Maserati presents its race against time, teaming up with world-renowned sailor Giovanni Soldini in an attempt to break three important and historic North Atlantic sailing records.

FIAT chairman, John Elkann and the president of Yacht Club Italiano, Carlo Croce, introduce the challenge, where Soldini and his team of nine sailors will next year captain the Maserati yacht in an attempt to break the Cadiz-San Salvador (Bahamas), Miami-New York and New York-Lizard Point (UK) records.

The three ocean course attempts will be monitored by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, the international body certifying the record times on the historic clipper routes.

“I am happy that two major companies have decided to approach the world of ocean sailing by supporting this important Italian enterprise," said Giovanni Soldini, who already has two circumnavigations and over 30 Atlantic crossings to his name.

“We intend to be the first Italian boat to set a record on an official WSSRC route and breaking the North Atlantic record has always been a lifelong dream of mine.”

While the principal partner for the challenge is Maserati, whose name has been given to the boat, the challenge is co-sponsored by the Swiss bank BSI (Generali Group) and Generali itself. Maserati will fly the pennant of Yacht Club Italiano, which was founded in 1879 and is the oldest sailing club in the Mediterranean Sea. Vodafone Italia and Boero Bartolomeo S.p.A. will be official suppliers to the challenge, with Bulgari as the Official Time Keeper.

“Maserati is lending its name to a boat which represents the synthesis of nautical technology and with which Soldini and his crew will attempt to break major ocean records,” said Harald Wester, CEO of Maserati S.p.A.

“Giovanni Soldini aboard Maserati expresses the absolute symbiosis of values – passion, emotion, speed, adrenalin, innovation along with craftsmanship and an Italian identity – between the Trident marque and the great Italian yachtsman in a series of offshore challenges on a global scale.”

The Maserati CEO’s enthusiasm was reflected by the challenge’s other partners.

“Yacht Club Italiano is delighted to be partnering Giovanni Soldini and Maserati in this important challenge," declared Carlo Croce, president of Yacht Club Italiano.

Alfredo Gysi, CEO of BSI SA, the Gruppo Generali bank specialising in private wealth management, also expressed his pleasure in supporting the attempt.

“We are pleased to support, together with Maserati, Giovanni Soldini and his crew and recognise the great sporting value of their project,” he declared. “Tackling such a challenge requires great technical expertise, team spirit and aspiration to excellence: all values that are fully reflected in our group.”

MASERATI

With the Maserati yacht, the Trident marque is partnering Giovanni Soldini in this ambitious project. The confrontation with time, the emotions generated by speed, the adrenalin deriving from competition are of course all elements that have indelibly marked Maserati's almost hundred-year history. That history includes Maserati’s first land speed record set by Bakunin Borzacchini in 1929 to the victories at Indianapolis in 1939 and 1940, the two F1 World Championship titles of Juan Manuel Fangio in 1954 and 1957 and the FIA GT1 world title won by the Maserati MC12 in 2010.

However, Maserati, a company that has always made of innovation one of its strongest suits, is by no means new to speed records on water. As early as the 1930s, the Maserati brothers tested two paired 16-cylinder engines at sea and, in 1955, a Maserati engine conquered five powerboat world championships. For 12 consecutive years until 1969, Maserati’s eight-cylinder engines won 19 world, four European and 10 Italian titles in various categories.

Maserati’s present commitment to Giovanni Soldini therefore represents a kind of return to the future for the Trident marque.

With the support of and participation in this major Italian sporting and technological project, Maserati is confirming its role as a global ambassador for the excellence Italy is capable of expressing. Maserati’s excellence is displayed with passion every day in 65 countries around the world through successful products of the highest quality such as the Quattroporte, the GranTurismo and the GranCabrio, cars whose performance reflect on the road the performance expressed at sea by Giovanni Soldini and Maserati.

BSI

Founded in Lugano (Switzerland) in 1873, BSI SA is one of the oldest banks in Switzerland and specialises in private wealth management. Since 1998, it has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Generali Group, one of the major international insurance and finance institutions. BSI focuses on establishing and maintaining enduring and continuous relationships with its clients, offering efficient and high level global management services. The company is present on the principal international financial markets in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.

GENERALI

The Generali Group is one of the largest European insurance firms, the European market leader in the life insurance sector, with total premiums of over €73 million in 2010. With a staff numbering 85,000 around the world serving 70 million clients in over 60 different countries, the group occupies a leading position in Western Europe and has an increasingly significant presence on the Eastern European and Asian markets.

MASERATI YACHT

Maserati is a VOR 70 which took part in the 2008-2009 round-the-world race. An ultra-technological boat of over 20 metres, it makes a case to be the world's fastest mono-hull yacht thanks to a carbon-fibre mast more than 30 metres high, a canting keel, mobile water ballast tanks, forward canard fins, its extremely sleek waterlines and its structures in composite materials.

As Soldini explains: “After three months in dry dock, Maserati is 10% lighter and more powerful, with a greater self-righting capacity. We have worked to obtain a more stern-heavy configuration, thus making Maserati particularly well suited to sailing at higher speeds.”

THE RECORDS

Here is the schedule of records, featuring the approximate start dates. Dates are approximate as each voyage has to start with ideal meteorological conditions, therefore the go ahead will be given by a team of meteorologists at the last moment. If conditions are favourable, Giovanni Soldini and Maserati will also attempt to break the record for the longest distance covered by a mono-hull yacht in a 24-hour period.

January 2012: Cadiz-San Salvador (Bahamas) – 3,884 miles (no time reference to beat: absolute record held by Franck Cammas, trimaran Groupama, May 2007).

March 2012: Miami-New York – 947 miles (no time reference to beat: absolute record held by Frank Cammas, trimaran Groupama, June 2007).

April 2012: New York-Lizard Point (UK) – 2,925 miles (record to beat 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes, 39 seconds set by Robert Miller aboard the monohull Mary Cha IV, October 2003; average speed of 18.5 knots).

According to the schedule Maserati will be put into the water in November 2011. November and December 2011 will be devoted to fine-tuning the boat and selecting and training the crew.

All text and photos courtesy of Maserati