Blazing a new trail
The Cigarette Racing Team has made a big impact in its first three rounds of Powerboat P1. President Skip Braver was there to watch the team in Malta
There’s no doubt that the arrival of the Cigarette Racing Team in this year’s Powerboat P1 championship is big news. As one of the most famous brands in both pleasure cruising and offshore racing, Cigarette’s European-based programme with the #10 Fantastic 1 boat is a big boost to Powerboat P1, and an interesting new challenge for the previously US-focused Cigarette firm.
The Cigarette Racing Team was founded by famed US racer Don Aranow in 1969 after he retired from an incredibly successful racing career in which he’d notched up eight international titles and 16 racing records. That year he’d won the UIM Offshore World Championship with his 32’ Cigarette hull, named after a prohibition era rum-running boat. As he moved into boat building, rather than competition, he opened Cigarette Racing Team’s first headquarters in 188th Street in Miami – a road still known today as Thunderboat Row.
Watching over the operation today is Cigarette President and CEO Skip Braver. The Chicago-born businessman has had a big stake in many commercial interests over the years, from telecoms, through car dealerships to real estate. But, after purchasing his first Cigarette boat in 2000 – and after falling in love with the brand – it was clear where his future business direction would be.
Working with existing Cigarette designer Neill Hernandez, he acquired the company in 2002 and began to work to further enhance the brand’s potential. With such a successful competition and record-breaking heritage, racing was naturally a big part of the marketing push.
“Cigarette is a lifestyle,” Braver says. “When Neill and I bought the company, we wanted to take a legend and turn it around—back where it needed to be. We are very team focused. We’ll all be successful or we’ll fail together—sink or swim, we’re in this together. We’ve been very successful, because we stay focused. We are now working to extend our brand with merchandising here in Europe. People know our brand and the quality. Eugenio wanted to further that message in Europe through racing and we built him the boat that we think can be successful in that.”
The Eugenio to which Braver refers is Seahorse International owner Eugenio Voltolina – the Italian dealer, who runs Cigarette Racing Team Europe and the #10 Fantastic 1 boat. When he was putting together the programme, he made it very clear which engines should power Cigarette’s US-built hull.
Mercury engines are at the heart of the Cigarette experience, and Voltolina was keen to ensure that relationship was maintained, even if it meant expanding Mercury’s Powerboat P1 interests at the top level. “We didn’t want to change a winning formula,” Voltolina explains. “When we decided to take Cigarette into Powerboat P1, we wanted an engine that is right for this type of racing. Mercury knew what we needed.”
That’s a sentiment shared by Braver. “At Cigarette we use exclusively Mercury drives and engine packages,” he says. “Our conversations with Mercury started last October when Eugenio first discussed Powerboat P1. Even though we’ve had very little testing time - we finished the boat just as it needed to be sent to Europe – we think we’ve had remarkable performance from these engines.”
Mercury Racing Engineering Manager Erik Christiansen explains that the team had already been watching Powerboat P1 with close interest. “I knew about Powerboat P1 even before Skip approached me,” he says. “The series is racing boats that are readily available from the manufacturers, so there is great synergy for the industry. We also think it’s great that Powerboat P1 is so professionally run and that the rules are enforced. Racing needs to have a level playing field and everyone has to play by the rules. It has been interesting watching its progress, and the growing involvement of the US-based teams.”
Things are equally pace-setting on the crew front. Italian GT car racer Luca Formilli Fendi is at the pilot’s wheel, while top US racer John Tomlinson filled in for the equally vaunted Italian Lino Di Biase as throttleman in Malta, while Di Biase looks set to continue adding his engineering and race expertise in the harbour.
In its first three rounds of Powerboat P1, the Mercury-powered #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette boat has proved an instant pace-setter, more often than not racing with its rivals at the front of the pack. As with any new racing programme, there have been the inevitable teething problems and a steep learning curve, but Cigarette is clearly here to make its mark and it’s only a matter of when – not if – that happens.