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Have you ever heard a Supermarine Spitfire on a flyby? It's quite a thing, and largely because inside a Supermarine Spitfire sits a 27-litre Rolls-Royce ‘Merlin' V12 engine.
And while you might imagine fitting this magnificent piece of British engineering into many things to make them excellent, a design studio plans to do exactly that. Claydon Reeves is making a superboat, and in its superboat will sit a detuned RR Merlin V12. Tally ho!
Reeves' super-yacht is called the ‘Aeroboat', and it is building just 12 of these 7700kg luxury seafarers, with the design inspire by the "sleek lines of the famous Spitfire fighter", including an authentic air intake scoop, aircraft inspired switchgear and the shock-mounted forward seats, a nod to the Spitfire's own landing gear.
Then of course, there's the engine. Each of the 12 Aeroboats scheduled for production will be equipped with a reconditioned, fuel-injected Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 with ‘documented provenance', detuned to around 1100bhp and allowing for a potential speed of between 75 and 95kts - that's around 86mph to 110mph. We think.
Though the engine is from a different era, the boat itself is all cutting edge elegance: it's built using Kevlar, carbon fibre and lightweight wood veneers, can accommodate between four to six passengers and each is configured to the individual's needs.
"The Aeroboat is Claydon Reeves' answer to anyone seeking a boat combining speed and contemporary elegance," CR tells us, "a heady combination of old-school romance and modern-day technology."
A model of the proposed Aeroboat, along with an actual Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engine will be on display at the Salute to Style party at The Hurlingham Club between 16-19 July. If you like what you see, best get down there.
In the meantime, here's the time Top Gear took on The Germans, arriving in - you guessed it - a trio of Spitfires.
Written By:- Vijay Pattni
More of this article on the Top gear website
