In 1961 the KD 800 Kg, for years the maximum expression of inboard racing, continues to see only our Federation interested in obtaining the organization of the relative international championships and therefore it is still our bodies of water that host, in Portoferraio and Campione d'Italia, respectively the European and World championships in the enchanting setting of the Portoferraio harbour without foreign competitors. Even if the Elabani organizers hope until the end in their participation, the fight for the title remains concentrated between our greats.
The Guidotti clan, present with father Liborio and sons Giorgio and Flavio, Ermanno Marchisio, Carlo Casalini, Lino Spagnoli and Nando Dell'Orto, are the ones who ignite the challenge. The majority of the pilots use the 5600 cc Maserati 8-cylinder V-engines on their racers, except Liborio Guidotti who uses an authentic type of engine, but with a larger displacement of around 6200 cc and Nando Dell'Orto, the only one not to have a Maserati, who uses his classic 4500 cc Ferrari 12-cylinder V-engine supercharged by a volumetric compressor. There is also news among the boats in the race, which see the addition to the Timossi of Guidotti, Casalini and Dell'Orto, a new creation from the same shipyard for Spagnoli who prefers it to his usual Celli. Marchisio, on the other hand, goes down with his Celli completely overhauled for the occasion.
Due to an annoying mistral wind, the official race course called "Delle ghiaie" more exposed towards the open sea, is replaced at the last moment by the reserve course, less hospitable on the banks but safer in the water, called "S.Giovanni"; this certainly creates some perplexity among the public forced to move on more impervious terrain, but this is at least compensated by the regular progress of the event. In the initial heat that also turns out to be one of the most exciting of the championship, Marchisio takes the lead followed closely by Giorgio Guidotti and soon, behind the slipstreams of these two drivers, a void is created. Further behind, we find Carlo Casalini and Dell'Orto, the latter is overtaken by Liborio Guidotti who, however, after a few laps, is forced to retire due to a broken pipe. Some difficulty also for Lino Spagnoli who complains of some problems in keeping his new Timossi stable, but who still manages to overtake Dell'Orto, moving into fourth position only to then suffer the comeback of Dell'Orto himself who overtakes him.
In the meantime, Spagnoli's Maserati suffers a clear drop in revs that forces the driver to retire. The race draws to a close with a determined and gritty performance by Marchisio who remains in the lead for all 12 laps and defends himself from the excellent Giorgio Guidotti who finishes in his slipstream.
In succession Casalini (3rd), Dell'Orto (4th) and only 5th Flavio Guidotti are classified, victim of ignition problems that delay him quite a bit.
Marchisio, having won the race, while he is doing an extra lap sees a whitish smoke coming out of the exhaust and while he slowly returns to the slipways one has the impression that something rather serious has happened to the yellow racing car n° 11 of the Ezio Selva champion. The circumstance is confirmed and the puncture to a piston denies Marchisio any hope of returning to the water for the remaining trials. Having eliminated the most dangerous opponent and taking advantage of the innumerable problems that afflict the other opponents, Giorgio Guidotti senses the chance to make the title his own. With a successful start Giorgio Guidotti takes the lead of the race initially followed by his brother Flavio and his father Liborio who are able to advantage his position with a more than legitimate team play.
But for Flavio Guidotti during the 2nd lap a hole suddenly opens in the hull that sees him definitively exit the championship with a timely return to shore to avoid sinking. Guidotti manages to lay his racer on a shallow bottom, unfortunately however that the recovery of the vehicle occurs only at the end of the entire event, so that with the arrival of the high tide, even the damage is greater due to the inevitable infiltration of salt water into the engine. A trip, the Elba one that Flavio Guidotti will hardly forget.
With the definitive abandonment of Flavio Guidotti, the second position passes to Liborio who remains in the wake of his son Giorgio for the duration of the heat. Behind the two Guidottis are classified in order Dell'Orto, Casalini and Spagnoli.
The third heat is incredible: due to the delay of some pilots, the start is continuously postponed, but at a certain point the general commissioner gives the go-ahead anyway even in the absence of Carlo Casalini, Giorgio Guidotti, Nando Dell'Orto, Liborio Guidotti and Lino Spagnoli (the latter will not even show up on the race course). When the first three arrive, realizing that the competition is underway, they enter the race: Casalini quickly, Giorgio Guidotti and Dell'Orto more calmly so much so that they will still be out of time. Liborio Guidotti arrives, but remains waiting, convinced that the go-ahead has not yet been officially given; when he realizes the opposite, he starts the race but is blocked after only a few laps by mechanical problems. The victory goes to Casalini.
The last heat is the decisive one for the assignment of the title but this time, with a perfectly regular start of the 4 remaining competitors, it is Giorgio Guidotti who leads followed by Casalini, by his father Liborio (who unexpectedly returns to the race after a lightning repair) and by Dell'Orto. The forcing operated by Casalini lap after lap induces Giorgio Guidotti to make a mistake in tackling a turning buoy that allows Casalini to take the lead of the race. Unfortunately the latter, finding himself involved in the full high wake raised by his opponent, in the attempt to recover the buoy finds himself in trouble due to problems with the ignition: despite the fitful performance of his yellow Timossi-Maserati he manages to finish the heat anyway even if in last position. Giorgio Guidotti finds himself in the lead and triumphs by winning the heat and his first European laurel. Brilliant performance by Nando Dell'Orto who manages to overtake Liborio Guidotti one lap from the end, who is again in difficulty due to a broken oil pipe. The standings of the European 800 Kg racers championship are as follows: 1st Giorgio Guidotti P 1100, 2nd Carlo Casalini P 804, 3rd Nando Dell'Orto P 694, 4th Liborio Guidotti P 525, 5th Ermanno Marchisio P 400.

