Constructors

ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport )

At the end of the successful 1961 season Enzo Ferrari faced upheaval inside his team. The exact reasons for the split have never been fully revealed but the result was that chief designer Carlo Chiti and team manager Romolo Tavoni walked out, taking with them some of Ferrari's key staff. These included engineer and former test driver Giotto Biazzarrini (who was in charge of the GT program), Federico Giberti (who had been with Ferrari since the 1930s and was head of car sales), the chief of the finance department Ermano della Casa and several others. The revolution swept away the old generation and brought 26-year-old engineer Mauro Forghieri to prominence.The defectors teamed up with 24-year-old Venetian Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, the owner of Scuderia Serenissima, who was trying to build up a more competitive Formula 1 operation and additional backing was found from Italian textile magnate Giorgio Billi and and South American Jaime Ortiz Patino, from a famous tin-mining family.To begin with the team was called Serenissima and a workshop was established in the Marconi district of Bologna. The first car was ready by the end of 1962 but the project faltered when Volpi and Patino left after disputes with the others and the company became known as Automobili Turismo e Sport.In the course of 1962 Ferrari had been completely eclipsed by the British teams BRM, Lotus and Cooper and Enzo Ferrari did not endear himself to his drivers by blaming them for the failure. At the end of the year both Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti quit the team and joined ATS.The initially testing of the V8-engined Tipo 100 was carried out by British driver Jack Fairman but then Hill and Baghetti took over. The team did not, however, make its debut until the Belgian GP in June 1963. The two cars qualified at the back end of the grid and both retired with transmission problems. They were in action again in Holland a fortnight later with reworked bodywork and Hill qualified 13th with Baghetti 15th. They missed the next two races but were expected at the German GP although the team transporter crashed on the way to the race and both cars were damaged. The ATS T100s did not, therefore, reappear until the Italian GP at Monza in September. Hill qualified 14th but Baghetti seemed to lack confidence in the car and was 20th. The American finished 11th but was seven laps down at the finish while Baghetti was even further behind and was not classified.At the end of the year the cars were sent to the United States for the final two races but both drivers retired at Watkins Glen and in Mexico City. The team folded at the end of the year with Chiti moving on to establish Autodelta in 1964, Biazzarrini going to work for Ferrari's rival car-maker Ferruccio Lamborghini, but several of the others returned to Ferrari.