Ducati is turning 100, and it is celebrating on the water. SACS Marine and Ducati have unveiled the Pirelli 44 | Ducati Edition, a special edition maxi RIB limited to a production run of just 26 boats and styled around Ducati’s centenary superbike.
At Cannes, only a scale model was unveiled, with the first completed boat expected in the coming months.
The styling is specific. Ducati's Style Centre worked directly with SACS on the look, drawing from the Superleggera V4 Centenario, the extreme road bike Ducati built to mark its own hundredth year. The RIB's tubes swap the standard Pirelli tread (based on Pirelli's Formula 1 wet-weather tyre) for a pattern hand-carved by Pirelli's R&D Centre to match the Diablo Supercorsa SP tyre fitted to the Centenario. The engines gain aerodynamic appendages inspired by MotoGP fairings. Inside, it's a carbon-fibre hardtop, black steel pack and Alcantara trim on the dash and seats, with each of the 26 boats getting its own commemorative plaque and customisable number plate.
Power comes from three 500hp Mercury Racing engines, a combined 1,500hp reserved exclusively for this edition, though top speed hasn't been released. The hull is a dual-step design from the Mannerfelt Design Team, the same naval architects behind the base Pirelli 44 this special edition is built on.
That base boat had already had its own moment days earlier. The standard Pirelli 44, the natural evolution of the Pirelli 42, which SACS describes as the range's most commercially successful model, was shown to the public for the first time at the Cannes Yachting Festival, one of four world premieres SACS brought to the show. It runs 13.10m LOA with a 4.30m beam, and depending on spec can be had with triple Mercury Verado V10s (1,275hp combined) or twin V12 Verados at 600hp apiece. It's also set to appear at the Genoa International Boat Show in October.
SACS Marine holds the licence for Pirelli-branded boats, a relationship stretching back more than 20 years. The Ducati Edition is a separate, first-time collaboration between SACS and Ducati, built on that same Pirelli platform.
https://pirellispeedboats.com/en/collection/speedboats/pirelli-44/
