The new classes of Inboard Racing
The FIM, in an attempt to revive the rather adverse fortunes in which our inboarding finds itself, evaluates, in 1973, a renewal plan and introduces two innovations.
The first of these is the inclusion, on the proposal of the ANP (National Pilots Association), of a new national stock formula consisting of small three-pointers with a displacement of 1300 cc; the intent is to bring neophytes closer to motorboating and in particular to the racer sector.
Thefirst experiments for this new formula are carried out using already existing hulls and belonging to other categories; however, the program sees two perceptive builders of particular interest.
First Tullio Abbate and then the new Lucini and Frigerio shipyard in Lipomo (CO), launched, between 1973 and 1974, a fairly similar solution, that is, a hull with a three-point hull with forward guidance and a rear-mounted engine with a pre-established displacement of 1300 cc (Fiat 128 X 1/9 4 cylinders, 75 HP). The most obvious difference between the two projects is the hull fairing: more racing for the Lucini and Frigerio (with a faired cockpit) and more sporty for Abbate's (with a more open cockpit). After carrying out the first tests, the final choice fell on the vessel built by the Lucini and Frigerio shipyard. However, it was necessary to wait until 1975 to officially see this new national promotional formula in the water.
The second important innovation concerns the immediate debut of theR3N 2000 cc racer class. This new category that was born from the ashes of the previous LV, R2, 91" APBA which had become rather obsolete and therefore abolished, immediately obtained a positive consensus among the drivers.From the engine point of view it may seem like a single-make in fact, except for some rare attempts to bring other engines into the race (a Fiat 2000 cc was occasionally used by the Turin driver Fulvio Bertinetti), almost all of them preferred to use the Alfa Romeo with restrictions. Autodelta (Alfa Romeo racing department) made an agreement with the FIM and offered the drivers its engine already "marined", as well as complete with manifold and exhaust pipe, at a decidedly convenient price.All this is perfectly in line with the federal policy which, with a national class, wants to eliminate certain expensive elaborations that are economically damaging and complicate the weight-power ratio of the vehicle. Accredited on the test bench of 165 / 170 HP

This engine, also mounted on the Alfetta GTV 2000 cars, is the real jewel in the crown of the "biscione" company.
As for the hulls, the most popular shipyards of the moment, such as Lucini and Frigerio and Popoli, already have some new three-pointers in the process of being built, but initially there are quite a few pilots who recycle the old and still valid hulls of the 1500 cc and 91" classes, practically similar in weight and dimensions to the new creations.
The R3N racers have a length between 4.40 and 4.70 meters, the total weight is around 350 kg and the performance, in terms of speed, allows them to reach maximum speeds of 170 km/h.
The introduction of this national category also allows the relaunch of the already existing "sister" R3 2000 cc which, being international, has its only limitation in terms of engine capacity.
The official debut of the R3N takes place on the Po in Piacenza and at the starting line we find some names, always faithful fans of the racer, such as "Silver Shark", Aldo Ajelli, Giuseppe Mattioli, Giuseppe Invernizzi, Gino Lupi, Franco Cantando, Francesco Manfredini, Ermes Prospero and Arrigo Mazzanti.
The National Championship is held over eight spectacular races (two per day) divided into four locations: in addition to the aforementioned Piacenza, there are also Casale Monferrato, Boretto and Sabaudia.
Francesco Manfredini from Cremona, who from the first races gives the impression of having a team excellently prepared by the talented Zoni and Speroni from Colorno (PR), wins the title preceding, in the final classification, Aldo Ajelli from Pavia (nicknamed "the Caiman of Ticino") and Franco Cantando from Milan. Manfredini, Cantando and Prospero, during the 1973

season also take to the water with the Entrobordo Corsa Lancia Flaminia 2500 cc. For the record, this Trophy is won by Ermes Prospero ahead of the MAM (Motonautica Associazione Milano) pilots Aldo Martinetto and Gian Piero Maurelli, who dominated the previous editions. Only fifth in the general classification is Franco Cantando, while Manfredini, not very interested in excelling in this class, collects a modest eighth place.

