Ascari GT3 team to close along with factory

[grazias]

I get info that Ascari has disposed of the most of its people in last few weeks and that team is on edge of closing unless someone buys it.

Nice building to go too I guess.

How many people do you know who will buy a GT3 team with cars that have no manufacturer to give help in season then?....crazy.....

Did like road car. Very good engineered but it did not mean to be - perhaps if owner was wanting let others have them it may have been different story.........

[Satorian]

Didn't they just recently test the A10 on Top Gear? Ascari is definitely closing?


A shame. Loved their cars. Good-looking, well-performing and proper engines (BMW) in 'em.

[Tim the Grey]

Ascari in Banbury closed a year ago...
http://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/new...ari.1939585.jp

[ascarracinguk]

hold on isnty ascari owned by klass zwart...theought he was stinking rich???...i mean he owns his own circuit, f1 cars etc

[flatbroke]

maybe he has seen the light motorsport and cars cost lots of money and its hard to make money

[Satorian]

Or as the joke goes:




How do you get a small fortune from motorsports?



You start with a big one.

[knighty]

I'm sad to hear this, I was one of 3 design engineers at mountune who did the M5 V8 engine conversion for the KZ1 road car, which was a very nice fully enclosed dry sump system, the car is nice, and reporters like it.

Klass is stinking rich, and always will be, he made his millions in the oil industry, aparrently he designed a gadget than can re-connect a drill bit to an oil rig drilling shaft (after its broken off)......this saves squillions in moving oil rigs to drill another hole........aparrently he has many such patents on such equipment, and the money just rolls in .......my boss went to his "pad" in spain, it was cut into the side of a mountain, and had lots of f1 grade ladies around the place if you catch my drift, it was aparrently like something from a james bond film.

why did he make a super car?.......I can assure you it was not to make money, he has loads already.......because hes a petrol-head and he wanted to make a car with his own name on it......thats why .......great bloke in my opinion.

[chrisdhall]

I'll see what I can find out on this (busy ahead of GTG launch).

Bear in mind, British GT doesn't have any manufacturers directly involved (saying that, Ginetta will probably have a direct involvement in 2008 for BGT), so the BGT Ascaris were run by private teams (Preci Spark and Berlanga) and they performed well, so I'd be surprised if they weren't racing again in 2008 (BGT).

[ascarracinguk]

yes thats what i mean knightly, i got nothin against klaas, hes a true petrol head...with i was in his position!...but surely he has enuf money to keep ascari open?

[knighty]

I suspect the reason hes shutting down Ascari is because hes now bored with it........simple as that....... its now been going since about 10 years, which is a very long time for him!.........he flicks around from this to that.......hes probably now more excited with his race resort and running and racing BOSS cars.

[ss_collins]

Ascari in Banbury closed a year ago...

was quite open when I was there since that story appeared. The factory also houses his rather large F1 car toybox - I posted some pics of it on here a while ago

[Satorian]

Originally Posted by knighty

I'm sad to hear this, I was one of 3 design engineers at mountune who did the M5 V8 engine conversion for the KZ1 road car, which was a very nice fully enclosed dry sump system, the car is nice, and reporters like it.

I remember reading about Nowack Tuning getting 500 bhp (in opposition to the 400 bhp stock) out of the engine with "simple" breathing mods, as they stated that BMW somewhat botched the intake and manifold design. But, I really wonder how Ascari got 625 bhp out of it for the A10.

BTW, here's the Clarkson review of the A10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE-3uV_3XZs

[Coniston]

Theres a thread on P'Heads running and that agrees with the OP - Berlanga is for sale and the factory staff has been reduced to a skeleton crew. No project people there any more. Berlanga wasn't a private team - it was the team run by the factory - funded by Klaas (he didn't want it to look like a factory team becuase you aren't allowed them in FIA GT3). Sounds like someone has to come up with a lot of money to buy Berlanga. Agree with comments above - Klaas is bored of it!

Shame, i did like the cars - road and race........ Hopefully someone will buy the cars and run them if they can, though they are very expensive!

[knighty]

Originally Posted by Satorian

I remember reading about Nowack Tuning getting 500 bhp (in opposition to the 400 bhp stock) out of the engine with "simple" breathing mods, as they stated that BMW somewhat botched the intake and manifold design. But, I really wonder how Ascari got 625 bhp out of it for the A10.

