The GT8! Carbon fibre bodied £200K 440BHP 7 Speed V8.

[vanquishv12s]

Shmee said:

Change of plans, I'll push it out today, 18:00

Hi Tim

Brilliant video, thank you. I can't help myself but point out that the wheels on the car you drove are not magnesium ones. They are centre locks obviously but the alloy ones. Magnesium ones have a completely different design. Centre lock alloys were the mid of the range option on GT12 and I imagine they still are on the GT8. Magnesium wheels have a different design and Mg sticker on them for safety reasons I believe.

G

[Shmee]

alscar said:

I dont remember from looking at Gaydon but did that one have the poly glass rear screen ?
Are u going for the mag centre locks ?

No to the rear window, it was glass.

And no centre locks for me, can't risk damaging one when actually driving the car!

vanquishv12s said:

I can't help myself but point out that the wheels on the car you drove are not magnesium ones.

DOH! That's stupid of me; too much to think about at once, whoops.

[rkwm1]

Shmee said:

Change of plans, I'll push it out today, 18:00

Thanks, good vid. Does sound amazing, however don't think it can sound better than a Zonda. Guess i'll find out in a couple of months! I will drive mine as well.

[rkwm1]

alscar said:

I dont remember from looking at Gaydon but did that one have the poly glass rear screen ?

I'm pretty sure the one at Gaydon DID have plastic rear and side windows.

[rkwm1]

Shmee said:

alscar said:

I dont remember from looking at Gaydon but did that one have the poly glass rear screen ?
Are u going for the mag centre locks ?

No to the rear window, it was glass.

And no centre locks for me, can't risk damaging one when actually driving the car!

vanquishv12s said:

I can't help myself but point out that the wheels on the car you drove are not magnesium ones.

DOH! That's stupid of me; too much to think about at once, whoops.

I personally think centre locks are a must. At around £6k more than the forged alloys without, they are expensive but they finish the look off nicely. Magnesium ones at £20k are a bit too much!

[FFM]

Shmee said:

Drove the GT8 today... EPIC!

That's a bit of a cliffhanger, but I truly loved it and now have a tremendously torturous wait until December.

Ciao Tim, great video!

Couple of questions for you:
"pops/bangs" from exhaust: When I saw the GT8 back at the factory, I remember its exhaust produced proper pops and bangs on the overrun, when revving..but, at that time, the secondary Cat was still on. Can you still hear these pops clearly in the GT8 you tested yesterday? From the videos on youtube, I cannot really hear them anymore

Dynamics: Did you have the chance to have a proper spirited drive? How does the GT8 drive experience differ from, say, the GT4's (or, if you still recall, from your old 4.7 Vantage)?

Great content mate, keep on doing that!
Thanks,
F

[RobDown]

rkwm1 said:

alscar said:

I dont remember from looking at Gaydon but did that one have the poly glass rear screen ?

I'm pretty sure the one at Gaydon DID have plastic rear and side windows.

I thought it did too - I've gone for glass though as heard too many warnings as to
How quickly the polycarbonate picks up scratches (albeit I guess it's possible to put a ppf on them?)

[rkwm1]

RobDown said:

I thought it did too - I've gone for glass though as heard too many warnings as to
How quickly the polycarbonate picks up scratches (albeit I guess it's possible to put a ppf on them?)

Same here. Polycarbonate is a pain to maintain.

[HBradley]

Shmee said:

Drove the GT8 today... EPIC!

That's a bit of a cliffhanger, but I truly loved it and now have a tremendously torturous wait until December.

Tim,
Great video of your brief test drive, I note that the thorny issue of the SS gearbox hoves into view again. I'm assuming the car you drove had a SSII gearbox? If so it amazes me why AML still fit a single plate clutch to any Vantage given that there's now a large body of evidence from multiple sources (Anyone who has had a Bamford Rose/ David Appleby clutch upgrade will universally testify) that fitting the twin plate V12V clutch (plus a lightened flywheel etc), absolutely transforms the driving experience!
I know it ultimately comes down to cost, but surely customer satisfaction is key here, after all it's not really about profitability with AML.

[FFM]

It appears to be a rumour but hopefully the GT8 is ending up at ECOTY 2016 ?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


Anyone does know something on that?

[rkwm1]

FFM said:

It appears to be a rumour but hopefully the GT8 is ending up at ECOTY 2016 ?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


Anyone does know something on that?

It will be interesting to see where the GT8 comes. The 911R will be the winner as it is Evo after all!

[RobDown]

I'm told that Aston Martin is hoping to get all the GT8s done by December, so fingers crossed I might get an early Christmas present

[V8Staffie]

Hi Rob
I am at the factory seeing mine in full build mode 14th Oct so hoping 8/150 GT8 will be with
Me in November.

[RobDown]

Hope they can get you some pics to post up Graham!

On a completely separate sub-topic. Who are people using to insure their GT8s? Anybody got a quote yet?

Much as I love the Rapide, really looking forward to having more of a sports car again

Edited by RobDown on Saturday 17th September 12:09

[Jon39]

RobDown said:

I'm told that Aston Martin is hoping to get all the GT8s done by December, so fingers crossed I might get an early Christmas present

I bet they are.
The annual UK sales figures are at present lower than 2015.

This might have been mentioned before Rob, but do you know roughly how many of the 150 will be UK cars?

[rkwm1]

RobDown said:

I'm told that Aston Martin is hoping to get all the GT8s done by December, so fingers crossed I might get an early Christmas present

I doubt it. I know somebody who has one on order and has been told he wont get it until mid February.

[FFM]

rkwm1 said:

I doubt it. I know somebody who has one on order and has been told he wont get it until mid February.

Yes, I asked as well for a March delivery so don't expect mine to be produced by December (or they may well do but surely it won't be recorded as a 2016 sales!)

Rob, I use Chubb for my insurance policy and I ve already asked high level figures for the GT8 as well. They will happily insure for not crazy money

[RobDown]

I had originally thought mine would be February as well (as the paint is non-standard), but my dealer spoke to the factory last week and that was the message he was given. Of course it may just be an ambition that they don't in practice realise, so I wont be too surprised by a 2017 actual delivery date.

Jon - I've not had any update on UK vs non-UK. I was originally told that it was likely to be 40 RHD with the rest LHD. But I have a sneaking suspicion though that the number of RHD cars might have crept up a touch, not sure if someone else has anything more up-to-date

Production I think is actually going to be 153 cars - 150 for customers plus 3 for the factory (1 or more of which might end up auctioned for charity).

Will be interesting to see what the final mix is, sounds like a lot have gone for the paddle-shift (which surprises me). And at the factory I was told one of the most popular colour combinations was the white/green halo scheme (which also surprises me, albeit I'm sure it will look good in that)

[Jez Emmett]

http://thumbsnap.com/NRF5ryJO[/url] [url]


I am not sure that Aston will approve of my latest modification! Hope they still let me have the GT8 when they see this! It really is the DBS Ultimate edition now!!

[RobDown]

incredible!