Ing. Marmiroli this time introduces us to a unique chapter of Lamborghini's history: the brand's adventures not on land, but at sea. The story follows Automobili Lamborghini’s venture into the world of powerboat racing, supplying their iconic 12-cylinder engines to superboats competing for world titles. From Ferruccio Lamborghini’s personal "Aquarama" motorboat to world championship wins, it's a fascinating tale of speed, innovation, and passion beyond the racetrack.
Words Luigi Marmiroli
Photography Courtesy of Luigi Marmiroli Archive
Italy’s most famous encyclopaedia, Treccani, defines the term speed as the “rate of movement of a body over a distance in a given time". It does not specify if this movement is on land or on sea.
So I’m sure that our “Speedholics” will enjoy this story of speed without wheels. The story relates to the marine activities of Automobili Lamborghini, which passed smoothly from competition supercars to superboats. For around twenty years, from 1987 to 2000, the company supplied its famous 12-cylinder engines to various teams, often coupled to an unusual and innovative gear to optimise the rpm of the boats’ propellers.
But allow me to digress for a moment:
the World Powerboat Championship was and remains a world offshore motorboat championship, consisting in a series of Grand Prix boat races in open sea.
The Class 1 boats were driven by a pair of engines and achieved maximum speeds above 250 km/h (160 miles/hour). Chosen at the team’s discretion, the engines could be twelve or eight cylinders and powered by petrol or diesel. All the boats had to have a minimum weight.
The philosophy was very similar to that of the Formula 1 GPs. Performance had to be maximised through continuous research into aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, innovative materials, engine development and appropriate propulsion studies.
The crew was formed by at least a pilot and a co-pilot. One at the helm and the other at the throttles (one for each engine) that controlled the boat acceleration.
The boats were divided into two classes: mono-hulls and catamarans. The drawing here explains the difference.
Originally the races were mainly organised over offshore routes with long stretches in open sea. Thereafter, the routes went along the coast to offer the greater visibility demanded by the sponsors. This also made rescue operations quicker in the event of incidents or breakdowns.
Back to our story.....
everything began when in 1967 the founder Ferruccio Lamborghini ordered an “Aquarama” motorboat from the famous company Riva, but had the normal engines replaced with two Lamborghini V12 engines that had already been mounted on the company’s first cars: 350 GTVs.
The motorboat immediately achieved very high speeds and its beauty, assured by the use of wood and a curved windscreen, made it an icon in the sector, and was even used by numerous VIPs and actors during their holidays.
The wooden models of a large V12 engine with a huge engine capacity - almost 8000 cc - were lying on the shelves of a dusty warehouse.
When I joined Lamborghini, I was told that the founder Ferruccio had wanted the engine to be mounted on a large sedan that was to compete with US cars and the English Rolls Royce, but I have never been able to confirm this story.
Patrik Mimran, a shareholder at the time, saw that the engine was too big and had the lucky idea of recovering them for use on competition power boats. The first pair of engines were mounted on a boat that, by chance, was called “Miura”, built by Cantieri Riuniti in Viareggio and which successfully competed in the Italian and world championships.
One of the following projects was the AXESS Quetzal, the first all-Lamborghini power boat launched in 1984. The 39-foot craft, powered by two Lamborghini V12 engines with modified carburettor, reached a maximum speed of 65 knots.
And here I should underline that these Lamborghini engines had to be absolutely reliable.
As you can well imagine, breaking down in a boat on the open sea is very different from breaking down on the motorway. The working conditions of nautical engines are very different and cannot be compared to those of a car. Especially when the weather conditions are favourable and the sea is calm, these engines are used at maximum power for much longer than car engines. In Formula 1 GPs, the engine maintains maximum power for a few tenths of a second, but in Offshore GPs for dozens of minutes at a time.
The Lamborghini engines continued to be developed, passing from the carburettor version to one with mechanical fuel injection and finally electronic injection, and this is why the results came quickly with Walter Ragazzi and Renato della Valle.
In 1987 the L804V4 engine project began to take shape. It was built entirely in light alloy, with 12 cylinders, 4 valves per cylinder and 880 HP at 6800 rpm. The materials used offered incredible resistance to thermal shocks and even to the typical corrosion of the sea water used to cool the engines.
After 88 wins, national, European and international titles, on 25 November 1994 the last world championship race was held in Dubai.
The whole world was charmed by Norberto Ferretti and Luca Ferrari's super boat called Giesse Philosophy, which after a season of brilliant successes won the World Class 1 Offshore Title bearing the Italian flag. The two powerful Lamborghini L804 V12 engines played a key role in this victory.
The winning series of Lamborghini engines mounted on various boats with different pilots and international teams continued until 2007 with a dozen World Championship victories. In open sea, in any condition, the speed of the boat, often flying over the water, offered a full charge of adrenalin.
If you don't believe me, listen to what a man who made speed his life - and unfortunately also his death - had to say. Yes, Ayrton Senna. Invited by Ferretti to try out the GIESSE catamaran powerboat, he said that it was a wonderful experience and was sorry that the sea had been so flat on that day. He praised the smooth handling of the craft and the progressive speed obtained as he lowered the throttles with his own hands. He was amazed by the sound of the two Lamborghini engines, which really gave an impression of power. This was all told very well in an article published in the journal Power in 1984, with a few pictures taken by Domenico Pirazzoli.
Luigi Marmiroli was born in Fiorano Modenese in 1945. After graduating in mechanical engineering at the University of Padua, in 1970 he was hired by Ferrari to introduce electronic computing to Maranello for the first time. In 1976 he founded Fly Studio with Giacomo Caliri, designing and managing competition cars on international circuits. Their main works were for Fittipaldi Copersucar, Autodelta, ATS and Minardi, with whom they joined forces. The developments in the partnership with Autodelta led Marmiroli to manage the technical unit of the Euroracing team in 1983. Two years later he was hired by Lamborghini to design the heir of the Countach. Other projects came after the 17 versions of the Diablo, though due to the continuing changes of ownership of the Sant’Agata based company, they were never put into production. Marmiroli relaunched Fly Studio in 1997, providing consulting services. One of the projects of the last few years is the development of microcars, quadbikes and commercial vehicles, including electric versions.