BTW, here's the Clarkson review of the A10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE-3uV_3XZs

Yeah, the standard M5 V8 manifold is OK for what its designed for, but thats all, tuning wise it needs to be completley replaced.......one of my last jobs on the Ascari project for Mountune was to design an inlet system for the Ascari, and it was a simple vertical trumpet add-on to the standard individual M5 throttle bodies, and the base of the M5 air box, bear in mind I have designed such system for Touring, LeMans and Rally cars, so I knew what I was doing.

but the top cover just looked like a suitcase!......and everyone thinks you need a snake-pit looking inlet system for a mid engined super car, and sure enough, it looks like they re-designed it, as the last one saw on the Ascari was very pleasing to the eye, with n-shaped bends on each runner......but this would have been terrible for a highly strung race motor.

yes, I was watching Top gear last night, and I must say I got a warm feeling knowing something I had designed was doing so well, admittedley we cant say the dry sump was a critical factor! but its just nice to be involved .....seems a long time ago now, we did it in 2002ish......I think the A10 is a bit toungue in cheek, as I bet they will probably only make one, as it just looks like a homologation special to me, just to allow the GT cars to race.......but, my god it was fast.......Klauss will be foaming at the mouth with that one - as far hes concerned he has achieved what he set out to do - create a respectible super car with his name on - job done - forget the money

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by knighty

yes, I was watching Top gear last night, and I must say I got a warm feeling knowing something I had designed was doing to well, admittedley we cant say the dry sump was a critical factor! but its just nice to be involved

You contributed to the fastest car around the Top Gear track

For people that missed the comparision between the Daihatsu Materia and Ascari A10 last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B7gTuvngM4

[knighty]

stop press........just watched the movie on you-tube from clarksons latest film, and at about 30 seconds in you can clearly see a shot of the engine bay........THATS MY BLOODY SUITCASE INLET SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!........now not only am I warm, but it tingles too .......made my day that has .........

I know Klauss always wanted to sell standard road cars.......but he wanted a mental option for track days and such, thats what I designed that inlet system for.......although I remember we were only talking about 550bhp, so I dunno how they are talking 620bhp, that sounds a bit optimistic in my opinion.......as 550bhp was quite a jump from the standard M5 motor.......oh yeah, just remembered, I designed the crank trigger system and flywheel too.......I'm sure they were all contributing factors too

[zac510]

knighty, does it have a motec ECU to go with the ADL and is it sealed/emissions tested for legality? Why did it need the crank trigger redesigned?

[knighty]

We re-designed the sump as the standard M5 sump was about 300mm deep, the item we did was about 100mm deep to allow the lowest engine mounting possible for a low C of G……. and all the pressure, sump and head scavenge pumps were internal and chain driven off the nose of the crank, so externally it was fuss free and clean looking.

I re-designed the flywheel as the standard item was about 400mm diameter, with the low line sump this would have had ground clearance issues!.....not to mention engine response and inertia.......so I designed a flywheel about 250mm diamater with an integral crank trigger tooth form to suit the new ECU……this will make the engine significantly more "snappy" and responsive.

yes the standard engine was emissions compliant and homologated with the standard Ascari car……..but I'm guessing that A10 is not!........at the time of my involvement we were using a Pectel ECU, you needed something pretty clever as the engine was running Vanos (VVC) on both the inlet and exhaust cams…….so you needed good software to operate them correctly……..the BMW ECU had way too many security features, so it just couldn’t be used in the Ascari, as the ECU basically thought it was being stolen, so it was a pain to start………Mountune had a great relationship with Pectel, and believe me, they are one of the best in the business…….so we used them.........god knows what actual ECU they went into production with?.......but I still suspect Pectel

ADL - I don’t know what that stands for but I'm guessing its "something Diagnostics Link"…….which is basically a plug-in diagnostics link to a laptop…….which is standard on all cars & ECU's now days

[ascarracinguk]

after seeing the car on top gear last nite i was amazed....it sounds so awesome!...reminds me of an early 90s nascar sound.....brilliant

[Coniston]

The A10 on Top Gear is indeed a one off - very quick though! I saw it at the factory nearly two years ago during a factory tour - it is essentially the Spanish GT2 car (more or less GT1 spec!) - with a set of number plates on it! It is indeed a shame though that there are now only a handful of people left at the factory - likely none by the end of March I understand.

[Coniston]

The A10 engine work was done by Judd and had a totally different inlet system (new bespoke throttle bodies), Pectel management still and many more internal mods. I remember the guy saying that it was 580bhp on restrictors and 640bhp without.

[knighty]

nice work coniston!........ this dosent surprise me Judd were involved later on, I remember seeing the twin roller barrel throttle body system that Heini Mader did for the BMW V8 indy engine (same engine essentially, now the GP2 lump) and although the standard BMW M5 throttles were nice, they didnt point at the back of the valves, and they were round, whereas the ports are rectangular/oval........but the engine conversion Mountune designed was to a budget, and we didnt have money for a twin roller barrel system - which is really what i wanted to do at the time......that engine cover looks so much like the one I designed it defies belief.

but obviously when they went GT racing Ascari opened the purse a great deal more......yes, I dare say the GT type engines were very heavily re-worked internally as was the A10's......we used to bin the Vanos/VVC system as it was only emissions related and weighed about 10-20Kg.....it was a better engine without it.

I was actually surprised Clarkson let in on the board, as he knows its a homologation special and a one off........but what the heck, great car

[Coniston]

I'm glad they let it on too - i agree I'm sure they know! Probably got a lot to do with Clarkson using Race Resort Ascari as the venue for his latest DVD! Hey, that's business!