AscariKZ1

01

Origins

The KZ1 of 2005 bore its maker's initials because pretence was pointless: Klaas Zwart's Ascari operation built the car he wanted to exist — a carbon-bodied, BMW M V8-powered mid-engined GT of around 500 horsepower, hand-assembled in Dorset at a seven-figure development cost recouped across perhaps 50 intended units, of which far fewer emerged. Performance sat honestly in Ferrari territory, the badge told a nobler story than the sales figures, and the related A10 pushed the same platform toward track extremity. Racing KZ1-Rs contested GT3 with occasional success. The KZ1 endures as the purest specimen of a particular species: the wealthy enthusiast's self-commissioned supercar, executed to genuine standards, indifferent to commerce, and rarer now than most cars costing five times more.