Shock Mitigation Directory

Fabio Buzzi Killed in Powerboat Record Attempt

19.09.2019

Powerboat racing legend Fabio Buzzi and two other racers have died after their vessel hit an artificial reef near Venice.

Around 2100 on 17 September the powerboat crashed during an attempt to break the offshore speed record from Monte Carlo to Venice.

It is understood that the boat was travelling at around 80 knots when the incident occurred.

The boat ran into a spit of large boulders which have been placed on the seabed to protect the dam, which serves as a flood barrier to protect Venice. An official at Venice’s port authority said, ‘The boat took off and flew 30 metres through the air, landing on its stern on the other side of the causeway where the victims died on impact’. A fourth crew member, is being treated in hospital after being thrown from the vessel.

Fabio Buzzi - 1943 to 2019

Fabio Buzzi was born in Lecco, Italy. His powerboat racing career started in 1960. In 1971 he graduated from the Polytechnical University of Turin where he took a degree in mechanical engineering with a thesis on a self-constructed vehicle. Fabio Buzzi founded his industrial activity in the boating sector in 1972, under the FB Design trademark.

Fabio Buzzi began to compete in offshore racing in 1978, when he won the Italian and European Class 3 Championships. The following year he set the world speed record for diesel boats using a VM engine at a top speed of 191 km/h.

In 1986 he designed the Seatek engine, founding this company to produce diesel engines with a very high performance. With this engine in 1988 he became Italian, European and World Champion of the Open class.

In 1992, using a Seatek-powered boat he again succeeded in beating the diesel record at the speed of 252 km/h.

In 2004 Fabio Buzzi was again world champion of P classes in Key West. He won the Harmsworth Trophy, set two long distance records (Venice - Montecarlo and Tampa - Miami) and won the Pavia-Venezia race at an average speed of 198 km/h with a hydroplane powered by a gas turbine - at the respectable age of 61!

In 2008 he won the 182 mile Cowes-Torquay-Cowes offshore race, with the restored Cesa 1882 / Red FPT. He completed the race in 2 hours 18 minutes at an average speed of 91 mph.

In 2010 Fabio Buzzi, with Emilio Riganti and Simon Powell in Red FPT, won both heat 1 "Cowes 100" and heat 2 "Cowes-Torquay-Cowes" of the UIM Marathon World Cup.

In 2012 he set a new long distance record for New York - Bermuda with the FB Design FB 41' SF. The distance of 684 nautical miles was covered in 17 hours 6 minutes at an average speed of 40 knots.

In 2018 Fabio Buzzi achieved the new Diesel Powerboats World Speed Record, with a boat designed by himself and built by FB Design. The record was set on Lake Como, when the futuristic red "hydroplane" reached the speed of 277 km/h.

Fabio Buzzi won 10 World Championships.

He was a true legend whose legacy lives on in the high speed craft

he designed and built for professional mariners around the world.

READ MORE∨

READ LESS ∧