The ‘rampant cavallino’ becomes a seahorse, but a very special one: with the ability to fly over the waves and cross the … waters at full speed. Ferrari launched on Wednesday at its headquarters in Maranello the Hypersail project, with which it will debut in the competition nautical. He does it with a 100 -foot ship (about 30 meters) that is built in an Italian shipyard and will be thrown next year. The cost of the initiative is kept secret, the exact date in which the ship will be made to the sea and the arsenal where Ferrari’s technicians work with the support of the French nautical designer Guillaume Verdier. The mythical Italian manufacturer of Formula 1 racing and Super -Live Sports has put the Italian candle Giovanni Soldini in charge of the project, one of the most laureate in his country and who in the last decade sailed with the Trimarán Maserati.
“It seems more a spacecraft than a ship,” said John Elkann, president of Ferrari in the presentation before the media. This nautical project, initiated two years ago, benefits from the knowledge of the company in aerodynamics, energy management and navigation control systems thanks to its long experience by building cars both road and competition. His latest milestones are the F80, a hybrid supercar of 1,200 horses with a production of only 799 units, and 499p, with which a few days ago he won the 24 -hour Le Mans race for the third consecutive year.
Worse this year in Formula 1, where the SF-25 has shown many limitations in the circuits. «With the Hypersail project the dream comes true. Bringing Ferrari from Earth to the sea and heaven is something extraordinary. And we do it with healthy realism, because it is not just about building a ship with extraordinary benefits, but also beautiful and can be trusted. It is something that in Ferrari we know how to do, ”said Elkann, who responded with an evasive nervous laugh when journalists asked him about the cost of this plan. “This project gives us the opportunity to continue innovating, to obtain patents that can benefit us in various fields.”
In fact, there are already nine patents registered by Ferrari thanks to the investigations derived from its entry into the nautical one, which could be followed by six more. The ship will be of a single helmet and stabilize during the flight with three points of support: the swinging keel, the rudder shovel and, alternately, the two side hydroalas. To avoid embarking a large amount of fuel and thus reduce the weight, the ship will work exclusively with the renewable energy obtained by solar panels, wind turbines and kinetic use. It will not be necessary to install a combustion engine, but only an energy accumulator obtained by the aforementioned sources to feed the movement of the hydroalas, the keel and the helm, in addition to the entire navigation system and other electronic instruments.
A “very complex” ship
«The key has been to find the balance between the weight and the benefit of the battery to guarantee the maximum performance. We have benefited from the fifteen years we have been working with the electric one, ”explains Matteo Lanzavecchia, an engineer in charge of integrating Ferrari’s experience, such as the aforementioned F80, in the nautical project. «It is an extremely complex ship, in which the thrust from below makes it gradually rise to the water. Our first challenge has been to guarantee its stability, for what we have started from the software that controls the suspension of our cars, ”says Marco Ribigini, another engineer who participates in Hypersail.
Once the sea is done, the ship will be used by Soldini with a crew of between 8 and 12 people to compete in regattas. «We’ll see what career we participate. The main objective is to be fast, stable and reliable, in addition to independent from the energy point of view, ”says this wake expert, known for his solo crossings around the world. Elkann rules out for now that the ship, from which only a copy will be built because its marketing is not planned, is going out in the Copa América, the most important event of the world competition candle. The goal is to “go as far as possible” with the benefits of the ship without being constrained by the rules of the aforementioned race. “This is more exciting,” explained Elkann, grandson of Gianni Agnelli, the mythical patron of the Fiat, and president of the Stellantis motor colossus.
