1999 Ascari Ecosse
Generously Lent by Museum Member Neal Heffron
· One of 17 built
· Powered by a 4.7-litre Hartge modified 400 hp BMW V8
· Race car performance with luxury comfort
In the modern social media world, there are very few sports cars that haven’t been discovered by the average car enthusiast, and this Ascari Ecosse is certainly one of them. There are plenty of rare and unique sports and supercars in the world today, but with just 17 built and powered by a mid-mounted BMW V8, the Ecosse represents the apex of rare and unique. The Ecosse was the first production car built by Ascari starting in 1998 and was the production version of the FGT concept race car, which used a Ford V8.
Ascari divided their vehicles into two classifications, road cars and race cars. Their road cars include the Ascari FGT which was released in 1995. Initially, this car was meant as a racing car. This was followed by Ecosse.
Both the FGT and this car were designed by Lee Nobel. Claus Zvert a Dutch oil Billionare and racer raced the FGT at Silverstone and won its first professional race. He then decided to buy the Ascari company from Lee Nobel. Zvert built the Ascari racetrack resort in Southern Spain. As an owner you could join the club which still is in existence today.
The Ecosse was built to bridge the gap between an endurance race car and a tailor-made suit. Ascari aimed to offer the most visceral experience behind the wheel as possible, while also enabling the buyer to customize the car freely as they wished, and Ascari described their Ecosse as offering race car performance combined with the ambiance of the finest materials. The cabin is unexpectedly comfortable; you sit very low to the ground in the plush leather bucket seats with plenty of headroom. The seating position is ideal, and the cabin layout is predictable. Sports cars like this take you back to an era when the layout was purposeful and the driver’s perspective was clearly taken into consideration, opposed to modern times when it takes you six movements through a touch screen to find the heated steering wheel button.
Sitting behind the seats is the BMW M62 engine, a 4.7-litre V8 that was originally utilized in cars such as the 4.4-litre BMW 540i. In standard form these engines produced about 300 horsepower, though throughout production of the Ecosse these engines were modified in different ways to make more power. Noted BMW tuning company Hartge modified the very last Ecosse’s produced, boring the engine to 4.7 liters to extract over 400 horsepower! Other cars ran 4.9-litre Hartge tuned engines at 420 hp. These models also offered a Quaife sequential transmission which is especially rare to see on a production road car, and high-end AP brakes worked to bring the car to a stop in short order.
While this may seem like some sort of kit car built in some English countryside garage, Ascari built these cars to an extremely high standard. The entire body is built from carbon Kevlar around a spaceframe chassis, which keeps the total weight of the car very low. Ascari went to great lengths to build this car to the best of their ability, even making their own wiring loom to military spec.
While the Ascari is still generally an unknown gem in the sports car world, it certainly speaks for itself when you are behind the wheel. The Banbury factory was also the home of Ascari’s racing assets. As of this year, the factory is now occupied by Haas F1 Team.
Specifications:
Engine: 4.7-litre Hartge modified BMW M62 V8
Peak Power: 400 hp @ 6,100 rpm; torque 369 lb-ft @ 4,500 rpm
Transmission: 5-speed manual
0–60 mph: 4.1 seconds
Brakes: Vented discs all-around
Weight: 2756 lbs
