Despite ruling Le Mans throughout the Fifties with five overall victories plus three second, two third and four fourth places, Jaguar’s dominance of the famous 24 Hours race came to an end in the early Sixties with a disappointing ninth place. When motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, introduced a new GT class for endurance racing from 1962 onwards, many privateers chose the new E-Type. The homologated version initially showed great promise with two examples finishing a strong fourth and fifth at 24 Heures du Mans in 1962 with the outfits of Briggs Cunningham and Peter Sargent.
With its twin supercharged 5.3-litre V8 resulting in huge performance, yet still having the kind of luxurious interior Aston was now renowned for, the Vantage was the quintessential British supercar of the Nineties. Thirty years after its debut, we explore its history and later development before taking one of these refined brutes for a drive.
To aid development of the Tadek Marek-designed V8, Aston Martin produced a one-off DB5/DB6 hybrid in early 1966 that was powered by the new unit. Despite being a well-used prototype, the car survived and we’ve driven it.
Instigated by David Brown himself but hand-built by a London-based coachbuilder, Harold Radford, the DB5 Shooting Brake was aimed at Aston Martin owners who enjoyed outdoor pursuits and therefore needed more interior room. Just 12 were produced and we’ve tracked one down.
With a price of 30,000 Deutsche Mark, the BMW 503 was extremely expensive even for affluent customers at the time. Unlike the 507, the 503 was offered as both a convertible and a coupe. Under the long hood, it had a V8 engine producing 140 horsepower, which was later upgraded to the 150 horsepower engine from the 507. The 503 remains a rarity to this day but has always lived in the shadow of the legendary 507. And both V8 models nearly bankrupted BMW.
The 296 is ferociously fast and fiendishly clever but Enright asks if the supercar still has a place in today’s world. Ferrari’s incredible 296 GTB offers an opportunity to consider how far the supercar has come and whether the genre still retains its Lustre.
This former 911 Turbo press car has been given a new lease of life following two years spent in the workshops of Porsche indie, Mike Champion Engineering. We head to Oxfordshire and get behind the wheel...
Bought new in autumn 2015 and subsequently treated to a wealth of engine and chassis upgrades, Chris Whittle’s 425bhp 981C Cayman GT4 proves the 911 shouldn’t be your default choice when purchasing your next modern Porsche for fast-road fun and trackday heroism...
In a battle of base models, we pitch a 981 Cayman 2.7 against a 718 Cayman 2.0, amounting to a normally aspirated 2.7-litre flat-six versus a turbocharged two-litre flat-four. Market behaviour and enthusiast wisdom says six is best, but is this really the case?
