The Ascari KZ1 specifications;
Weight: ~1250kg based on BoP
Engine: BMW V8 4.9L with 520HP
Gearbox: Hewland 6-speed sequential
Wheelbase: 2636 mm
The brand: Ascari Cars
Despite the Italian name, the Ascari brand was not Italian (even though it was purposely named after Alberto Ascari, winner of the 2 first F1 seasons in ‘50 and ‘51), but English.
It was founded by the Dutch Klaas Zwart (former driver in the British Ferrari Challenge and business man), who wanted to create his own supercar brand following his experiences in the notorious touring car championship mentioned before.
The brand’s first creation was the Ascari Ecosse. Only a few chassis were made (around 18) between 1997 and 1999.
It essentially was the road version of the Ascari FGT concept, a concept created by Lee Noble that was sold to the newborn brand in 1995.
In the year 2000, a new factory in Banbury (near Oxfordshire), where the road version of the Ascari KZ1 came to life together with the Ascari Racing Team.
Always in the 2000 the Ascari brand began the construction of a race track in the South of Spain to test
the new models. The track was used by the English brand until 2010, following the closing of the Ascari program.
The first model: Ascari KZ1
Before we get to the KZ1-R GT3, we should look into it’s mother: the KZ1.
The car has a weight of just 1350kg despite having a BMW V8 under the hood (able to produce up to 500 hp).
Around 15 Ascari KZ1s were sold to the public between 2003 and 2010. The original goal was set to 50, but it was later revised due to high production costs.
The car was even included in a Top Gear episode (Season 7 episode 1) in 2005, recording a time of 1.20.7 under the hands of the Stig, less than a second behind the Porsche Carrera GT.
The name “KZ1” is a tribute to Klaas Zwart ( K= Klaas, Z= Zwart), and the number 1 stands for it being the first model produced under his management.
A step up in performance: the KZ1-R
Between the KZ1 and the KZ1-R GT3 we find the KZ1-R.
This car is the sport version of the original KZ1, and this specification will be the base for our GT3.
The KZ1-R features 20hp more than it’s base version despite having the same exact engine (the engine was
tuned specifically for track use), a decrease in weight of around 100kg thanks to lighter materials and elimination of unnecessary weight.
As for aerodynamics, the R-version features a bigger front splitter and the addition of a rear wing to help with cornerning performance, and also bigger fenders to make up for the increased width.
From the road to the track: Ascari KZ1-R GT3
The KZ1-R GT3 was manufactured in 2005 together with it’s road variant, and it made it’s debut in the first ever race of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone.
The car was fairly similar to the road version:
- changes were made to the gearbox, making it a sequential 6-speed instead of the original H-pattern 6 speed.
- The GT3 was equipped with stiffer and lighter double wishbone suspensions made specifically for race cars.
- The cockpit was cleaned of every unnecessary item, keeping only what was needed for the driver (button box, dashboard, fire extinguisher, etc…)
- The chassis and bodywork were almost identical to the road version that, as we have seen, already had gotten improved flow management and aerodynamics from the first model.
The characteristic that made the KZ1-R so much different from all of the other gt3s was the carbon fiber chassis. In fact, the KZ1-R GT3 was the first car in the history of the class to have it’s chassis made of carbon fiber instead of steel and aluminium like every other brand.
This gave the Ascari an advantage in terms of weight and rigidity, but we will come back to this topic shortly.
LUCA PIRRI AND HIS EXPERIENCE WITH THE ASCARI KZ1-R GT3
First of all, we would like to thank Luca Pirri, team principal of LP88racing team, for taking the time to tell us more about the project and to answer some of our questions. Luca was one of the first drivers to drive the Ascari’s GT3 in an official race. He drove for team Darmax in the races of Silverstone and Oschersleben.
We asked him about how the car handled on the track:
“The crazy thing was the handling. It was incredibly fast and very pointy. you were able to throw it into corners and make it stick”
After that, we were eager to know how he managed to score a 4th overall place finish in the first weekend of the project.
“It was raining at Silverstone, and the car turned out to be extremely fast in the wet. Especially considering the resources that Ascari and the team had”
Luca also expressed his opinion about how much potential the car had:
“The car had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the team wasn’t able to get the most out of it and the development was cut short. Nevertheless the car had a lot more to give”
Lastly, we asked Pirri to compare the Ascari to the Corvette gt3 that he drove in the last part of the 2006 season:
“The Corvette had an exceptional engine, even
though the gearbox wasn’t one of the best. Its corner exits allowed it to gain ground on the competition without much trouble. It also featured a great setup and excellent weight distribution, so you didn’t have to perform miracles to drive it fast and achieve results.
The Ascari, on the other hand, was like a go-kart compared to the Corvette; you had to throw it into corners and drive very aggressively. It was certainly much more
demanding to drive”
Despite everything, 88lpracing’s Team Principal praised the KZ1-R GT3:
“If I had the chance to drive in a gt3 revival race, I would choose the Ascari over any other car, it was a lot of fun to drive”.
The results:
The Ascari made most of it’s appearances in the British GP Championship
- In 2006, the Ascari car achieved 1 podium finish at Silverstone and 1 4th place at Oschersleben, before team Damax closed the project due to financial reasons.
- 2007: no wins nor podiums this time, but still a solid season with a couple of point finishes.
- 2008: again not a single win or podium, the car struggled in the midfield while also suffering some reliability issues.
- In 2009 the KZ1-R won the British GT championship with Team Preci-spark at the last round, edging Hector Lester, in the Rosso Verde’s Ferrari F430 GT3. The car won 3 races at Knockhill, Snetterton and Brands Hatch.
- And at last in 2010, the last run of the Ascari GT3 program saw the car race with the N° 1, achieving 4 pole positions and 3 wins, 2 at Knockhill and one at brands Hatch. The team finished 9th in the drivers standings with the brothers David Jones and Godfrey Jones.
- After 2010, the car never raced in a championship again, only making some appearances in some events.
Endurance appearances
Also in 2010, the German team Rhino’s Leipert Motorsport raced in the SP2 class of the 24h of Dubai with a Ascari KZ1-R.
In qualifying the raw speed of the Ascari came out once again, the #155 car would start from the 5th spot of his class in the grid.
The first half of the race went overall pretty smoothly, but unfortunately after just before the 16 hours mark the BMW V8 engine suffered a terminal damage that forced the car to retire while fighting for the top 5.
OUR THOUGHTS:
After following the incredible adventure of the Ascari KZ1-R throughout it’s variants on the road and on the track, we ended up loving this car more and more. Such small brand was able to create something that was able to challenge the big names of motorsport right away despite it’s lower economical facilities. We believe that, just like Luca said, this car could have achieved a lot more with more development and care,
but unfortunately not all the stories have an happy ending.
Despite the car being in the books of motorsports today, Enduvision decided to take it out for one more lap.
Below you can find a video of a lap in the KZ1-R GT3 at Imola, this was possible thanks to Assetto Corsa’s modding capabilities.
Hope you really liked out article! If you want to see the previous car we talk about here we let you the link!
https://enduvision.com/how-allard-tried-to-challenge-peugeot-and-jaguar/
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