Ferrari doesn't let just anyone through the gates at Maranello. The standard tourist experience is a bus tour that loops the estate without stopping, so a private walk around the factory itself is a rare treat — one a Yachting World writer recently got, phone cameras taped over, to see how supercar engineering is spilling into sailing.
The reason for the visit was Ferrari Hypersail, the marque's ambitious campaign to chase offshore sailing records aboard a 32-metre foiling yacht. The boat itself is being built at a secret facility on Italy's west coast, but its technological heart comes from Maranello: the rear e-axle from Ferrari's electric supercar, the Luce, drives the propeller when motoring is needed and powers the hydraulic systems that move the boat's array of flaps, trim tabs, foils and cant arms.
Fully electric and burning no fossil fuel at all, Hypersail relies mainly on solar panels with stern-mounted wind turbines as backup. The power demands are enormous — think of the energy needed to fly a 32-metre hull on foils at 45 knots.
Ferrari's tools for developing it borrow straight from Formula 1. A squash court-sized virtual reality studio renders the yacht at full 1:1 scale, while a cockpit simulator pairs real controls with augmented reality so crews can practise gybes at speed. On the actual boat, the flight controller grips jet ski-style handlebars, the helm gets an F1-style wheel, and the instrument panel looks borrowed from an airliner flight deck.
The cleverest innovation may be the 'winch-by-wire' pedestal system. Five grinding pedestals look conventional but have no mechanical link to the winches — electric motors instead generate power that can be used anywhere on board. The handle load stays constant no matter what's happening at the winch, and crews grind at an efficient 100rpm. With infinite electronic gearing, fewer sailors can handle far bigger loads, and the motors are the same units Ferrari uses in the active suspension of the Purosangue and F80.
For travellers, this is another reason to put Maranello on the map. The town south of Modena already offers the Ferrari Museum, factory bus tours and a pilgrimage-worthy pilgrimage for petrolheads — and the Hypersail project shows the factory is pushing into territory that appeals to sailing fans as much as car ones. If you can't get past the gates, the museum's rotating exhibitions and the nearby Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena make an easy Emilia-Romagna day trip with serious food to match.
