Endurance Racing History

The introduction and development of the Powerboat P1 World Championship brand represents the latest phase in the development of a sport with a history spanning 100 years.

Boat racing older than car racing
Arguably, performance boat racing has a heritage older than car racing because in the year 1904, two historic events established the foundation of open top monohull racing, one in the UK and one in Italy. The inaugural Harmsworth Trophy race took place from Cowes to Torquay and set the precedent for endurance racing. The racers ran from Cowes Harbour, made a stopover at Torquay and then returned to Cowes. The other historic event took place in Palermo, Sicily when the now famous Florio sent invitations to his friends throughout Europe to bring their open top powerboats to Palermo to race around the island of Sicily.

Testing conditions for engines
The original boats would have been around 5hp which makes an interesting comparison to the race boats of today, which in Powerboat P1 are producing around 2000hp. Endurance powerboat racing has always presented manufacturers of performance boats and engines with a platform to demonstrate their products in the most testing of arenas. Anyone who has experienced high speed in a powerboat will know how tough an environment the sea can be when pushing to the limits.

For anyone who has not, imagine.