International Titles
After the success in the European R3 2000Championshipobtained in1972by our Erino Facchini, the UIM assigns Italy the organization of the championships (Continental and World) for the current year.

On the Po, in Sacca di Colorno (PR), Motonautica Parmense has a day of great prestige thanks to a local pilot; the champion Leopoldo Casanova wins the European Title fighting hard with the other very strong Italian competitor "Silver Shark ".
After the four heats disputed the ranking sees the two pilots with equal points with two victories for each; Casanova who for the occasion mounts on the Lucini and Frigerio hull an Alfa Romeo GTAM 4- cylinder 220 HP engine specially supplied by Autodelta, graduates champion thanks to the fastest test.
The podium, all Italian, is completed by the third place of Giuseppe Mattioli who in turn precedes an "old acquaintance" of the Italian racers, namely the Frenchman Lucien Nugue.
Among the novelties seen in the race at Sacca di Colorno, the large catamaran, powered by BMW, with relative Mercury stern drive of the German Joseph Siokler does not go unnoticed. Unfortunately however the pilot is the author of a colorless performance as the hull has more the characteristics of an Inboard Sport than a Racing. Little luck
also for the other members of the Italian team; Francesco Manfredini and Paolo Santamaria complain of serious mechanical problems, while the reigning European Champion of the category, Erino Facchini, does not show up at the start.

The World Championship for the same category (R3) held in Peschiera del Garda (VR) was decidedly on a lower level.
The fear of possible overturning, due to the constant long wave on the lake, convinced five out of seven drivers to desert the three scheduled heats which therefore saw only the local competitor Ermes Prospero (Lucini and Frigerio-Alfa Romeo) and the Frenchman Nugue (Molivio-Alfa Romeo) at the start.
The latter, during the first heat won by Prospero, was forced to retire after a few laps due to a trivial carburetor failure.
In the second heat both contenders did not hold back: for Prospero the fight with Nugue reached moments of great suspense and only towards the end did he manage to prevail, putting a serious mortgage on the title. In the third and final heat the victory went to Nugue, while Prospero, rightly, controlled the situation.

1973 saw the last time the international titles of the R2 1500 cc class were awarded ; the European Championship was held in Viverone. With the reigning champion Leopoldo Casanova absent, our "Silver Shark", driving his Timossi-Alfa Romeo, won the continental crown with a splendid performance. The Italian, thanks to two first places in the two initial heats and two seconds in the remaining ones, preceded the Frenchmen Michel Barone and Lucien Nugue and the other Italians Erino Facchini and Giuseppe Mattioli in the final classification.

Three weeks after this event, the World Championship takes place on the French waters of the Rhone (in Lyon), and we witness the revenge of the local pilots.
Eleven boats take the start; the French team fields eight pilots: Barone, Nugue, Lemonnier, Rousset, Guantin, Vincent, Lacour and Chiorino. The Swiss Schneider and the Italians Facchini and Cantando are also present. After the victory in the opening heat by Michel Barone over our Facchini and Cantando, in the second heat Cantando prevails over Barone and Lemonnier; Facchini and Nugue retire.
In the final heat Cantando takes the lead and maintains this position until two laps from the end when an engine failure forces him to give up, leaving an easy victory to Barone, with Lemonnier and Chiorino following. It is worth noting the umpteenth retirement of Facchini and Nugue.
The final classification of the Inboard Racing World Championship in the R2 1500 cc class therefore sees Michel Barone as the winner, followed by his compatriot Lemonnier in second place and the very talented but unlucky Franco Cantando in third place.

