FB DESIGN srl

Via Provinciale 73, 23841 Annone Brianza (LC) - ITALY

Phone +39 0341 260105 - Fax +39 0341 260108

For any information, please send a message by e-mail.

FROM MILANO / MALPENSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - 78 KM

- take motor way SS336 (for 14.4 km) and follow the sign AUTOSTRADE MILANO - Indication sign A8

- continue on the highway A8 (for 24.4 km) follow the sign A4 : Bergamo / Venezia / Brescia / Milano Viale Zara / Tangenziale est

- when on A4 (for 10 km) exit the higway at : Cinisello Balsamo / MILANO v.le Zara / Sesto San Giovanni

- once exit of the highway follow the direction Lecco / MONZA Villa Reale to join the motor way SS36 (for 28 km)

- exit direction Annone Brianza, and turn right at the intersection, FB Design is 200 meters in your right.

FROM MILANO / LINATE NATIONAL AIRPORT - 43 KM

- follow the sign A51 : Brescia / Linate / Venezia

- in the highway A51 (for 8.5 km) follow the direction A52 : Malpensa / Como / Torino / Tangenziale Nord

- in the highway A52 (for 6 km) follow the direction Lecco / MONZA Villa Reale to join the way SS36 (for 28 km)

- exit direction Annone Brianza and turn right at the intersection, FB Design is 200 meters in your right.

FROM BERGAMO / ORIO AL SERIO AIRPORT - 47 KM

- follow the sign SS671 : Val Brembana / Milano / Bergamo

- Go through a place and turn left on the SS671 (for 4 km), passing near to Bergamo, carry on the Circonvallazione Leuceriano , go through the Rotonda Pietro Antonio Locatelli and turn left on the SS342

- SS342 (for 33 KM), go throughout Mozzovia Pontida, Cisano Bergamasco, Brivio, and take the direction of Merate

- then continue direction Calco, Olgiate Molgora, Rovagnate and join the SS36

- take the SS36 direction Lecco (for 5 km)

- exit direction Annone Brianza and turn right at the intersection, FB Design is 200 meters in your right.

FB DESIGN CONDAIR
FB Design Condair is an innovative air conditioning system that reduces dramatically costs and weight on board.
The gasoline version is the best choice for outboard engines boats and gasoline sterndrive boats. Its heart is a gasoline engine, of outboard propulsion origin, that drives a typical automotive air conditioning group. The system just needs to be connected to the main tank. In addition, an optional electric motor can run the system, when in port, just connecting the shore plug of the boat, with no smoke or pollution.
Condair is also available in a version suitable for inboard engines, diesel powered boats, that is mounted on the power take-off of the gearbox

FB Design is a company established in 1971 by Fabio Buzzi, mechanical engineer and offshore pilot, with the purpose of studying and building high performance motor boats as well as marine transmissions known as Trimax drives, now produced in partnership with the German ZF Corporation. After 30 years in business the boatyard and its R&D department have grown together and the firm continues to develop more and more sophisticated new products.

For years the main activity of the company was the competition. In more than 40 years of activity FB Design has won a total of 52 World Championships, the Harmsworth Trophy 7 times (1989, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2010) and have set 56 world speed records established in all existing classes, both UIM and APBA in US.

Due to the decline of the competitive powerboat field, the company took advantage of the experience made in making fast racing boats and began to extend the production also to the military field. In the last 15 years, FB Design has developed a full range of military boats, adopted by the top Military and Coast Guard Organisations worldwide, based on an impressive series of patents, related to hulls, drives, propellers, gearboxes, waterjets and gas turbines.

Even if FB Design production is now mainly oriented to the military, the company is still making very fast leisure boats for very demanding customers that want at the same time very high performances and reliability.  

Nowadays the company occupies a 12000 sqm site, complete with modern workshops for all phases of production where 40 technicians look after the production of prototypes, racing, and high performance patrol crafts.

FB Design develops new crafts and submits them to the stress cycle of offshore racing and winning without charging experimental design costs to the customer.

All the hulls, drives and fittings are always tested in the top racing and endurance contests, which are a demanding proving ground that ensures the highest quality.

FB Design is the only yard in the world whose craft have set world endurance and speed records in every existing class, with all types of hulls.

At present the main thrust of FB Design’s activity is devoted to the construction of high speed patrol boats on behalf of many naval organisations all over the world, such as the Italian "Guardia di Finanza" and Coast Guard, as well as the South African and Greek special forces, the Turkish Customs and the Hong Kong anti terrorism Police and Custom units.

Probably the most famous boat designed by Fabio Buzzi is CESA 1882. Completely restored in 2006, this glorious monohull is again racing with the dress of Red FPT.
Red FPT won the Cowes - Torquay - Cowes 2008 and 2010 race in 2h 18' 5' at an average speed of 91 mph. 

