Ferrari F430-powered boat sets two speed records Eugenio Molinari established two new world water speed records on Lake Como, navigating a boat, fitted with an engine of a Ferrari F430. The two records were set in the categories Endurance Group B class S1 and S2, which are dedicated to Granturismo boats with a minimum weight (including commander and fuel) of 1,100 kg and 1,450 kg (with ballast) with an average speed of 123,288 km/h and 122,035 km/h on the running kilometre. Boat and engine derive from serial production, while the engine has been slightly altered so that it could be used on water. This is not the first time that shipmasters have used engines from Ferrari for competitions and high performances. Already in the year 1953 a boat had been fitted with an engine from Ferrari, a 375 F1. Today's record-setting boat will be part of the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Ferrari at the upcoming weekend in Maranello. The mid-mounted engine, a V8 90 with 4308 cc and 490 BHP at 8,500 rpm, propels the Berlinetta from Maranello. Its maximum torque is 465 Nm (47,4 kgm) at 5,250 rpm. For the employment off shore the engine had been modified in the areas of its respiration, exhaust and control. The cooling system remained unchanged, while the radiator paraflu/air had been changed to a heat exchanger paraflu/acqua. The cooling circuit of the latter uses a pump external to the engine, moved by the specific transmission of the boat, which pumps cooling water to the heat exchanger and the exhausts of the engine. In the last half a century Eugenio Molinari, 71, triumphed numerous times (F1 world champion with engine on board, 4 times European champion, 4 times Italian champion). Today he set his 71st record. Molinari won the Pavia-Venezia race, the longest race on water in the world, eight times and set the average speed record of 188 km/h at the "Giro del Lario" race, for which he was awarded the title "Fastes man on earth on navigable waters". The Italian Olympic Committee, Coni, awarded the prestigious "High speed gold medal" to Molinari; the medal is exclusively for men, exceeding 200 km/h.
