If you've never heard of the ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport) don't worry, the opposite would be a rarity.
This story begins before the ATS was created. We go back to the day Enzo Ferrari suffered the consequences for having a bad temper: the day he lost an important part of his team. Enzo, who needs no introduction, had a very strong personality. That character took Ferrari to an unattainable level, the dream of any car brand. However, he was betrayed by his fierce and aggressive posture and after many warnings from those around him, he pushed his team to the limit.
In 1961, in the so-called “Palace Revolt”, Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, among others, left the company and closed their doors to Enzo. Many thought that would be the end of Ferrari, which had just lost its Chief Engineer and the person responsible for the development of competition cars, along with the entire Scuderia Serenissima. These were “only” those responsible for the development of the Ferrari 250 GTO, and ATS came before this team formed the Autodelta and designed the Lamborghini V12… little thing.
Fresh off Ferrari, this batch of brilliant motorsport minds has come together to create Automobili Turismo and Sport SpA (ATS). The objective was clear: to face Ferrari on the road and inside the circuit. It looked easy, they wasted no time and tackled the work convinced they would shine. Result? ATS was founded in 1963 and lasted…two years.
Building cars is in itself quite complicated, not only because of the technical and technological part that is required, but also because of the industrial capacity that the financing guarantees. Facing Ferrari and aiming for the same level as the minimum to reach, it was and was bold. Perhaps due to more or less genius, how much they understood about cars was not balanced with how little or nothing they understood about management. The ATS closed its doors in 1965 and behind it was a mythical model, of extraordinary beauty and full of good intentions – the ATS 2500 GT.
Luxury personalities united around this project, all ready to face Ferrari in this crusade. Without referring again to the aforementioned team of former Ferrari collaborators, three industrialists were behind the financing, one of them being the founder of Scuderia Serenissima – Count Giovanni Volpi, heir to a huge fortune that his father, an important figure in Venice, he had left her. In terms of chassis design, none other than ex-Bertone Franco Scaglione, in charge of giving birth to two dream places.
The objective of building a car that would be champion on the road was noble without ceasing to be a dreamer. The ATS 2500 GT was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1963, had 245 hp extracted from a 2.5 V8 and reached 257 km/h. These numbers, impressive for the time, became even more so when the brand announced that this would be the first Italian mid-engined car.
Financial difficulties haunted the ATS factory every day and it was at great cost that 12 copies left the premises, despite only 8 having actually been finished. The 2500 GT was a car ahead of its time, innovative, a would-be super car.
While the 2500 GT ran the world looking for buyers, the brand decided to enter Formula 1. The model was the Type 100 and it was fitted with a 1.5 V8 – the chassis was just a copy of the already outdated Ferrari 156. 1961 champion Phil Hill and teammate Giancarlo Baghetti. Basically, it was a car with a new engine, a Ferrari chassis that Ferrari itself no longer wanted, driven by a former champion – it looked like a disorganized third world team and supported by a millionaire investor who knew little or nothing about racing, he just wanted to spend money.
Looking back and evaluating is easier, but it allows us to see that if the brand already had difficulties, with the entry into F1 – which only brought withdrawals and no victory – it was completely undercapitalized. The ruinous passage through F1 ruined the possibility of completing any project and assuming financial burden - ATS had only one fate: bankruptcy.
Today, a light appears at the end of the tunnel for the small Italian construction company with the appearance of images of what is said to be the future 2500 GT. We can see a model that promises to follow the guidelines of its predecessor – simple, innovative and stylish. As for “details”, well… at first sight they are worrying: the optics are nothing strange…ah! exact, are the same as the Ferrari California. Still in the lights, we move to the rear to see if…exactly! And there's another set of very familiar optics to relive a little of what Ferrari has offered us over time…
Now that I think about it, I ask myself: is this a bad joke?
A glance at the technical characteristics made me stop at two: 0-100 km/h sprint and transmission. The first pleasure – at least on sight – is 3.3 seconds. The second is a mix of mistrust, emotion and mistrust again: “six-speed manual”.
Now, I know the true purist likes the idea of driving a V8 with 500+hp in the rear wheels completely manually. I confess that I also like it, although I am increasingly surrendered to ATMs. However, I do not hesitate to question why it was not a more up-to-date box – even if they copied it from Ferrari, gentlemen of the ATS, after all it was just another “nothing thing”…
Time will definitely reveal more about this model. The next ATS 2500 GT may just be a mirage, in line with the near-mirage that was its predecessor. It is in these moments that brands like ATS, as I said, can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully it's not the train going contrary.
