of the boat.
Furthermore, the Milanese driver uses 2 BPM 2800 cc, reduced to 2200, displacement foreseen in the 450 Kg class regulation.
Mario Verga has his powerful Abbate Alfa Romeo 158, while the president of the Sebino association imports a three-point boat from the American school, a hull built by the Ventnor shipyard with a 4200 cc Ford V8 installed.
A particular characteristic of this racer is that it does not have the part of the fairing towards the stern where the cockpit and the relative driver's seat are located, completely without protection.
Schapira and Polli both with Abbate hulls but with a Ferrari engine the first and a BPM the other of 2800 cc, the German Von Mayemburg competes with a large Staeves Jaguar 3500 cc hull and finally the transalpine Delacour uses yet another Abbate hull.
The world title is awarded by counting the sum of the times achieved in both heats, on the 2500 m circuit to be repeated 12 times.
The favourites Verga and Selva do battle, with Selva maintaining the lead of the first heat for the first seven laps, keeping the good Verga in his slipstream.
Then the unpredictable breakage of the joint connecting the two engines forces Selva to retire early and, given the extent of the failure, to give up the championship, allowing his rival to prevail.
Behind the winner Verga are the very good Von Mayemburg, Sestini, Schapira, Polli and, last place, Delacour. Another twist concerns Schapira: after finishing the test, he sinks due to the sudden opening of a leak, the third heat also records the undisputed success of Verga who wins over Polli and Delacour.
Unlucky Von Mayemburg and the Italian Sestini are forced to abandon due to mechanical problems of various kinds. After Castoldi's world championship win in 1948, it was Mario Verga's turn to succeed him in the rich roll of honour of the 450 kg racers category by registering his name, to the great joy of the MILA of Como, of which Verga is the standard-bearer, as well as of Alfa Romeo, which directly took care of the engine.

In the 12th edition of the Raid Pavia-Venezia, which after 13 years of forced stop returns to be held, the overall victory was recorded by the Milanese Carlo and Francesco Toselli registered in the Runabouts class with a Cranchi-Lancia monohull.
The winners took a time of 6h 22' 49" and a decidedly touristic average of 68.760 km/h, also winning the Coppa d'Oro Theo Rossi di Montelera in the timed section Piacenza-Cremona with Km/h 70.881.
It is worth highlighting the second overall place in the final classification of the Raid by Augusto Cometti-Luigi Mazza, also on board a French Monocoque hull of the Runabouts class powered by a BPM 2800 cc


Inboard racing seasons
Racing season 1953