Good luck Ascari!

Coniston · 2 May 2007, 19:29 (Ref:1905267)

Good luck to the Ascari teams - Berlanga (Ascari factory team) and Damax at Silverstone this weekend in GT3! It's another British car to cheer on! Berlanga have done particularly well since it's only 3 weeks since two of there cars were almost written off at their race track in Spain - the guys must have been working some late nights!

Bramzel · 2 May 2007, 19:34 (Ref:1905271)

I guess its a car both British and Dutch can cheer for then

Satorian · 2 May 2007, 19:55 (Ref:1905291)

And Germans, considering the engine.

Francesco · 3 May 2007, 07:49 (Ref:1905587)

And Italian by the name!!! hehehe joke...

btw i really like this car, it looks (and sounds) good and on track seems very very fast... Good Luck!

Leoparky · 3 May 2007, 10:12 (Ref:1905684)

I wish them well, albeit I have been hearing through the grape vine that all is not what it seems!!!.....it would appear (pls correct me if I am wrong) but Mosler have logged an official protest against Ascari re the car building or lack of it coming out of Banbury (I noticed incidentally that Broughtons have a road car for sale at £235 plus the V.A.T......an increase of 17.5% on what the list price used to be.....no wonder it has been unsold for weeks!) and that Ascari are struggling to find eligible drivers for their three cars. I suppose the acid test will be on how many cars are fielded over the weekend.

Tim the Grey · 3 May 2007, 10:21 (Ref:1905688)

I lived just round the corner from Ascari, and never saw a car, race, or road...
I now live just over the M40 from Gaydon, and I'm swamped with DB9s.
8^)

jlittlejohn · 3 May 2007, 13:00 (Ref:1905768)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

I lived just round the corner from Ascari, and never saw a car, race, or road...
I now live just over the M40 from Gaydon, and I'm swamped with DB9s.
8^)

haha yeh agreed Tim! I live down the road in Warwick and see DB9's, and V8's every day almost lol!

I hope u brits will be cheering on the new Jaguar XKR's btw?? Come say hi in the pits if you are coming down over the weekend!

Tim the Grey · 3 May 2007, 16:05 (Ref:1905888)

You'll know me. Olympus cameras, and EMKA racing hat.
I may well have a Joe Bar Team shirt, not sure yet.

I'll be quietly urging the XK on, I still have a soft spot for the XJC's from all those years back, so nearly beating the 635CSi s...

I take it you're crew on the XKR?

KA · 3 May 2007, 16:11 (Ref:1905892)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leoparky

I wish them well, albeit I have been hearing through the grape vine that all is not what it seems!!!.....it would appear (pls correct me if I am wrong) but Mosler have logged an official protest against Ascari re the car building or lack of it coming out of Banbury (I noticed incidentally that Broughtons have a road car for sale at £235 plus the V.A.T......an increase of 17.5% on what the list price used to be.....no wonder it has been unsold for weeks!) and that Ascari are struggling to find eligible drivers for their three cars. I suppose the acid test will be on how many cars are fielded over the weekend.

DSC listed the drivers for the 3 Damax entries yesterday, but no news so far on the Berlanga cars....

Coniston · 3 May 2007, 16:39 (Ref:1905911)

I phoned the factory a few weeks ago to enquire as to who the Berlanga drivers were and was told fairly abruptly that no decisions had been made. Though literally 10 minutes later my son called me and told me that Ascari race cars had been badly damaged in testing at the Ascari track in Spain, so the abruptness may have been due to that! I've not heard anything about a Mosler protest - I thought this was all several months ago and it was some of the bigger manufacturers that had protested about Mosler being included? Anyway, I hope it all goes well for them over the weekend - I shall be there on Sunday - I'll stop by the Jaguar pit too - thanks for the invite to say hi! At my age I remember D-Types racing!

Coniston · 3 May 2007, 20:43 (Ref:1906083)

Drivers are all now in place according to DSC. Seems that the Ascari's are to carry another 60kg of ballast rather than take a 10% power reduction. 60kg will surely be a big handicap - like having a 80 percentile person on board?

minimangler · 3 May 2007, 21:24 (Ref:1906124)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

You'll know me. Olympus cameras, and EMKA racing hat.
I may well have a Joe Bar Team shirt, not sure yet.

I'll be quietly urging the XK on, I still have a soft spot for the XJC's from all those years back, so nearly beating the 635CSi s...

I take it you're crew on the XKR?

and i'll be the one avoiding this goon, sneaking about without a pass trying to look official!

no doubt big sunglasses, nikon camera and some sort of low slung trousers or shorts will complete the attire. Free stuff?