In Campione d'Italia for the world title the same competitors Marchisio, the three Guidotti, Dell'Orto, Spagnoli, Casalini with the addition of the Italian Oscar Scarpa with a boat built by his shipyard San Marco, still short of set up but brought to the race anyway more to verify its qualities in view of the record attempts he himself planned for the end of the season; except Giorgio Guidotti who continued to use the Maserati 5600 cc, the other faithful supporters of the Modena engine adopted the more powerful and updated 6300 cc the only one still competing with the Ferrari is Nando Dell'Orto.
For the "novelty" boats, so to speak, is the return to the Celli of Lino Spagnoli. In front of a less noisy crowd than in the previous editions of the KD world championship the first of the three scheduled heats gets underway.
At the start of this heat, while tackling the first tack, the boats of Giorgio Guidotti and Lino Spagnoli come into contact and the worst happens to Spagnoli, whose racer "Luciana" suffers a leak on the right side and, although managing to complete the planned laps, once returning to the slipways it sinks despite the attempts to save it made not only by his mechanics but also by the builder Dino Celli.
For Spagnoli remains the bitterness of seeing the end of the world championship adventure, but for Liborio Guidotti it is not a good day either: the irreparable breakage of an oil pipe with the release of smoke puts an end to the continuation of his world championship. Things
do not go any better in this heat either for Oscar Scarpa who retires due to a problem with the water intake. Ermanno Marchisio clearly wins the opening race, preceding Flavio Guidotti, Dell'Orto, Giorgio Guidotti, Spagnoli and Casalini.

Only five competitors remained to battle it out in the subsequent heats due to Casalini's defection, but in the second race there was yet another series of breakdowns that prevented both Marchisio and Flavio Guidotti from winning the title. Marchisio was slowed down by problems with the fuel pump, despite it having been changed after the first heat, while for Flavio Guidotti the problems were due to fuel leaks, but this did not prevent both of them from finishing the heat in second and third place ahead of Scarpa whose hull revealed a certain precarious trim. The victory therefore went to Giorgio Guidotti who managed to take advantage of the situation and was able to gain an advantage over Marchisio, in the total calculation of the times of the two races, of 8 seconds. It is worth noting that Dell'Orto had to leave the competition, having been in difficulty for some time, despite his powerful Ferrari-Timossi which often proved to be rather fragile. In the third heat Flavio Guidotti prevails, preceding his brother Giorgio, Marchisio and Scarpa. For Flavio, a victory that partly repays the disappointment of the second heat, where he had recorded the fastest lap of the day at about 130 km/h. But the joy of the Guidotti clan was still very evident because Giorgio in this memorable 1961 also conquers his first world title and it is beautiful to see, during the lap of honor, the piloted hull with his brother Flavio on board standing towards the stern, both very happy to greet the enthusiastic public. A cursed season for the feisty Marchisio who will however soon have the opportunity to play a leading role for the KD. The final ranking sees Giorgio Guidotti world champion in 36'37"4, 2nd Ermanno Marchisio in 36'53"2, 3rd Flavio Guidotti 37'41" followed by Scarpa (4th), Dell'Orto (5th), Spagnoli (6th), Casalini (7th) and Guidotti Liborio (8th).

