1949 - Lot 19

Lot 19
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Estimation :
60000 - 80000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 64 400EUR
1949 - Lot 19
1949 ABBATE CLASS M 2800 Type : Racer 3 points Length : 4,90 m Width : 2,15 m Weight : 500 kg Number of seat(s) : 1 Engine : BPM 2800 SS Type : 4 cylinders in line Displacement: 2.8 l. Power : approx. 165 hp. The so-called "three-point hull", which dominated world motorboat racing for more than three decades, is unambiguously an American invention. From the end of the 1940's, Italian builders will bring to it all the creativity that their aesthetic and technical sense is capable of generating, to the point of making, for some, true works of art. However, this technical and sporting adventure began in a rather funny and unsporty way in 1948, when the American champion Robert Bogie went to the invitation of the Italian Federation and took part in a series of events in the north of Italy with his three-point racer - the Blitz III. The Blitz III dominated the Italian field head and shoulders. It is here that two versions of the same fact still coexist in the legendary story of this sport with the same result. Whether it was engineers from the Milanese engine manufacturer BPM or Guido Abbate himself who went to the tent at night to carefully draw up the plans for the Blitz III, the fact remains that it was the Abbate yard that produced the first Italian racer capable of challenging any competitor on the planet. Holder of the magic formula, Guido Abbate was not satisfied with producing just one hull in his premises in Azzano on Lake Como in 1949, but four in total, two of which were for the great Italian champions Selva and Scarpa and one for the French pilot Louis Delacour. The successes that followed opened the way to success for Abbate, which would make his name a brand renowned to this day for its high level of performance. In February 1953, Mario Verga's Laura three-point racer, equipped with the same Alfa Romeo factory racing engine as Juan Manuel Fangio's 1951 Formula 1 single-seater, broke the world speed record at over 226 km/h. In those same years, the French motor racing scene was not supported by car factories as in Italy and the French drivers were more in the category of gentlemen drivers. Nevertheless, they won brilliant successes at the national and international level thanks to such sharp mounts as the Abbate 2800. One of the particularities of the time is the common practice of lending boats between champions and this, during several racing seasons. Thus, throughout the 1950's, this Abbate racer distinguished itself both with Louis Delacour at the wheel and with his eminent colleague Armand Machat at the controls. The latter, among other notable results, beat the world speed record in the endurance section on November 11, 1952 on this Abbate BPM. In its blue livery, this racer n°3, with its BPM 2800 SS racing engine, is today the only survivor of the mythical small founding series signed by Abbate in 1949. It has miraculously survived three decades of abandonment but preserved complete. Restored at the initiative of Jean Van Praet at the end of the 1990s, most of its woodwork is still original, while its rare racing engine with Dell'Orto carburetors has been carefully overhauled by its builder BPM, located today near Verona, still the guardian of a unique know-how and its precious archives.
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