Description
The Aston Martin ‘Project’ GT Racing Cars
In 1959, Aston Martin reached the zenith of its motor sport achievements with triumphs for DBR1 cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours, along with overall victory at the World Sportscar Championship, ahead of Porsche and Ferrari. With these successes, owner, David Brown had achieved his two great ambitions, and his racing team’s reputation was fully established.
Brown withdrew from sports car racing at the end of the 1959 season but returned three years later, with a series of much faster GT racing coupes. These four pure and now famous Project cars built between 1962 and 1963 – a DP212, two DP214s and a DP215 – had derived from the humble DB4 and developed into ever more lightweight and pure-bred racing cars. Though they raced with mixed success, competing in only eight major events, they gained a notable victory in Monza in 1963, winning the Coppa Inter-Europa, and beating Ferrari’s iconic GTO on its home ground. And though they were few in number, they played a crucial role in spurring the progress of GT cars globally, not least at Ferrari which was quick to recognise them as a threat and responded accordingly.
Despite these achievements, and their impact on the development of motor sport, these Project cars, the last of the David Brown racing team, have been significantly under-represented in motor racing literature. Until now. THE ASTON MARTIN ‘PROJECT’ GT RACING CARS brings these truly great cars out from the shadows to acknowledge and celebrate their influence and legacy.
Aston Martin historian, Stephen Archer, and motor sport writer, David Tremayne, explore in-depth this seminal period of motor sport history, which includes Aston’s final racing years. Archer and Tremayne take the most detailed, and meticulously researched, look yet at the very special Project cars of 1962 and 1963 and the vital Project cars that preceded them, the lightweight DB4GTs and Zagatos. They examine the key personnel, reveal the dramatic track stories, and explore how the cars were created, raced and what became of them afterwards.
While Archer focuses on the genesis of the Project Cars, their, design, build, development and technical specification, Tremayne considers their racing history and track stories, including David Brown’s final throw of the racing dice, the AM prototype V8 engine (installed in the rear of the Lola T70 MkIII GT).
This is set to be the definitive work about the final appearance of David Brown Astons on the world motor racing stage. Both authors and experts in their field, Archer and Tremayne’s knowledge of the subject matter, and love for the marque, is evident on every page.
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