The Leisure Track: Drivers Wanted
02/01/2008
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