This is the 1981 Tullio Abbate Sea Star that was built along with seven other identical boats specifically for the Rothmans Trophy race in the same year on Lake Como in Italy.
The Rothmans Trophy would see some of the top Formula One drivers in the world all racing one another in speed boats before the 1981 Italian Grand Prix. The drivers who took part were Gilles Villeneuve, Didier Pironi, Riccardo Patrese, Bruno Giacomelli, Beppi Gabbiani, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Marc Surer, and Eddie Cheever.
Fast Facts – A Rothmans Trophy Race Boat
- This is a 1981 Tullio Abbate Sea Star speedboat, one of only eight identical boats built specifically for the Rothmans Trophy race held on Lake Como, Italy that same year before the Italian Grand Prix. The race featured top Formula 1 drivers like Gilles Villeneuve, Didier Pironi, Riccardo Patrese, and others racing against each other.
- Tullio Abbate was a famous Italian speedboat racer and builder, winning over 250 races and setting multiple records. Born into a family of boatbuilders in 1945, he began winning major races by age 16. He took over his father’s shipyard in 1975, modernizing it with fiberglass construction and becoming friendly with many of the F1 stars of the time.
- This particular Sea Star boat was raced by Ferrari driver Didier Pironi, who had three F1 wins, four pole positions, and a Le Mans 24 Hour victory in his career. Gilles Villeneuve, with his early snowmobile racing experience, ended up winning the unique 1981 Rothmans Trophy speedboat race.
- This unrestored Sea Star boat still has its original Rothmans livery and 165 bhp Mercruiser engine. It is being auctioned by Artcurial in late June in Saint-Tropez, estimated at €30,000-€50,000 ($32,300-$53,900 USD), requiring a full overhaul before being launched again.
Tullio Abbate: The Man And The Company
Tullio Abbate is both the name of a famous speedboat and luxury yacht manufacturer in Italy, and the name of the company’s founder who was one of the most successful motorboat racers of his time, taking over 250 wins and setting several records.
This is Tullio Abbate (left) and Ayrton Senna (right) at the Monaco Grand Prix. Image courtesy of Tullio Abbate.
Tullio Abbate (the man) was born towards the end of WWII in Tremezzo, in far Northern Italy. He was born into a family of boat builders, his father Guido Abbate was well-known for his high quality boats, and the north of Italy has a landscape dotted with lakes, the most famous of which is Lake Como.
By the time he was just 16 years old, Tullio was already a successful powerboat racer, winning the hotly contested European Powerboat Championship in Cannes, France in 1960 as a the co-pilot.
Incredibly, three years later at the age of 19 he would win the “Regatta Centomiglia del Lario” of the Campeones de Europa in a racing boat that he had designed and built himself. At this point, Tullio had firmly established himself as both one of the best pilots and one of the best designers in the European powerboat racing world.
His list of wins would continue, eventually racking up the 250+ number quoted above. In 1975 he turned his attention to taking over his father’s shipyard in Tremezzo, which he updated and expanded significantly. He also introduced the modern use of fiberglass, which vastly accelerated the boat building process, and resulted in boats that were lighter and much less prone to corrosion or water damage.
The company would shift much of their operations to Mezzegra on Lake Como at around this time, and by the mid-1980s they were building an astonishing 250 to 300 boats per year. Most of these were speedboats and runabouts, but some where luxury motor yachts upwards of 60 to 70 feet long.
Thanks in no small part to his high regard in the racing community and his big personality, Tullio became friends with many top Formula One drivers of the time including Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Riccardo Patrese, and Ayrton Senna – in fact one of his racing boats was named the Senna 42 Evolution after Ayrton.
This Tullio Abbate Rothmans Trophy race boat remains in original, unrestored condition, still carrying its original livery from the race.
Two of the most famous boats to launch from Tullio Abbate were the Superiority 60 and Exception 70, both were designed by automotive and industrial designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, and they remain a testament to Italian boat building and design even today.
Tragically, Tullio would pass away from Covid-19 during the pandemic in Italy, he was 75 years old.
The 1981 Rothmans Trophy Powerboat Race
The 1981 Rothmans Trophy had everything you could want in a glamorous powerboat race, including seven brand new and identical speedboats, and pilots sourced from the world of Formula One.
The race would launch from the Grand Hotel Villa D’este on Lake Como in the days shortly before the 1981 Italian Grand Prix. It was a fiercely contested race, nothing like the public relations parade that some had anticipated.
Ultimately it would be French Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve who would take the win, possibly due to his championship winning early career racing snowmobiles in Canada – certainly a lot closer to powerboat racing than Formula One.
Exactly what happened to the seven boats used for the race is a mystery, but at least one of them remains accounted for as it’s now due to be auctioned by Artcurial on the 29th of June in Saint-Tropez. The boat remains in largely original and unrestored condition, with its Rothmans livery and 165 bhp Mercruiser 485 engine still in place.
Above Video: This is the original coverage of the 1981 Rothmans Trophy race. You can see the boat shown in this article, as well as the six others, in action. The commentary is in Italian but if you click the “CC” button for closed captions, and then set the captions to auto-translate to English in the settings you’ll be able to follow the proceedings.
This is the boat that was driven by Formula One driver Didier Pironi who was racing for Scuderia Ferrari in 1981 at the time of the Rothmans Trophy race. Pironi had an successful career with three Formula One wins, four pole positions, and a win at the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans.
If you would like to read more about this unusual Tullio Abbate speedboat you can visit the listing here. The price guide sits at €30,000 – €50,000 or approximately $32,300 – $53,900 USD, and the listing notes that it will require a complete overhaul before being launched and taking to the water.
Images courtesy of Artcurial
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
