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| A`Speranziella, a design from the
board of one Renato Sonny Levi who was born in Karachi (then
India) and worked in his father's boat building yard in
Bombay designing and overseeing production. Now domiciled
back in Italy and working for Cantieri Navaltecnica in Anzio
the heart of Italy's boating industry, the excitement of
participating in the first modern day powerboat race in
Europe had enticed the Italian over to Britain for the race.
Levi's mount A`Speranziella at 30ft was built to his design
and as a prototype for a new range of cruisers to be
produced by Navaltecnica. |
| She was powered by a pair of
American Cadillac Crusaders, totalling 600hp run on high
octane aviation fuel. When Renato asked the race organisers
if the fuel was available in the UK, he was told NO! The
engines were de-rated accordingly, he arrived at Cowes prior
to the race to find it was available, it was maybe, that
this proved a costly mistake! They were also allocated race
no 17 which is unlucky as our no 13, in Italy, this was
happily changed to 16 for the race, the number she carried
all her racing life. |
| The race has been well documented
with the biggest scrap being between A`Speranziella and
Thunderbolt each taking the lead but it was in the rough
waters off St Catherine's that A`Speranziella took control
as Sopwith throttled back to 10 knots in the torrid
conditions. She held the lead through Bournemouth and on to
Durleston where the first problems struck, maybe going that
little faster in the extreme conditions was overzealous and
Thunderbolt regained the lead never to relinquish it again.
The bright red Italian pushed on with cracks in cabin
structure, splits in the longitude bearers a smashed head
split tanks and the engines being temperamental, maybe they
were showing a dislike for the lower octane fuel! |
| Levi brought her in to 5th place
at Torquay and set him self on a trail to fame as one of the
most outstanding designers of the second half of the
century. |
| The bug had bitten and Sonny as he
was known, was back in 62 accompanied by a rebuilt and
strengthened A`Speranziella. |
| Also at Cowes was another
formidable Levi boat, Ultima Dea ( the Last Goddess),
powered by three Maserati engines and driven by Fiat boss
Gianni Agnelli and a smaller Levi design Settimo Velo. |
| The Italians had arrived with
their own transport vessel, which doubled as workshop, home
and support ship but it was to all be in vain. |
| The 1962 race was run in rough
conditions that suited the big boys of the 41 starters and
of course there was none bigger than Dick Wilkins
Tramontana, the day did not start well for the Italians when
the little Settimo Velo did not make the start. |
| A`Speranziella was co driven by
Commander Attilo Petroni and she showed again as in the
previous year that she was a good contender taking the rough
seas in her stride, yet again she was battling with
Thunderbolt now driven by Pamela Campbell and Lettis Curtis
for 5th and 6th places, the crossing of Lyme Bay took its
toll on both craft and A`Speranziella approached Torquay
much the worse for wear with engine problems and heeling
slightly to starboard, she made the trip up to Ore Stone and
back to the finishing line crossing in 10th place but
unfortunately was disqualified for missing a turning mark.
Ultima Dea had finished in 3rd but at prize giving it was YO
YO who took the spoils for Ultima had also missed a mark of
Bournemouth and Agnelli refused to sign his declaration and
was eliminated. |
| On the day of scrutineering for
the 1963 race a familiar shape appeared in Cowes harbour
after motoring over from Belgium, looking more purposeful
than previous years with a redesigned cabin and powered by 2
new Ford Interceptor engines totalling 800hp, A`Speranziella
was back. The whole boat had been rebuilt yet again from
lessons learned in the 2 previous races, she was now
stronger than ever with additional stringers and bearers
including re-engineered spray rails, she was also faster and
more reliable. |
| Such was the status now of the
Cowes Torquay a total of 50 entries had been received so the
competition was going to be fierce, included were no less
than 9 Bertrams including Blue Moppie, Damian and
Thunderstreak all rated at 800hp plus White Migrant a 25ft
Christina with an engine room full of Ford Dearborn
Interceptors giving her an unrivalled power to weight ratio. |
| The race was run in moderate
conditions and the I.O.W. loop saw speeds of 43 knots
attained by the leading bunch including all the named above
with A`Speranziella in 5th place. Lead boat was Migrant
driven by Lord Lucan and Bruce Campbell but at the Needles
second time she had vanished, it transpires that the tanks
had been overfilled and Lucan was slopping out petrol in the
bilges when his cuff caught the propshaft, the material was
dragged into the floating bearing which seized and water
started pouring in, the bilge pump then packed up and she
sank. Next to go was Thunderstreak in Lyme bay, it was here
Blue Moppie had water pipes let go and she stopped for
repairs. Tramontana 2 made up ground in the rough water but
the leader after all this action was the Italian, a lead she
held to the finish. So it was third time lucky for Sonny and
there was never a more deserved victor, his success was even
sweeter when in sixth place came the diminutive TRIDENT
driven by Don Shead with a similar boat Jupiter in 16th,
both designed by Levi and built by R.W.Clarke in Cowes. You
knew who was going to be flavour of the month next year and
his success as designer and driver set the seal on his
future. |
| A`Speranziella never raced again
in the CT but made an appearance in the hands of circuit
racer Tom Percival in the first Round Britain Powerboat Race
in 1969 with sponsorship from Robinsons Barley Water and
painted with lurid diagonal stripes, she unfortunately broke
down and retired at Milford Haven. |
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| Like all old racers the boat
vanished into private hands but was advertised in Motor Boat
and Yachting in the 80's though said to be in poor
condition. Then surprise surprise she was purchased,
restored by Nigel Bowdler and appeared at Cowes in 1987 only
to vanish yet again, she was also the subject of an article
in Sonny Levis' book Milestones in my designs. |
| Seven years ago she was purchased
from Adam Younger by Sebastian Stapleton and is undergoing
another restoration including the fitting of replacement
Ford Interceptors. It is heart warming that another CT
winner is at last being afforded the acknowledgement due and
that at least one famous Levi boat will be back on the water
one day. |
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