Aston Martin are anouncing that they will continue DB4 GT production.
That means they will create 25 additional cars to the 75 orignally made from 1960 to 1964.
Press Release:
Newport Pagnell: One of Aston Martin’s most iconic models – the DB4 G.T. – is to be celebrated with a special series of 25 track-only continuation cars built to lightweight specification by Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell.
Launched in 1959, the DB4 G.T. was immediately celebrated as one of the rarest and most revered of all Aston Martins. Evolved from the production DB4 and introduced in the same year Aston Martin scored its historic outright win in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the DB4 G.T. was a true supercar of its day. Shorter, lighter, sleeker and with a more powerful version of the legendary 3.7-litre straight-six engine, not only was the DB4 G.T. Britain’s fastest passenger sports car, it was a born winner, scoring a debut race victory at Silverstone in the hands of Sir Stirling Moss. A total of 75 DB4 G.T.s were built between 1959 and 1963. Of these only eight were lightweight models, most of which survive today, and values now comfortably exceed £3m.
Remaining faithful to the design of those original eight factory lightweights, each DB4 G.T. continuation will be built with Aston Martin Works’ unrivalled experience and exemplary attention. Employing a blend of old world craftsmanship and modern techniques, continuation cars benefit from improvements in engine performance, handling, braking and safety, with great care taken to ensure these enhancements build upon the original’s exceptional qualities while retaining its feel and character.
Underlining that authenticity are the continuation car VIN numbers, which carry on from the last original DB4 G.T. ordered – Chassis 0202R – for an unbroken bloodline and impeccable Newport Pagnell-built pedigree spanning half a century.
At its heart is a version of the celebrated Tadek Marek-designed straight-six cylinder engine with two spark plugs per cylinder, transmitting its 340bhp to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential, just as in the original DB4 G.T. Thanks to its shortened wheelbase the DB4 G.T. is a strict two-seater blessed with greater agility than the regular four-seater DB4. Its body follows the original construction, with thin-gauge aluminum panels fitted over a tubular frame. To improve the accuracy and consistency of the panels, the continuation car’s bodywork uses state-of-the-art digital technology, before being hand-finished in time-honoured tradition.
Fittingly for a car created to celebrate one of Aston Martin’s most illustrious competition models, the DB4 G.T. Continuation is built to be enjoyed on track. Aston Martin Works has created a two-year international track driving programme held at a number of the world’s finest race tracks, including the spectacular Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. The ultimate arrive-and-drive experience, customers may also take advantage of Aston Martin’s dedicated driver training team. Comprised of expert instructors, including Aston Martin Racing’s multiple Le Mans class winner (and Goodwood Revival regular) Darren Turner, they will help customers master driving techniques from an era when track driving was more art than science.
Paul Spires, Commercial Director, Aston Martin Works said of the DB4 G.T. Continuation programme: “For over 60 years Aston Martin Works has devoted unrivalled skill and experience to preserving Aston Martin’s heritage. Now we are creating something for the future, with a special series of 25 continuation cars that celebrate one of Aston Martin’s greatest cars – the DB4 G.T. Lightweight.
“Built in our recently refurbished, state-of-the-art facilities in Newport Pagnell, the DB4 G.T. Continuation is hand built in the same location as its illustrious forebears, and marks the return of production to the historic home of Aston Martin for the first time since the last Vanquish S was completed in 2007. Combining the authenticity of a hand-crafted David Brown era car with sympathetic application of modern engineering advancements and performance enhancements, the DB4 G.T. Continuation is a fusion of classic design and contemporary methods.
“The result is a truly remarkable machine. One that offers 25 individuals the opportunity of commissioning a classic, built to modern day standards and ready to be enjoyed in an international track driving programme as bespoke and individual as the cars themselves.”
Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin President and CEO commented: “Aston Martin has a rich and vibrant heritage, as you’d expect from a company that has been building some of the world’s finest sports cars for 103-years. Of those the DB4 G.T. stands proud as one of the most coveted of all. It’s a mark of Aston Martin’s breadth of abilities that in the same year we launched the DB11 – our most advanced ‘DB’ production car ever – we can also embark on an adventure such as the DB4 G.T. Continuation. A project that taps into the unique passion and skills that exist within Aston Martin, I’m thrilled we have the imagination and capability to offer 25 enthusiasts the unique opportunity to commission their own piece of Aston Martin history.”
First deliveries of DB4 G.T. Continuation will commence in QTR 3 2017.
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT
Aston Martin DB4GT
1959 Le Mans 24 hours. Le Mans, France. 20th – 21st June 1959. Start of the race, action. World Copyright: LAT Photographic. Ref: 580 – 24.
Today Aston Martin are anouncing one of their most exciting projects to date: the AM-RB 001.
It takes more cues from Motorsport than any previous design from Aston.
That’s becuase it’s being designed by Adrian Newey who is also resonsible for the Red Bull F1 car.
AM-RB will be built by both Aston and Red Bull with a total production of 99 to 150 cars.
Press Release:
5 July 2016, Gaydon, England: Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing are today revealing their ground-breaking hypercar; codenamed AM-RB 001.
The product of a unique Innovation Partnership between the British luxury brand and eminent F1TM team, this ambitious, uncompromising and wholly extraordinary collaboration combines the vision and skills of two world-leading brands to create a road car the like of which has never been seen before.