Again for the 800 Kg in the Italian championship Liborio Guidotti returns to success, confirming the clear supremacy of his team that for three years (twice with Liborio 1959-1961 and once with Flavio 1960), has won the Italian title. If Giorgio and his father Liborio have reason to rejoice for the important victories, also the other member of the Flavio family manages to redeem a year rather stingy with victories, winning the Coppa dell'Oltranza. Flavio succeeds Spagnoli, bringing the new limit of the Gardone race to Km/h 142.971.

But 1961 did not go unnoticed also for the record attempt, unfortunately failed, by Oscar Scarpa. On December 9th, in fact, the Milanese driver attacked the speed record for inboard racing boats in the 800 kg class set in 1953 (with 241.708 km/h) by Achille Castoldi with the Timossi-Ferrari. Scarpa's three-point San Marco-Maserati, launched at full speed on the measured base of Sarnico, was however hit by a sudden gust of wind that threw the hull upwards in a terrible triple looping that catapulted the driver out of the cockpit and he fell into the water a few dozen meters from the hull.
After the appropriate and timely medical checks, the accident, also filmed by the RAI crew, resulted in Oscar Scarpa "only" suffering from a few broken ribs, less serious than it appeared in its dynamics and compared to other accidents (with the same type of boat) that caused the death of Ezio Selva in Miami and Marino Verga during a record attempt, again in Sarnico. Unfortunately, however, the chronometric verdict continues to be in favor of Castoldi's record, which increasingly takes on the value of a legendary feat, as Scarpa, with his performance, obtains an average of averages of 240.809 Km/h, obviously insufficient to beat the previous record.

Again in Sarnico, in the two days preceding Scarpa's failed attempt, better luck was had by Franco Gilberti who on 7 December with a San Marco hull powered by two BPM engines at 85.85 km/h with a time of 31'03"07/10 beat the world record for the inboard unlimited race class which had been in place since 1934, the year in which the Frenchman J. Schoeller set a result of 80.20 km/h.

Always Gilberti on December 8th with his 1300 cc racer S. Marco-Alfa Romeo Giulietta attacks and improves his previous record with the new average of Km/h 150.33. This result consecrates the category in water since 1959 that this year strengthens its credibility in terms of speed confirming the excellent intentions "supported" on its future validity so much so that the pilots are also visibly increasing.

With this premise, the first edition of the Italian championship for the V 1300 cc was announced and organized, through a series of exciting races where there were also some controversial aspects, such as the technical verification imposed on all the boats after the Sesto Calende race; the Italian title was deservedly won by Giulio De Angelis on his boat (A. Molinari-Alfa Romeo Giulietta); he was threatened by opponents of the caliber of Scarpa, Caimi F., Bernocchi, Morelli, Capecchio, Toselli, Crespi, Vallini and Arietti.

In 1961, interest also grew for the 2500 cc racers, which improved their technical content with the presence in the race, amidst the monopoly of the BPMs, of the new CR engine.
In essence, it was an Alfa Romeo 2000 cc that Coppier and Rainer transformed for this category, raced on the Celli of Coppier himself and on the S. Marco of Fortunato Libanori.
For now, this engine gave us a glimpse of good chances of success, even if it paid in terms of competitiveness on the tried and tested BPM. The new Italian champion was Gianfranco Castiglioni (Celli-BPM) who achieved success by fending off the attacks of the impetuous Bordoni, Maderna, Ceruti, Petrobelli and those of the no less dangerous Casalini, Coppier, Crivelli and Libanori.

In the 21st Raid Pavia-Venezia surprising success of Dino Celli: first overall with the racer built in his shipyard with a Custom engine entered in the KD 800 Kg class, totaling in the time of 3h29'40" at an average of 116.470 Km/h, enough for the victory even if in fact not very high if compared to the results of the last editions. Dino Celli also wins the Coppa d'Oro Theo Rossi di Montelera in the timed section Ostiglia-Pontelagoscuro with Km/h 120.646.
It is worth noting the failure to participate in the competition of Augusto Cometti who for the occasion leaves his Timossi "Pelaochi" to his friend Tarcisio Marega who, however, is forced to retire near Pontelagiscuro.
In an edition that sees the participation of only 7 real racers in the inboard race I point out the fourth place overall and 1st in class in the KC 500 Kg of Mantua's Roberto Paganini on a three-point San Marco-BPM
A Raid to forget instead due to the difficulties caused by mechanical problems, Liborio Guidotti (Timossi-Maserati) and the Gilberti-Scarpa duo (San Marco-BPM), who nevertheless reached the finish line, significantly detached in the final classification.