The company ATS was formed by Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, among others, intending for it to be a direct competitor to Ferrari. Chiti and Bizzarrini built a road-going sports car and a Formula One racing car with sponsorship from Scuderia Serenissima's Count Giovanni Volpi. Construction of a Formula One car, the Tipo 100, began in mid-1962 on a farm near Bologna, with the car being unveiled in that city in December 1962.
The Tipo 100 featured a pencil-thin body and was powered by a 1,494cc V8 engine with fuel injection and double-overhead camshafts. The transmission was a 6-speed Colotti gearbox. Suspension consisted of rocker arms with inboard coils for the front, and double wishbones with coils for the rear, while disc brakes were mounted inboard. The total weight was just over 1,000 pounds.
The cars were to be driven by Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti, who had both left Ferrari after the 1962 season. Motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood test-drove the car in February 1963. Testing took place at Monza, but was slow and tedious, requiring the car to be returned to Bologna for repairs when something broke. A significant issue was chassis flexing, which was addressed by welding reinforcing tubes over the top of the engine.
The car was entered for several non-Championship races early in the season but was withdrawn due to not being ready. A similar situation occurred for the Monaco Grand Prix. The cars made their first appearance at the Belgian Grand Prix. Spectators, officials, and fellow competitors were reportedly shocked by the Tipo 100's appearance, noting rumpled body panels, pock marks, and poor paint. The cars were described as oily and greasy, with ill-fitting body panels. The reinforcing tubes over the engine required them to be sawed apart for an engine change and then welded back into place, with a new, higher engine cover fabricated to conceal them.
Both cars retired at the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix. The team did not attend the French, British, and German races. The Tipo 100 returned for the Italian Grand Prix, where both cars started and finished, albeit a long way down the field, with Hill in 11th and Baghetti in 15th. This was the only race where an ATS was classified as a finisher. Both cars retired in the United States Grand Prix and Mexican Grand Prix, marking the end of ATS as a Formula 1 team.
The ATS was later used in the Derrington-Francis project, spearheaded by Alf Francis, former chief mechanic for the Rob Walker Racing Team. The car made one appearance at a Formula 1 race, the 1964 Italian Grand Prix, driven by Mário de Araújo Cabral, where it retired after 25 laps.
After the demise of ATS, Bizzarrini moved to Lamborghini before building his own cars as Bizzarrini. Carlo Chiti founded Autodelta with fellow ex-Ferrari engineer Lodovico Chizzola, which would work closely with Alfa Romeo for decades. The 90-degree DOHC V8 engine with a flatplane crankshaft was later developed by Carlo Chiti at Autodelta into the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 engine in 2 L, 2.5 L, and 3 L formats.
Count Volpi subsequently backed the Serenissima marque, which utilized technology similar to ATS. Bruce McLaren used a Serenissima engine for a few Grands Prix in 1966.
The Derrington-Francis ATS car was restored in the late 1990s and has appeared in historic racing meetings. In 2017, ATS introduced the GT, which uses McLaren's 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine. ATS has planned production of 12 cars. ATS also revealed their sister brand, ATS Corsa, though little is known about it. Their only produced car is the Corsa RRTurbo.
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