THE GREATEST RIB TEST EVER Scorpion Serket 9.8 PRICE £157,200 TOP SPEED 58 knots 0-40 KNOTS 6.2 seconds


T


here is an air of quiet sophistication about the Scorpion Serket that makes it an absolute pleasure to drive. All the controls are perfectly placed and


weighted, the steering is light but direct, the Smartcraft electronic throttles are slick and silky and even the 300hp Verado engines are quieter and more refi ned than the race- tuned 350hp units on the Pascoe. It’s always dangerous to try and compare


boats with cars but if the Goldfi sh is the Porsche 911 then the Scorpion is the Mercedes SL55. It feels like a totally sorted package that comes from years of experience honing the hull, tubes, helm and engines into a single, well-oiled machine. Scorpion designs and builds the whole boat at its factory in Lymington so there is no mixing and matching of parts, just a beautifully engineered purpose-built machine with fi rst-class fi t and fi nish. And that’s exactly how it behaves under


maintaining a high average speed safely. Let’s face it, a top whack of 58 knots is not slow by any standards and its 0-40-knot sprint time of 6.2 seconds shows how effectively it puts that power into the water. This particular example is the chase boat


an exceptional ride and great looks to boot


purpose-built machine with


A beautifully engineered


way. With no steps to loosen its grip on the water, one of the deepest vees on test, a decent freeboard and tight, slender tubes that rarely touch the water, it can be banked into turns at improbable angles without feeling like it’s going to bite you. It has heaps of accessible power and a safe,


secure hull you can exploit to the full without endless tweaking of the trim. Scorpion is happy to acknowledge that it sacrifi ces all-out performance in favour of


for Ben Ainslie’s monstrous AC45 sailing catamaran, which smashed the Round the Island race record the day after our test. The Scorpion arrived too late for us to complete a lap of our own but even after a tiring few hours jumping from boat to boat, I felt instantly at ease on the Scorpion. Sync the two engines so that they run off one throttle lever and you can rest your wrist on the throttle body and make fi nger-tip adjustments to your speed even when skipping over the waves. The optional Ullman suspension seats are barely needed given how well the hull rides but once you learn to relax your thigh muscles, you really can let the seats take the strain. This is


one of the few boats that I could easily envisage cruising on for hours at a time at 40 knots without it proving mentally or physically wearing – like a fast grand tourer rather than a pure performance boat. Handholds in all the right places and


useful locker spaces fore and aft show that plenty of thought has been put into the practicalities even if it lacks the forward seating area of its rivals. But when it looks as good as this and drives even better, who’s complaining. After all, it’s a Merc SL not a Renault Espace! Hugo


Super-slick controls and top quality fi t and fi nish


THE DATA SPECIFICATIONS


LENGTH 32ft 4in (9.85m) BEAM 9ft 0in (2.75m) DRAUGHT 1ft 8in (0.5m) WEIGHT 1,950kg FUEL CAPACITY 450 litres


ENGINES Twin 300hp Mercury Verado


TOP SPEED ON TEST 58 knots 0-30 KNOTS 3.7 sec


0-40 KNOTS 6.2 sec


PRICE FROM £153,000 inc VAT


PRICE AS TESTED £157,200 inc VAT


CONTACT Scorpion RIBs. Tel +44 (0)1590 677 080 Web: www.scorpionribs.com


AUGUST2013 55


Ullman suspension seats are barely necessary on this hull


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