1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Touring

Aston Martin introduced its DB4 in 1958 at the Paris Salon and would serve as the basis for the competition-oriented DB4 GT. Authorized by Aston Martin racing manager John Wyer, it was GT-class customer racing car based on the DP199 prototype which had won its first race at Silverstone with Stirling Moss. The production DB4 GT was introduced in 1959 at the London Motor Show, the same year that Aston martin won the 24 Horus of Le Mans with a 1-2 victory and captured the World Sportscar Championship title.

Compared to the Aston Martin DB4, the DB4 GT was lighter, shorter, and equipped with a more potent powerplant. It received thinner, 18-gauge aluminum-alloy body panels and its wheelbase was approximately five-inches shorter. To reduce weight further, the rear seats were removed on all but a few special-order cars. All told, the DB4 GT was approximately 200 pounds lighter than its tamer DB4 sibling.

The platform-type chassis replaced the DB2/4's multi-tubular spaceframe which was considered incompatible with Touring's Superleggera body construction which employed its own lightweight tubular structure to support the hand-formed aluminum-alloy body panels. The trailing-link independent suspension of the DB2/4 was replaced by unequal-length wishbones. In the back was a live axle located by Watts linkage instead of its predecessor's Panhard rod.

The heart of the DB4 GT was its Tadek Marek-designed 3.7-litre DOHC engine built with an aluminum block and twin-plug cylinder head. It was given a higher compression ratio of 9:1 and three Weber 45 carburetors, yielding 302 factory-rated hp at 6,000 rpm (the standard car produced 240 bhp). To help contain this power, Aston Martin placed Girling dual-circuit, disc brakes at all four corners. Outwardly, the DB4 GT was distinguished by its Perspex-covered headlamps, an extended range fuel tank with quick-release external fuel fillers, frameless side windows, lightweight rear and quarter windows, deleted bumper over-riders, and alloy-rimmed Borrani wire wheels.

Although it was a competition car, it was also an Aston Martin, so it received a luxuriously trimmed interior with deep-pile Wilton wool carpeting and fine Connolly leather covering the lightweight seat frames. Additionally, an oil temperature gauge was added to the standard complement.

The top speed, depending on overall gearing, was around 153 mph with a zero-to-sixty mph time of 6.1 seconds. It was also one of the first cars to go from standstill to 100 mph and then brake to a dead stop on under 20 seconds.

75 examples of the DB4 were built between 1959 and 1962, plus another 20 Zagato-bodied examples and one Bertone-bodied special. Of the standard DB4 GTs, 30 were left-hand drive for export markets and 30 had drive-hand-drive configuration.

Aston Martin had built these GT-class racers to compete with Ferrari's 250 GT Tour de France. They were raced from 1959 by both the Aston Martin Works team and John Ogier's Essex Racing team. Among the list of drivers who piloted the DB4 GT include Roy Salvadori, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, and Innes Ireland. They proved a worthy competitor to the 250 GT TdF, but Maranello countered in 1960 with the 250 GT SWB, itself inspiring Aston Martin's lighter-weight DB4 GT Zagato in 1961, only to be countered in 1962 by the 250 GTO.

The Aston Martin DB4 GT was the only DB series car to carry the GT badge.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2021