The Pursuit team has spent the last year working on the full restoration of two of the best racing Aston Martins on the planet.
August 10, 2023
The Aston Martin Vantage GT2 is the most powerful racing variant of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage family. The Vantage GT2 is based on the V8-engined Aston Martin Vantage road car. Paul Drayson, owner of these two cars in-period, was Minister of Science in the UK at the time so wanted these cars to represent the future by having the option of running on either E85 bioethanol or standard race fuel.
Paul Drayson had an ambition of competing at the biggest endurance race in the world: Le Mans. He was blind in one eye, so was required to prove he could compete in the American Le Mans series before racing in the European 24hrs. These cars saw their racing debut at the 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach, driven by Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker (2004 British GT Champion) and later they did compete in The 24 Heures du Mans in 2009 and 2010.
Chassis 001 and 002 were brought to Pursuit in July 2022 with the goal to get these racing legends back to their former glory. One of the big challenges was converting the impractical bioethanol configuration back to working solely with conventional race fuel.
Both cars underwent the same rigorous restoration process, from complete engine rebuilds by Prodrive to crack testing, gearbox rebuild, new fuel tanks and plumbing, as well as logging and sorting through the very large spares package. The historic livery and even the original wiring were preserved as much as possible to keep the character of these two impressive racers intact. The cars are now ready to get out on track and are eligible for the Peter Auto Endurance Racing Legends series.
This project was a personal one for Pursuit Team Principle, Oli Cable:
“I grew up watching the documentary on these two iconic cars, so being able to bring the story back to life through a new era of historic racing, and enabling someone else to carry on the journey, feels like a full circle moment. I can’t wait to see them back out on track, where they belong.”
Take a look at the cars in action at Silverstone on our YouTube channel.
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