ATS 2500 GT
Early in one of my other blogs, Formula 1 Latest, I posted about the Italian ATS team that attempted racing in F1 in 1963. That attempt ended in complete failure but was caused partly by the brand new company trying to do too much, too soon. In addition to running the F1 team, they designed and built one of the prettiest GT cars ever to see the light of day, the 2500 GT.
In fact, the car was not just pretty. It was one of the first production cars to put the engine behind the driver and ahead of the rear wheels - what became known as mid-engined. And the 2.5 liter V8 engine was designed by Carlo Chiti, who had been one of Ferrari’s top engineers. The ATS V8 was acknowledged to be a fine engine, one of the best products of Italian design at the time.
So it is a great shame that only twelve 2500 GTs were made; the company disintegrated as promised financing failed to appear and everything fell apart before the end of the year. Yet the car itself continues to be one of the most desirable classics of all time and deservedly so, I think.
I have always been interested in ATS. Do you have any more photographs of the cars (F1 or GT), or the factory? Do you know if any books have been published or if there are any other substantive sources of information about ATS. I have books about Hill, Chiti, Bizzarini, and Ferrari but nothing much about ATS and would be grateful for any additional information.
By Keith Knight on December 10th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Photos of the ATS cars, both production and racing, seem to be extremely scarce, Keith. I found these and a couple of F1 car photos on the net - they were very small and blowing them up a bit has lost quality, of course. Try googling “Automobili Tourismo e Sport photos” and you’ll get a few results.
I don’t know of any books specifically about ATS. Most of my information came from my own memory (the stiffening bar welded on to the F1 car’s chassis that proved to prevent removal of the engine, as noted in my other blog, is not mentioned in anything else I have found recently but I remember reading about it at the time) or from brief documents on the net.
It’s good to know that someone else still has an interest in the short-lived company - I put a lot of hope into it and was sorry when it failed.
By Clive on December 11th, 2006 at 3:06 pm