The Leisure Track: Drivers Wanted
February 1, 2008
Most leisure seekers prefer exotic resorts measured by Michelin
for their menus, spas and stars. Others choose faster, noisier, more frantic
relaxation at motorsports country clubs where surroundings are typically grime
before glamour.
"And where lunch is a hot dog and a cup of tea," notes Harriett
Palin, ex-McLaren F1 sponsorship agent who was recruited in July to help
jumpstart the allure of the Ascari Race Resort, Europe’s only dedicated luxury
motoring circuit where hard-edged road racing and five-star comforts combine.
Not that the Ascari facility—blessed by a location 60 minutes as
the Ferrari flies from Malaga in southern Spain, and bolstered by the investment
of oil industrialist, KZ1 super car builder and serious GT driver Klaas
Zwart—was a DNF. It just stalled on high ambitions and super-optimistic
projections and since opening in 2002, the custom-curved, 3.3-mile Ascari
circuit has loafed along as a semi-fallow work in progress.
Palin—describing the initial years as a "process of trial and
error and getting the right people on board"—says that ground has finally been
broken on a 20-villa hotel expected to open in 2009. "Think Alhambra, very
Moorish," she says.
A conference center which can host up to 250 guests is already up
and running. The clubhouse has been expanded into a restaurant large enough for
100 diners. Golf, hot-air ballooning, horse riding, skiing in the Sierra
Nevadas, and polo in Sotogrande, will be available nearby.
So far 30 people have paid the $184,000 initiation and $7,350
annual fee to join the club (fees will be updated for 2008), to stable their
Ferrari 430s and Porsche 911s on the premises, and to enjoy 100 days per year of
solitary hot laps or serious dicing.
Bentley Motors brought its Le Mans cars to the resort for testing,
as did BMW for the international media launch of its new M3. Other car builders
have chosen to test, introduce and pose their products for photo shoots at
Ascari because it is a landscape barren of billboards and sponsors’ logos. The
Ascari Racing Academy is increasing in popularity, in particular its one-day
driving courses with Lotus Elise, BMW Touring Car Compacts, Formula Reynards,
and SR3 Radicals.
Driving the circuit, however, will be the unique jewel in this
motorsports crown, because Zwart has designed the track for drivers, not
spectators or the Speed Channel. That means 26 turns, a 1,500-foot straight, and
corners and curves copied from classic circuits like Eau Rouge from Belgium’s
Spa-Francorchamps, Druids at Britain’s Oulton Park, and Copse Corner at
Silverstone. Every inch of Ascari’s 500 acres is wooded, green, manicured, and
thoroughly Andalusian.
Ascari takes its name from Alberto Ascari, a world champion with
Ferrari long before there was a Michael Schumacher. Zwart, by his supercars, by
his resort, is dedicated to honoring the driver by creating a brand in his
name.
"Ferrari carries a lot of magic and Ascari was a top driver for
Ferrari," explains Zwart. "I think it is a good name. It sounds Italian. It
sounds a bit like Ferrari. So why not?"
Ascari Race Resort, www.ascari.net
advertisement
