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Ascari Cars Ltd.
Type Private
Founded 1995
Headquarters Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Key people Geoff Finlay ceo
Industry Automotive
Products Automobiles
Owner(s) Klaas Zwart
Website Ascari.net

Ascari Cars Ltd. is a British automobile manufacturer that was based in Banbury, United Kingdom founded by Dutch millionaire Klaas Zwart.[1] The company was named after Alberto Ascari (1918–1955) who was the first double world Formula One champion. Besides manufacturing cars, Ascari also manages a racetrack, Race Resort Ascari. The resort business continues to operate.

History[]

Ascari Cars was established in Dorset, England in 1995. Its first limited-edition car, the Ascari Ecosse, was launched in 1998. After the release of the Ecosse, Dutch businessman Klaas Zwart purchased the company.

In 2000 Ascari built a new facility at Banbury in northern Oxfordshire, England. Ascari's second car, the Ascari KZ1, was developed at Banbury, which also housed Team Ascari's racing assets.

The premises are now occupied by Virgin Racing.

Road cars[]

Ascari KZ1 and Ecosse

An Ascari KZ1 (foreground) and Ecosse on display.

Year Model Details
1995 Ascari FGT Initial concept car created for racing
1998 Ascari Ecosse Production version of the FGT
2003 Ascari KZ1
2006 Ascari A10 Upgraded version of the KZ1
2008 Ascari KZ1-R Road-going version of the KZ1-R GT3 race car

Race cars[]

Year Model Details
1995 Ascari FGT Racing version of the FGT concept, run in the British GT Championship
2000 Ascari A410 Le Mans Prototype
2003 Ascari KZR-1 Upgraded version of the A410
2005 Ascari KZ1R GT3 Racing version of the KZ1, running in the FIA GT3 class

Ascari Race Resort[]

In 2000, Ascari began developing a racetrack near Ronda, in southern Spain. The track includes recreations of famous corners from other tracks around the world, and may be set up as one long track, three separate short tracks, or some combination in between. The full track is approximately 5.5 km in length. By 2002 the three part track was finished and accompanied by a high-end resort, with several road and racing cars available to members to test, including former Formula One machinery. The resort operates a membership based system. Members are able to make use of pits and storage garages for their cars at the resort. The resort does also operate a few weekend open days to the public, including visits of the facilities and track experience days in Lotus Elises, BMW 325i and Radicals.

In the media[]

In series 10, episode 10 of Top Gear (program) the test track was used to test the BMW M3, the Audi RS4 and the Mercedes C63 AMG.

The A10 also appeared in another Top Gear episode, where it was compared to a Daihatsu Materia. The Dahaitsu won, but Clarkson still said he would rather own the Ascari.

Jeremy Clarkson also filmed most of his DVDs, Supercar Showdown and Duel at the track.


References / sources[]

  1. "Ascari Cars, Beautiful beast". The Manufacturer (April 2006). Retrieved on 2009-11-08.

External links[]

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