I've always been a closet Aston Martin fan. Lately I've come across
some stuff that, for lack of any other place, I'm sending to the britcar
list.
I was flipping through a September 1984 Road & Track the other day. It
had another of those "World's Fastest Cars" articles in it. The results
were rather surprising. Test drivers were Paul Frere and Phil Hill.
148.3 mph - Jaguar XJ-S HE $28,499
154.6 mph - BMW M635CSi $34,100
158.2 mph - Porsche 911 Turbo $40,119
162.2 mph - Porsche 928S $33,395
167.5 mph - Lamborghini Countach $65,000
175.0 mph - Aston Martin Vantage $66,330
176.2 mph - Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer $68,080
Remember, these are *1984* cars and prices. The Porsche 928S is
clearly the leader in bang for the bucks, with the BMW and Jaguar close
on its heels. The real shocker is the Aston Martin - Aston doesn't
build "sports cars" any more, (since the old DBs) they build big fast
sedans. Exactly how fast, I'd never realized - the boys from Newport
Pagnell don't usually get included in supercar shootouts like this.
Maybe they just get overlooked. The Vantage had room for four, air
conditioning, stereo, leather, wood, and wool interior, a real trunk to
put your golf clubs or luggage in, and you don't have to be a
contortionist to get in. Yet it not only solidly trounced the Countach,
but the Ferrari bested it by a mere 1.2 mph. Aston Martin claimed a
mere 380hp. Oddly, it posted the second-slowest quarter mile - 15.3 vs
the Jaguar's 15.6.
Phil Hill said, "Well, the Aston Martin was really a tremendous
surprise... it's such a big car and to imagine what it must take to go
175mph is almost unthinkable. [...] The most startling and rather
alarming thing was to be in a great big production car like this with a
speedometer that goes to 170mph and a rev counter that goes to 7000 rpm,
and see both the speedometer and the tachometer needles slowly but
surely crawl right off the dial... both dials... it was astonishing."
That ain't bad for 327 cubic inches of normally aspirated V8!
Road & Track did another supercar shootout in July 1987. The same
drivers retested the Countach, two Ferraris (twin turbo GTO and
Testarossa), two Porsche 959s, and some non-production cars from AMG,
Koenig, and Ruf.
Ferrari Testarossa 185
Ferrari GTO 179 (not certain it was stock)
Lamborghini Countach 179
Isdera Imperator 176 (prototype)
AMG Hammer 183 (hot rod)
Koenig/RS 959 201 (hot rod)
Koenig Porsche 959 198 (hot rod)
Note there was no Aston Martin in the lineup. The Countach and
Ferraris had notched up the speed a bit, but half the field were
aftermarket modified vehicles, plus the Imperator, which never really
went into production.
Motor Trend, January 1987 (yes, another Supercar Shootout)
Ferrari Testarossa 177
Porsche 928 S4 167
Lamborghini Countach 160
Lotus Esprit Turbo 146
No Vantage there, either.
Also, from the December 1979 issue of Motor Trend, there's a photo in
the "Competition Report" section showing an Aston endurance racer with
IMSA-style fender flares, big front air dam, side pipes, and enormous
tires.
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