Renato Molinari was born on Lake Como on 27 February 1946 and died in Cella Monte, Piedmont, on the night of 5-6 September 2024. He was 78. Between those two dates, he won 18 world championships across outboard, inboard, circuit and offshore racing, 13 European titles across multiple classes, and four Italian national titles. No other powerboat racer has approached that combined record.
His father, Angelo, was already designing and building wooden tunnel hulls in Como when Renato made his racing debut in Rome in 1964, aged 18. The Molinari family yard’s boats were among the most competitive in early European circuit racing, and Renato grew up understanding how they worked as well as how to drive them. His first major international success came partnering cousin Cesare Scotti in the Paris Six Hours – a combination of versatility and endurance that would define everything that followed.
The Outboard Years
Five ON class (2,000cc) world titles came between 1970 and 1980: the years 1970, 1971, 1973, 1976 and 1980. He added two OE class (850cc) titles in 1976 and 1979, the OI class (1,500cc Corsa) in 1977, and four consecutive OZ Unlimited titles from 1980 to 1983. His engine choices attracted almost as much attention as his results. He switched from Mercury to Evinrude in 1977 and won the Parker Nine Hours on his first outing with the OMC powerplant. Working with American driver Bob Hering, he co-designed a pickle-fork catamaran that became known in the paddock as the Italian secret weapon. Parker was one of the wins that came from that project.
His endurance record ran parallel to the circuit titles: four wins in the Paris Six Hours, four in the 24 Hours of Rouen, three in the Berlin Six Hours and three in the Pavia-Venezia. He set the Pavia-Venezia course record in 1978, averaging around 187 km/h over the distance. The Bristol Grand Prix’s Duke of York Trophy came to him three times, in 1971, 1977 and 1980.
The 1979 Rouen 24 Hours produced one of the most complete comebacks the sport has seen. Racing an R3-class Saffa/Molinari/Fiat Abarth-powered boat, Molinari and his co-driver overturned a 44-lap deficit to win by 42 laps. Italian motorsport journalists voted him Chevron Sportsman of the Year five times across his career.
The F1 Era
The John Player Special F1 Powerboat World Championship launched in 1981. Molinari won it first time out, racing under Martini sponsorship alongside teammates Bob Spalding and Enrico “Chicco” Vidoli. He won again in 1983 and 1984, taking 16 Grands Prix across his F1 circuit career. The R3 inboard world title came in 1981 as well.
The Molinari family yard’s tunnel and catamaran designs were by this point the reference for how F1 boats were built across the grid. In 1985 he moved into team management, becoming general manager of Team Nordica and technical director for the F1, F2 and F3 circuits.
Safety Cell Development
Among the most consequential engineering steps of the period was the development of the closed cockpit safety cell in F1 powerboat racing. Molinari was at the centre of it during his tenure as technical director, and archive material from Fairford in 1986 documents the cell at public display – a structure that would go on to shape driver protection in the sport for decades.
Offshore and the Martini Bianco
The transition to offshore Class 1 came in the mid-1980s. In 1986, partnering Carlo Bodega and Cesare Fiorio aboard a self-designed Falcon catamaran powered by a Lamborghini engine, Molinari won the Monaco Grand Prix. The Martini Bianco followed – the offshore catamaran powered by four supercharged Lancia engines.
He stepped back from the highest-risk circuit racing around 1993. He cited the deaths of four fellow racers in consecutive months as the deciding factor. He remained a regular presence at UIM F1H2O World Championship events well into his later years, still deeply connected to the sport he had helped build.
Career Record
Honours and Legacy
The UIM inducted Molinari into its Hall of Fame in 2009, alongside American legend Bill Seebold. CONI awarded him the Collare d’Oro al Merito Sportivo in 2018. A plaque went up on Rome’s Walk of Fame dello Sport Italiano in 2015.
Alongside his contemporary Cees van der Velden, Molinari defined an era when the best drivers raced across every discipline and built their own boats as well as drove them. His 18 world titles across virtually every major class remain the record against which every subsequent career in powerboat racing is measured. He set or equalled around 11-12 world speed records during his career.
He lived quietly in retirement in Cella Monte. He died peacefully in his sleep.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