Staying on the subject of World Championships, on the waters of Lake Paola in Sabaudia, the one reserved for the racers of the R4 2500 cc class is awarded.
Fresh winner of the European R3 Title, the champion from Parma Leopoldo Casanova, supported by the excellent hull of the Lucini and Frigerio shipyard powered by the Alfa Romeo "Montreal", gets the better of his other teammates (Giuseppe Dotti, Antonio Petrobelli and Luciano Bellini) and dedicates the victory to the memory of Leonardo Mazzoli, his unfortunate fellow countryman who tragically perished the previous year, on this very lake and in the same competition.
In addition to the Italian pilots, the Frenchman Lucien Nugue is also in the race, now present in almost all the categories of international inboard racing, who in this circumstance has an old Angelo Molinari hull (belonging to Mazzoli himself), restored and equipped with an original and aggressive fairing; unfortunately, however, his race will last only one lap.
The brief chronicle of the championship records in the first heat the victory of Petrobelli (Celli-Alfa Romeo "Montreal") over Casanova and Dotti.
Petrobelli absent in the second heat, due to mechanical problems, it is Casanova who takes the test ahead of Dotti and Bellini, and then repeats in the last fraction. Worth noting, in the third heat, the return to the race of Petrobelli who however is forced to retire during the fifth lap. Adding the times of the three heats, Casanova is the winner of the R4 World Title with a gap of over two minutes over Dotti.
Petrobelli who as already mentioned was also racing with a "Montreal" engine is only third. The RI 1000 cc World Championship, which is also the last international title awarded to an Inboard Racing class in the current season, is held at Holme Pierrepoint, near Nottingham, on the homonymous water sports basin and turns out to be a real debacle for our two riders Walter Maltinti and the European Champion Giuseppe Colnaghi.
The comparison sees in the water, in addition to the Italians, also of course the British riders, present in large numbers with twelve boats, all built by the Englishman Noone and powered by Sunbeam.
After having won the World Title in 1972, Andrew Chesman does the double and wins, in the three scheduled heats, two victories and a second place.
The English success is completed by the second place of Herbert Noone and the third of John Hopwood. For the Italians only the seventh place of Maltinti (Molivio-Sunbeam) while Colnaghi (Noone-Sunbeam), with two retirements and a fifth place, occupies only the ninth position.


The Larian cross-country races
Moving on to cross-country races, it is striking that, in 1973, the only victories obtained with inboard stops in this discipline were those of Eugenio Molinari, in the third edition of the Giro del Lario, and of Tullio Abbate in the Centomiglia del Lario.

In the first competition Eugenio Molinari won at an average speed of 154.195 km/h, bringing to the debut a hull of his own construction, powered by a BPM 8000 cc engine, registered among the Entrobordo Sport over 7000 cc. It is a new ire-punti with low boots, a wide deck with a large lift and an aerodynamic spoiler above the stern, a solution particularly suitable for calm waters..." (from Vela e Motore 1973, text by Armando Boscolo).
The winner, in the general classification, precedes the Swiss Joseph Ulrich (Molivio B. -b Annibale Beltrami (Abbate-BPM) both in the over 7000 cc class and Giovanni Cima (Timossi-Chrysler) in the 7000 cc.

Among the illustrious retirees of the "Giro we find Tullio Abbate who however on 30 September, in the 25th edition of the Centomiglia del Lario, takes a resounding revenge by fully exploiting the characteristics of the his means, at ease on the normally rough waters of the lake, in this case worsened by adverse weather conditions.
In the final classification Tullio Abbate who for the occasion uses a hull Entrobordo Sport four-points of his own construction powered by an eight-liter BPM, precedes his brother Bruno, first in the category among the Entrobordo Sport S5 5000 cc with a boat powered by Holman Moody. Among the retired we find names of the caliber of Eugenio Molinari, Annibale Beltrami, Joseph Ulrich and Giovanni Cima.

At the end of the season, world speed records become topical again. In Lezzeno (CO), on December 28, with calm waters and, despite the sunny day, a biting cold, Eugenio Molinari attacks his world speed record of the Entrobordo Corsa class R6 7000 cc using as always a three-pointer of his own design and construction, equipped with a BPM 7-liter engine.
Molinari brings the new limit of the category to 186.548 Km/h and also establishes a new significant record in cross-country, covering the 24 miles at an average of 156.507 Km/h.