Racing season 1975


Catamarans make their debut in the Inboard Racing classes
Despite the growing success of the outboard classes which practically monopolised 90% of the national and international powerboating scene, in 1975 the FIM showed no signs of expanding the inboard sector and concentrated its programmes on the R3N 2000 cc class alone.

During the first seasonal appointment at the Idroscalo in Milan that starts the Italian Championship of the aforementioned class, in addition to the usual three-point boats, there is the debut of a catamaran built by the Angelo Molinari shipyard and piloted by the Roman Massimo Funaro.
This catamaran, powered by an Alfa Romeo and equipped with a Mercury stern drive, arouses skepticism, envy and even a lot of fear in his colleagues-adversaries. Initially, a "strike" is even threatened, but then common sense prevails and the race is started.
In the end, however, Funaro's catamaran fails to dictate the law; the boat offers good performance in turns but on long straights the three-point, especially on calm waters, proves to be decidedly faster.
Funaro, during the year, still manages to obtain a first place in Sarnico in a championship race; the fears of the opponents were not so unfounded! At the end of the fourteen hard-fought trials, on which the championship is divided, the tenacious Francesco Manfredini, after a long and beautiful comparison with the surprising Renato Moraglione, manages to excel.
For the driver from Cremona it is the second Italian Title, in this demanding class, in just three years.

The R3 and R1 World Championships
In 1974 the R3 2000 cc World Championship was not held but in 1975 the UIM put it back on the calendar assigning it to the Italian Federation which included it in the program of the event to be held on Lake Viverone.
Once again with no foreigners, this world championship was reduced to the usual comparison between our pilots who in this circumstance fielded only four boats: the three-pointers of Franco Cantando, Ermes Prospero and Virgilio Molinari and the catamaran of Massimo Funaro.
Unfortunately for the latter the world championship did not last long, already in the first test an irreparable mechanical problem forced him to surrender.
Cantando appeared to be the fastest by far, winning the first two heats defending himself from Prospero's attacks. In the third and final test however the latter prevailed while Cantando, in second position, controlled his opponent and managed the seconds of advantage previously acquired. In third place in the final classification we find, naturally, Virgilio Molinari from Pavia. In the smallest of the inboard engine sizes, the R1 1000 cc, unfortunately for our Giuseppe Colnaghi, holder of the World Title, the trip to British soil at Holme Pierrepoint is unlucky.
After winning the first of the three heats he is forced to leave the field open to the Englishman John Roger Basketfield, who, aboard his Tyers-Sunbeam hull, becomes World Champion also taking advantage of the excellent team play that the other English competitors implement towards Colnaghi himself (who is hindered several times).
Unfortunately, not having other elements available, I am unable to provide the complete classification and further details on the race.


Colnaghi, Petrobelli and Brunelli star in the cross-country races on the Po
I now want to shift the focus to the cross-country races (Centomiglia del Delta del Po, Raid Pavia-Venezia, Cremona-Ferrara-Cremona, Trofeo Due Ponti di Boretto Po and the lake competitions such as the Giro and the Centomiglia del Lario) which also in 1975 offered ideas and reasons for interest.

These events always see several "racers" lined up in the race, some of which with recently built and technically innovative hulls.
One of these is Giuseppe Colnaghi who debuts at the Centomiglia del Po a catamaran built by the Angelo Molinari shipyard powered by a Mercruiser 5700 cc inboard-outboard engine capable of developing 400 HP, regularly measured and registered in the R6 class up to 7000 cc. It is a complex completely similar to the one used by Carlo Rasini at the 1974 Raid. Colnaghi celebrates the debut of this boat with the overall victory in the Ferrara long-distance race, then repeats at the Pavia-Venezia Raid with an average of 150 km/h.
Behind the Milanese driver we find, in the general classification, Roberto Brunelli (who was initially given as the winner), Giovanni Cima and Aldo Martinetto.
Worthy of note is the high average recorded by Annibale Beltrami in the Revere-Voltagrimana section (almost 171 Km/h) which earned him the Coppa d'Oro Theo Rossi di Montelera.
Beltrami, possible overall winner of the race at the wheel of his E.Molinari S°° class "flies", at the height of Ostiglia (MN), on a shoal and naturally, although not destroying the hull, loses a lot of time.

After years of great international results in the Inboard Racing classes and on the basis of the successes obtained in 1975, Giuseppe Colnaghi and his hull receive the annual "Sportsman of the Year" award from Chevron. This recognition is also shared by the Angelo Molinari shipyard, builder of the hull and by Mercruiser, supplier of the engine.

In recent years, racers have found a strong competitor in the outboard catamaran and now, with the introduction of the new concept of inboard-outboard motorized catamaran, they are finding it even harder to excel.
However, in the line races, the validity of the racer will still be felt and in fact in the Cremona-Ferrara-Cremona the revenge on the catamaran is not long in coming.
Antonio Petrobelli with his dated but still very valid Timossi-BPM 8000 cc R°° obtains a high average and wins the race in record time, while Giuseppe Colnaghi, in difficulty due to a stray wreck that twists his propeller, this time has to surrender to the overwhelming power of the three-points and ranks second overall.

Even in the Due Ponti Trophy of Boretto, with Colnaghi absent, the overall victory goes to the racer, in this case however not to that of Petrobelli, who was in the lead for three quarters of the race, but to that of the pilot from Zibello (PR) Roberto Brunelli who brings his glorious Timossi-BPM 8000 cc R°° class back to success.

In the current year we can also appreciate the first outings, with good results, of the small Entrobordo Corsa of the new Fiat 128 promotional class that take the start in all the main cross-country races.


The other cross-country races
In the fifth edition of the Giro del Lario, with all the big favourites of the race having withdrawn (Eugenio Molinari, Tullio Abbate, Annibale Beltrami, Ermes Prospero), the victory surprisingly smiles on the Frenchman Guy Barathay with an Entrobordo Sport Abbate-Holman Moody of the S5 5000 cc class.
Behind the Frenchman we find the Swiss Joseph Ulrich with his Molivio-BPM 8000 cc who, due to some engine problems, does not express himself at his best.

After the Giro del Lario we move on to the second Como classic, the Centomiglia, now in its 27th edition. Renato Molinari wins, taking to the water a self-built monohull powered by a Mercruiser inboard-outboard engine. Renato gets the better of his rival Tullio Abbate, who is also competing with another monohull powered by a BPM of over 7000 cc.
It is worth remembering, in this memorable edition, the presence in the race of Giulio De Angelis and the Guidotti clan; for both it is a nice and welcome return to circuit competitions.
De Angelis goes down to the Centomiglia with the intention of supporting a comparison between his Off-Shore hull and the Entrobordo Sport. Unfortunately, a failure of one of the two Mercruiser engines of his Cigarette 36' forces him to retire.
For the Guidotti family, present in full with Flavio, Giorgio and their father Liborio, it is an occasional outing. In practice they show up with their single-hull pleasure boat (which they use on holiday) and enter it in the Entrobordo Sport over 7000 cc. Unfortunately, however, their race also ends early as they have to retire due to a mechanical problem.

To conclude the list of events worthy of mention, it is right to remember the speed record of the Entrobordo Corsa class R°° established by the "flying lawyer" Annibale Beltrami. On October 5, on the timed base of Lezzeno (Lake Como), Beltrami, aboard his three-pointer built by Eugenio Molinari and equipped with a BPM Vulcano V8 7,983 cc, raised the new world record for the category to 207.260 km/h, and made an interesting passage at 218 km/h.


Inboard racing seasons
Racing season 1976