This incredible mono hull was born from a project that went wrong: Nitro, of 1985, was a losing boat for the old same reason: it was too heavy!
With four diesel engines by Iveco and with the first two speed gearboxes of the offshore history, Nitro raced in class 1 of the European Championship with very little success, and was later converted into a comfortable pleasure boat.
For the 1986 racing season the boat was totally rebuilt, and painted red: a much quicker color than the white of project Nitro, and was given four new Iveco engines of 600 Hp (which lasted for few minutes!), without any gearbox. The new boat was very fast, but not very reliable, winning only the Cowes-Torquay with the name Rolly-Go.
The next year (1987) the boat raced with some more luck and the name Groupe Luchiare, powered by the first four Seatek engines: it won the last race of the season and it conquered the third place at the Key West World Championship.

In 1988 the boat got its most celebrated name: CESA 1882, after the sponsor, who was a silver jeweler. During that season it won more than every other boat in the world: 17 consecutive podiums, with 3 second places and 14 first places. It's not only Italian, European and World Champion for the U.I.M., but also, in November, World Champion for the A.P.B.A. in Key West and winner of the Miami-Nassau-Miami.
During 1989 the boat is named Gancia dei Gancia and, driven by Stefano Casiraghi and Romeo Ferraris, in Atlantic City it wins again the World Championship, being the only boat to take it two times in a row.
But in 1990 the U.I.M. decides to penalise diesel engines, and for Gancia dei Gancia is the end. It's sold to the japanese Yoshiro Kitami and compete with the name Tecno in the first Venezia-Montecarlo, winning all the legs but the first one, where it pile up an overwhelming gap of more than six hours.
Then it races in the Superboat class in USA, with the name Super Hawaii.

Then it's the beginning of the dark ages: the boat is lost in some american shipyard, where the english pilot Drew Langdon re-discovers it and decides to bring it back home.
This incredible and winning boat is also on the 31st place of the ranking of the most beautiful boats of every time ("Motor Boat & Yachting" - August 2004) and is still considered the icon of modern offshore.
It was restored by FB Design in 2006 with the utmost care, exactly as it was, and is now racing again with the name of Red FPT.
With Red FPT Fabio Buzzi won for the third time in UK, the most prestigious world offshore race, the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes 2008 of 182 miles.
Red FPT completed the race in 2h 18' 5' at an average speed of 91 mph.

Since 1994 the GRAN ARGENTINA is three times Superboat World Champion and universally acknowledged as the fastest monohull in the world.
The hull design is a stepped deep-V, with two transverse steps towards the stern. These steps help to stabilise the pitching at very high speeds and shift the centre of lift forward to help compensate for the heavy weight of the diesel engines. Construction of the hull is in advanced composites, a combination of Kevlar and carbon fibre in sandwich form.
The two man crew occupy dedicated seats in the capsule which is designed around the canopy of an F16 military aircraft. This unique design of capsule is designed to offers protection if the boat nosedives and provide the means of survival if things start to go wrong at very high speed. It is float free if the boat starts to sink and is fitted with oxygen for crew survival.
Propulsed by quadruple Biturbo Seatek diesel engines with an aggregate output of 3300 KW drive what is the fastest monohull in the world at an incredible speed of up to 135 mph (115 knots).

This is a boat for the very select few, as Daniel Scioli (Vice President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007 and current Governor of Buenos Aires Province) the most regular driver, 3 times winner of World Champion Superboat USA and 4 europeans championships.

The transformation of la “Gran Argentina” was mainly done in 2000, transforming the boat into long distance record setter.

The main modifications were done around the central cockpit that now is for 4 places, with the rear open, and four Tecno G10 seats, all with their own instrumentation, and a single radar is also fitted with two GPS. A new front tank is now extending the range in order to be able to go from Miami to Nassau and back without any refuelling.

Gran Trimax set the Miami-Nassau-Miami record at 100 MPH average speed.

Engines remain the four twin Turbo Seatek, detuned to 1000 Hp each. Top speed is still 120 MPH.

In 2004 FB Design has deeply changed the characteristics of this 55’ boat. As usual U.I.M. has changed the rules banding four engines boats, so the four Seatek have been removed and at their place there are now two Isotta Fraschini 1312 V12, 20 litres engine, rated at 1300 Hp. The range also is extended with two new rubber tanks, for a total of 4200 litres and a range of 70 kn of over 600 nm.

In 2004 Fabio Buzzi, with this same mono-hull renamed as Sony, established the new world record in the circumnavigation of the Italian peninsula from Venice to Monaco (1122 nautical miles) with the smashing time of 23h 55’ 51’’ at an average speed of 47 knots (87 km/h).

In the same year, after racing in a three race format World Championship Race in Key West and winning the title of World Champion in his class, Fabio Buzzi placed a new Tampa-Miami long distance record in 3h 47’ 30’’.

La Gran Argentina raced again in 2010 in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race with the new name and dress of Silicon Fire, and arrived second after the new restored Cesa 1882.