Also in 1977 the success of the R3N class is consolidated thanks to the presence in the water of over twenty pilots. For obvious safety reasons, especially in some circuits, the organizers are often forced to divide the group of starters, for each of the tests, into two heats.

Obviously, for each test a single ranking is drawn up based on the times achieved by each individual competitor. This already happens at the opening race of the Italian Championship, included in the program of the classic Gran Premio Internazionale Fiera di Milano at the Idroscalo.
In front of about 20,000 spectators, the R3N 2000 cc racers once again offer an exciting show, worthy of the large audience present who, for the occasion, after two years, returns to enjoy the "great" motorboating in what is defined as one of the best artificial basins in the world for aquatic events.

The championship includes eight races spread across the entire peninsula: Milan-Idroscalo, Castelgandolfo, Boretto, Valenza Po, Omegna, Pontelagoscuro, Pavia and Syracuse. After exciting and hard-fought duels, the Milanese Amleto Ruggeri wins, with his Molivio-Alfa Romeo racer, beating opponents of the caliber of Petrobelli, Guido Calmi, Virgilio Molinari, Moraglione, Benaglia, Prospero and Mora. For Ruggeri, who competes with the CNP (Club Nautico Pavese) colors, it is a deserved title that repays his undisputed qualities as an inboarder, already highlighted previously. In addition to the Italian Championship, always for the R3N class, some national races also take place during the season. In one of these, precisely the one held on the Po in Piacenza, RAI offers a live broadcast with commentary by one of the greatest football commentators of the time: Nando Martellini.

In the second edition of the Tricolore Championship of the Formula Fiat 128, success smiles on Luigi Zarantonello; the MAM (Motonautica Associazione Milano) driver precedes Adriano Muggiati and Guido Cornacchione in the final ranking.
As proof of how "our" Federation (FIM) has operated well in the future, this promotional formula, made up of small single-brand Entrobordo Corsa, reconfirms the good speed performances already highlighted in the last championship and increases numerically.

To Annibale Beltrami the Raid Pavia-Venezia
The success of inboarders in long-distance races continues this year too. The lawyer from Pavia Annibale Beltrami, former European Champion of the Inboard Sport S°° class, achieved a great performance by taking the overall victory in the 37th Raid Pavia-Venezia.
Beltrami achieved, over the 383 km of the race, an excellent general average (168.825 km/h) making use of his winning three-pointer from the Eugenio Molinari shipyard powered by a BPM 8000 cc; a hull with the distinct shape of the Inboard Sport but for the occasion registered among the Corsa (R°°).
The success of the driver from Pavia takes on further value as he manages to overtake the inboard-outboard Mercruiser catamaran of Colnaghi, winner of the last two editions of the Raid, and the great favourite Renato Molinari, at the helm of his OZ class catamaran.
Also interesting is the fourth overall place of Renato Moraglione with his R3N 2000 cc class racer (Popoli-Alfa Romeo) who precedes Giuseppe Mattioli and his glorious Celli-Alfa Romeo with a larger engine capacity (R4 2500 cc).

Leopoldo Casanova's victory at the Trofeo Due Ponti
After the Raid, it is our duty to deal with the Trofeo Due Ponti, where the never-say-die Leopoldo Casanova, surprisingly, returns to the forefront and wins the ninth edition of the now classic Boretta cross-country race. The champion from Parma, well supported by his racer Lucini and Frigerio-Alfa Romeo Montreal, triumphs by taking advantage of the bad luck that befell Antonio Petrobelli, virtual and moral winner, but excluded from the rankings following the loss of an exhaust pipe on his Timossi-BPM. In any case, it must be said that Casanova's race is a small masterpiece as, as always, he demonstrates his undisputed class by resisting the attacks of Besagni and Ulrich, both with larger-displacement vehicles.

In the Giro del Lario the surprise is even greater as the winner, Luciano Gandola, is driving an inboard hull of the Turismo Veloce Nazionale class built by the Mostes shipyard and powered by a Holman Moody engine. Also in this case the winner prevails thanks to a partly lucky event: the Swiss Ulrich, first at the finish line, is disqualified for a route error.
It is worth noting the withdrawal of the clear favourite, Eugenio Molinari, forced to stop due to a broken balance wheel, while Annibale Beltrami, afflicted by various problems, does not go beyond third place overall also preceded by the other monohull of the TVN2 of Gianni Isella.
And also the presence in the TVN1 5000 cc of the singer Nicola Di Bari (real name Michele Scommegna) who however retires shortly after the start due to mechanical problems.

We must also dwell on the boats of the TVN classes as these vessels, created for water skiing and rightly promoted by the federation also in motorboat races, obtained another important result at the Centomiglia del Lario: the winner Giuseppe Todeschini was driving a Mostes-BPM 8000 cc of TVN2.

At the end of the year, on the Po in Piacenza, during a national race of the R3N 2000 cc class, the Ferrara driver Vittorio Benini had a serious accident. The 1976 Italian Champion of the Formula Fiat 128, who had moved up to the higher class this season, was the victim of a terrifying looping whose consequences were such that he was forced to abandon motorboat racing for good.

I would also like to remember the premature death, due to a serious illness, of the former 1974 Italian R3N Champion, Ernesto Luigi Preda.


The diesel class record by Tullio Abbate
Among the most important events that characterize the current season is the new world speed record achieved by Tullio Abbate for the class reserved for diesel engines. Before Abbate, the successful record attempts were those obtained in 1971 by Renato Molinari who almost reached 110 km/h and by Livio Macchia, the year after he achieved 126.057 km/h with an Abbate-Perkins hull. Tullio Abbate in 1977, on the waters of Lake Como tormented by adverse weather conditions (rain, strong wind and a treacherous long wave), still managed to reach the speed of 140.625 km/h. The Como-based pilot builder uses a wooden hull with a four-point bottom made in its own shipyard and powered by a Fiat Aifo CP 3 SM. It is a 4-stroke diesel engine with a displacement of 7,412 cc and a power of 325 HP at 2700 rpm which, due to its considerable size (600 kg in weight), is curiously installed without a fairing.

This new record, however, will not last long: in 1978, Abbate and Aifo will be followed by another shipyard and another famous diesel engine company: Fabio Buzzi's FB and VM