Leoparky · 4 May 2007, 09:33 (Ref:1906392)

I heard about the ballast penalty yesterday........it will be interesting to see how this slows them.....or not!.....especially if we get the rain which is forecast.

minimangler · 4 May 2007, 10:59 (Ref:1906465)

just got a call from the circuit (tim the grey, no less) and he reckons the ascaris at least sound good.
i'm presuming they sound the same as they did last year?
if so, he's not wrong...

MikeH · 5 May 2007, 19:42 (Ref:1907269)

They look good - sound like tractors on drugs though. :P

Coniston · 6 May 2007, 22:27 (Ref:1908015)

Well, it has to be said, the Ascari guys must be a bit deflated now. They don't really have much to show for the weekend - though they have the consolation of a 4th and a 6th on Saturday, and having held second today. The Berlanga cars looked good (preferred the Damax cars in silver like last year). Looks like the Berlanga team have to cope with some average driver combinations - Ben Collins was very quick but his co-driver seemed to be struggling, though Ascari owner Klaas did throw it into the gravel too! I think two cars ran out of fuel at the end too - though one did make it across the line - probably on fumes. One piece of advice for Berlanga - no stand up arguments in public (the paddock) please guy's - there were children around...
I hope they all go well in Budapest - good job Men and Motors will be covering that one!
NB:- Big shame about the Jaguars not being able to run!

MikeH · 7 May 2007, 08:16 (Ref:1908161)

Not sure what Zwart was doing - he had a spin, recovered and just needed to do a small 3-pointer to get going but instead engaged first and went camel-trekking right into the heart of the gravel trap. A strange moment to be sure.

minimangler · 7 May 2007, 20:38 (Ref:1908576)

one ended up in the abbey gravel after a suspension failure...
the pics i took (they seem pretty sharp) are linked in the main thread on the second last page...

Ascarifan · 8 May 2007, 14:23 (Ref:1909042)

All said and done I think the Ascari Teams have a lot of positives to take away from the weekend. I was there the weekend and was impressed with the pace they ran, even with the penalties.
Damax led the race on Saturday (albeit due to a slight pitstop timing error, which they incurred a drive-thru penalty), and the car looked to have the pace to stay at the front, bit unlucky as I think that was Andy Thompson.

Sunday's race was just unlucky, Ben Collins was flying and did a fantastic job to bring the car in to the driver change in second place. Two of the Damax cars suffered early exits, which was a real shame because the drivers (Thompson & Barnes) both looked to have a good race pace, and I'm sure we could have seen three Ascari's running top 6 in the first part of Sunday's race.

Both Team's were unlucky, and I have to say they both turned out nice looking cars, Team Berlanga's three looked amazing. The new driver's need a bit of time in the cars, but looking forward to Bucharest in a couple of weeks.

Well done to the Ascari teams, and it's great to have an underdog in there fighting it out with what has to be said are well known and established GT racing marques.

I stopped by the paddock and the guys at Berlanga were great, very polite and happy to talk. I also took an Ascari GT3 out for a few laps.....but only on the slot racing circuit. Did anyone see the brand new Ascari slot racers the NINCO were running, they look great and apparently they are going on sale soon!!

Coniston · 8 May 2007, 20:34 (Ref:1909356)

Agree with all of the above - I'm sure it was unfortunate that I was there when things were a little bit heated! Try and get yourself a look round the Ascari factory - I did a couple of years ago with a car club. Very interesting talk by some of the guys who did the road car, it's becuase it's such a great road car that it works so well as a race car. Though, I'm not sure you would think of Ascari as underdogs when you go there - I'm sure it would put many teams race headquarters to shame!

Ascarifan · 9 May 2007, 09:00 (Ref:1909714)

I've also been to the factory in Banbury, and I see what you are saying it's a real eye opener, not what I expected I must say. It's a really superb place, so clean so well.

My point on the underdog was that most of the other makes have GT racing history and experience of building GT cars. Ascari are pretty new to the scene, and have basically taken a car and developed it over last year with Damax running the first three, and I'm sure they have nothing like the motorsport development budgets that the 'main contenders' have had at their disposal over the years.
So for Ascari to pitch up this year with six cars that seem to be there or thereabouts (FIA restrictions being equal) is a massive acheivement, and also have cars in the British GT this year, which by the way looks like being a very exciting championship.
I for one am going to be cheering the Ascari on all year and wish all the teams the very best of British, and it is a British Supercar, yes I know about the European connections, Dutch, Italian, etc.....but it is built in the UK.

Leoparky · 9 May 2007, 09:19 (Ref:1909725)

I take the point about Ascari turning up with 6 cars, although 3 are run directly by the factory which is not in the spirit of the rules!!!! imagine the uproar if Aston, Lamborghini or anyone else did that ......I have seen the Ninco cars which look very impressive (even though someone cannot spell Anniversary). Liked the look of the Jaguar though!!!

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