Over 70 Years Ago Ferrari's F1 Hydroplane Redefined High-Speed Boating

Way back in 1953, this Ferrari-powered boat set a speed record for its class. But the story of how this came to be involves Enzo Ferrari himself and his intensely competitive nature. And even though we have published a list of the 15 best Ferraris of all time, none run on the water. This is the only record-setting Ferrari-powered racing boat. Its record still stands today.

Our story starts with Achille Castoldi, Italy's top boat racer, who had been setting records on water since 1940. Castoldi visited the Ferrari factory to order an F1-spec V12 from Ferrari. The original version of this engine, which powered Ferrari to the 1952 F1 championship, produced 385 horsepower. It was installed into the Arno XI, a three-point hydroplane built by the Cantieri Timossi boatyard. The Arno XI featured a cockpit and engine cover finished in Ferrari's racing color, Rosso Corsa, along with a metal subframe to reinforce its wooden frame and its mahogany-veneered structural elements. Castoldi was up against a competitor who had the support of the Alfa Romeo factory, and came up short on his initial record attempt.

Castoldi returned to the Ferrari factory and had his engine retuned, courtesy of Ferrari's chief race engineer. It would now run on methanol, with two superchargers and two four-barrel carburetors packing in the fuel-air mixture. Horsepower was over 600, enough to achieve a two-way record in the flying kilometer of 241.708 km/h (150.19 mph), with another in the 24 nautical mile event. A year or so later, Castoldi retired, and Arno XI went into storage.

The rest of the Ferrari F1 hydroplane story continues a few years later, when Nando Dell'Orto upgraded its engine and added a rear stabilizing fin to its body. Arno XI won the 1963 European Championship, as well as notching several lap records. While it isn't one of the fastest motorboats ever built, ranked by top speed, it was extremely fast for its time.

Dell'Orto retired from racing in 1968, storing the boat in the warehouse of his Milan paper-making factory. It was thoroughly restored by a new owner in the 1990s, which was then certified by Ferrari Classiche that the restoration was historically accurate. The Arno XI went to auction in 2012, where it sold for over $1 million. Fast forward to 2019, and the Arno XI would again be put up for sale. A listing on the DuPont Registry did not specify a price, but according to Business Insider, "...a representative for the seller told Business Insider they're asking $12 million." 

The Ferrari-powered Arno XI remains active in its retirement. As the only racing boat to be officially powered by a Ferrari F1 engine, as well as one with a speed record that remains unchallenged, the Arno XI stands in a unique place within Ferrari's history. As a boat, it showed the world how fast speed boats can go, with a record that remains in the books today. According to a comment added to a recent story about the Arno XI, it currently resides in the Austin, Texas, area, where it appears occasionally in public.