The three men charged with realising this shared vision are Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer and the world’s most successful F1TM designer, Marek Reichman, Aston Martin EVP and Chief Creative Officer and David King, VP and Chief Special Operations Officer. Together they spearhead a formidable alliance. One that combines more than a hundred years of specialism – both with heritage, making some of the world’s most beautiful and charismatic GT cars, and with technological brilliance and relentless pursuit of speed and efficiency that has seen Red Bull Racing excel in the ferociously competitive world of Formula One.
Reichman and Newey are working closely on all aspects of the project, striving to ensure the AM-RB 001 is an unprecedented fusion of form and function: a car engineered to be entirely useable and enjoyable as a road car, but with the capability to perform like no road car before it on a race track. For those who crave an even more intensely focused driving experience, a track-only AM-RB 001 is also in development, the projected performance of which is in line with that of today’s LMP1 Le Mans sports prototypes.
Built around a lightweight carbon fibre structure, the AM-RB 001 boasts truly radical aerodynamics for unprecedented levels of downforce in a road-legal car. Thanks to the genius of Newey’s design much of this downforce is generated through underfloor aerodynamics, leaving Reichman free to craft a pure yet breathtaking dramatic form that elegantly expresses both the AM-RB 001’s cutting-edge dynamism and the unmistakable essence of Aston Martin.
Uncompromising in all respects, the AM-RB 001 is a bespoke machine from the tyres up. It will be built by David King and his team at Gaydon, in the purpose-built facility created for Aston Martin’s original hypercar, the One-77. More details of the AM-RB 001’s technical specification will be revealed in due course, but its heart is a new, mid-mounted, high-revving, naturally aspirated V12 engine with the potency to achieve a 1:1 power-to-weight ratio; 1 bhp per kilo of weight.
To cope with the extreme aerodynamic loadings at high speeds yet deliver the on-road usability and comfort levels that sit at the heart of the concept, the AM-RB 001’s suspension system will feature innovative technology and employ principles honed by Newey over his thirty year career. Likewise, the transmission is a clean-sheet design conceived by Newey and developed by Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
While boundary-pushing performance is clearly of paramount importance, so too is exceptional efficiency and packaging. Newey’s unrivalled knowledge has enabled the AM-RB 001 to be extremely light and compact, yet offer genuine comfort and space for driver and passenger and house a V12 engine.
Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer, says of the AM-RB 001 project: “I’ve long harboured the desire to design a road car. The formation of Red Bull Advanced Technologies brought me a step closer to realising that ambition, but I believed we should work with an automotive manufacturer. Aston Martin was at the top of my list. The synergy between Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin is clear. I knew Red Bull Racing had the ability to handle the pure performance aspects, but Aston Martin’s experience of making beautiful, fast and comfortable GT cars is of great benefit to the project. I’ve always been adamant that the AM-RB 001 should be a true road car that’s also capable of extreme performance on track, and this means it really has to be a car of two characters. That’s the secret we’re trying to put into this car – the technology that allows it to be docile and comfortable, but with immense outright capabilities.”
David King, Aston Martin’s VP and Chief Special Operations Officer, adds: “Working at Aston Martin means you get to be a part of some truly special projects, but the AM-RB 001 is a dream – a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Of course it’s a huge engineering challenge, too, but the game-changing objectives of this programme have a uniquely energising effect on everyone involved. We have world-class people and facilities at Gaydon. We’re all motivated to achieve great things and take Aston Martin to the absolute pinnacle of road car performance.”
Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer, says of the AM-RB 001: “Working so closely alongside Adrian and an organisation like Red Bull Racing is a fabulous experience. By definition the objectives we’ve set for the car ensures there has never been an Aston Martin – or any car, actually – quite like the AM-RB 001. The shared challenge has been finding that magical tipping point where we achieve the most efficient engineering solutions and the most beautiful styling solutions without any compromises. My personal challenge has been expressing the AM-RB 001’s extraordinary performance and the unique way in which it delivers that performance. Its style reflects its revolutionary nature, while possessing the form and beauty that makes it unmistakably an Aston Martin.”
Dr Andy Palmer, Aston Martin President and CEO, commented: “The AM-RB 001 is a truly remarkable project and something of which I’m extremely proud. To have Aston Martin working alongside Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing and the invaluable assistance of project partner AF Racing AG is an extraordinary creative collaboration. One that unites the very best of road and race car thinking. As the project gathers pace its clear the end result will be a truly history-making hypercar that sets incredible new benchmarks for packaging, efficiency and performance and an achievement that elevates Aston Martin to the very highest level.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing said: “Red Bull Racing has always steered an innovative course in our ongoing development of a competitive Formula One car. The conception and modus operandi of Red Bull Technologies has been to apply our expertise to truly progressive projects and partnerships. Our relationship with Aston Martin and the realisation of the AM-RB 001 is pioneering and borne of our synergies and desire to break new ground. The AM-RB 001 is the inspirational product of this collaborative spirit.”
Continuing the on-going Innovation Partnership, the task of engineering the AM-RB 001 will be shared between Q by Aston Martin Advanced and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, with production taking place at Aston Martin’s Gaydon facility. Total volume will be between 99 and 150 road cars inclusive of all remaining prototypes and 25 track-only versions, with first deliveries commencing in 2018.
