Archive for category Ascari
Eccentric Cars Off The Roads
Want the oddballs in the automotive world? Well, brace yourself for the most eccentric cars off the roads. They are exotic. They are intriguing. But they are not for everybody to have and hold.
In today’s auto shows, manufacturers are shelling out a fortune to be part of the specialty market players that introduce the most eccentric cars. The recognition, regardless of the fact that the cars will not be allowed on the roads, is enough to make the automakers elated.
One of the exotic cars ever launched is the Artega, which was penned by Henrik Fisker, famed for being an extraordinary designer. The car is a fresh contribution from a new German automaker that plans to enter in the manufacture of high-performance sports cars for daily use. The 2008 Artega features a 3.6-liter Volkswagen-sourced V6 mated to the DSG twin-clutch gearbox of the company to produce maximum output of 300 horsepower via the rear wheels.
Another odd car is dubbed Carver One, which is said to be the “the world’s first commercially available self-balancing, tilting, three-wheeled vehicle.” Carver One is part motorcycle, part car; it is all about thrills over practicality. The contraption features a removable roof panel, 660-cubic-centimeter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, producing 68 horsepower and 74 pound-feet of torque.
Gumpert Apollo Sport is another eccentric car to behold. Apollo Sport is given the high-performing mid-engine supercar powered by a 4.2-liter Audi V8 engine. It also features a fixed rear wing, rugged body, and gullwing doors that flip up on their roof-mounted hinges. It resembles the looks of a race car straight out of the FIA GT European supercar series.
Make way for the Rinspeed eXasis, a drivable “glass” car that features an aluminum frame with a clear plastic body and floor. The car is powered by a 150-hp two-cylinder engine, which sits on the transmission. To note, the car’s power-to-weight ratio puts it in line with the likes of a Porsche.
The Spanish automaker A. D. Tramontana has set forth a carbon-fiber road missile as a melding of Formula One cars and fighter planes. The company said the Tramontana was “modeled on the streamlined curves of the Costa Brava’s winds.” The car is given a twin-turbo V12 engine that generates 720 horsepower, about as powerful as a race car. The full production version of the car will go on sale this summer in Europe. Read the rest of this entry »
Race Car Driver Alberto Ascari
Posted by in Ascari on June 23, 2011
Alberto Ascari was literally born into the Grand Prix. He entered this world on July 13, 1918 in Milan, Italy. His father was Antonio Ascari, the Italian racing star of the Grand Prix during the 1920′s. Antonio also owned a Fiat dealership in Milan. As a child Alberto met the celebrities of the racing world who visited his father’s business. He also became acquainted with Enzo Ferrari, his father’s closest friend. Antonio, who was considered Italy’s greatest driver, always took his son to watch the races in which he drove. Then after capturing the lead in the French Grand Prix at Montlehry, Antonio crashed and died. His father’s death did not quell young Alberto’s passion for racing. Rather, it intensified the youth’s desire to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Alberto began his career racing motorcycles and in 1937 the Bianchi Team hired him as a rider. Alberto’s first venture into automobile racing was in 1940 when he entered the Mille Miglia. But the outbreak of World War 2 put his racing career on hold. Alberto was now operating the family business in Milan, which was part of Italy’s war effort. Alberto also partnered With Luigi Villoresi to develop a transport service to send fuel to Italian military depots in North Africa. He had married in 1940 and by the war’s end, he and Mietta had two children. Because of this, Alberto was thinking of giving up racing. However, when the war ended his friend and partner, Luigi Villoresi, who was also a race driver convinced Alberto to continue.
The two friends then signed on with Maserati. Alberto’s first Grand Prix win was in 1948 at Sanremo, Italy. Later in the year he placed second at the British Grand Prix. By 1952, Luigi and Alberto had attracted the attention of Enzo Ferrari who signed them up to drive for Ferrari. With the Ferrari team, Alberto enjoyed illustrious success, winning nine times in 1950 and six times in 1951. In 1952, he became the only European driver to enter the American Indy 500 but had to retire at the end of lap 40 due to mechanical difficulties. But he had placed first in Europe’s six races and set a record for the fastest lap in each race.
His winning streak continued into 1953 when he won three more races for a total of nine straight wins that, combined with two more later in the year, gave him a second consecutive world championship. However, the most unusual event in his career was its ending. In 1955 while racing at Monaco, he missed a corner and plunged into the sea. After recovering from shock and a broken nose he came to Monza where his friend Eugenio Castellotti was testing a Ferrari.
Alberto decided to do a few laps but spun out on a curve and was killed.The date was May 26, 1955. His father fatally crashed on the 26th. Both father and son were thirty-six years old when they died. They both drove a car numbered 26 and had won thirteen championships. They had also both survived serious crashes four days prior to their untimely deaths and both accidents occurred on relatively easy curves. Read the rest of this entry »