Amazing £1m Vintage Ferrari Speedboat For Sale

The world record-setting boat is now due to raise £1.5million at auction. The legendary ARNO XI Hydroplane craft was the brainchild of wealthy boat privateer Achille Castoldi who wanted to break a world water speed record. He persuaded the great Enzo Ferrari to lend his knowledge and technical assistance in building the ultimate powerboat. The result was a 12-cylinder, 4,500cc, V12 Ferrari engine — the same as the one in the Type 375 Grand Prix car. In October 1953, ARNO XI went 150.2mph on Lake Iseo in northern Italy, setting a world speed record for an 800kg boat that has never been broken. When Castoldi was finished with ARNO XI, it was sold to a rich engineer, who went on to race it with great success for more than ten years, securing numerous wins. The boat went through various aerodynamic improvements during that time, including a modified nose and the addition of a fin. It finished its competitive racing career in 1960 with a European championship victory and numerous fastest laps, many of which still exist. The current unnamed owner acquired the racing boat over 20 years ago, restoring it to mint condition, and it is now being sold at auction. Peter Wallman, specialist at auctioneers RM Europe, said: "We are thrilled to be offering the historic ARNO XI for sale. "This awe-inspiring racing boat has beauty, history, provenance and performance; it simply ticks every box for any serious collector. "It's an exceptional piece of history, made even more famous by the countless models one sees of it in important collectors' libraries. "It is likely to appeal to serious car collectors as much as it will to traditional boat collectors."