Aston sells racing V8 Vantage

Limited run of racing car now on sale

By PH Staff / Thursday, 20 July 2006 / Loading comments

The pair of V8 Vantages

Aston Martin is to sell a club racer version of the V8 Vantage, it announced at the British International Motor Show. It's based on the V8 Vantage which recently competed at the 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring, and will be available in limited numbers.

The factory prepared Aston Martin V8 Vantage took its place in the company’s history books after finishing 24th overall at the race, among a field of largely motorsport-homologated cars last month.

Now customers will be able to order examples of the same car, which will be built to order at Aston Martin’s Gaydon headquarters from August.

The V8 Vantage is almost entirely production standard, including the engine and transmission. The only modifications made - for safety and pit-lane efficiency – include a full mandatory safety cage, special fuel tank and fire system, racing seat, and built-in air jacks.

As the Vantage remains production standard, it can still be made road legal, allowing customers to drive from home and race at the track – as did the Vantage which completed the 24-hour endurance race in Germany in June.

Aston Martin boss Dr Ulrich Bez said: "By finishing in the top 25 with a standard production Vantage at the Nürburgring, we showed the true capabilities of the car.

“The race marked a real achievement for both the car and the team – and to celebrate this we wanted to make the car available to customers who are motorsport enthusiasts wanting to participate in amateur racing.

“With our dedicated production and engine facilities we have greater flexibility than ever before, allowing us to consider small, special production runs - such as this project.

“One of the virtues of our company is the ability to react to what customers want and, as we demonstrate here, offer the ultimate in personalisation.”

Prices will be confirmed in the coming weeks, but are expected to be close to the price of the standard production car, which starts at £82,800.

Autographed motor

And just hours after the V8 Vantage completed the Nürburgring race, 30 Aston Martin employees marked a significant milestone for the company by taking to the wheel of another Vantage and completing 30,000 miles in 30 days finishing at the British International Motor Show in London.

As the company approached production of the 30,000th car, a unique celebration to commemorate the occasion with the youngest car in the Aston Martin range, the award-winning V8 Vantage, was planned.

Employees from all departments of the company at Aston Martin’s global headquarters at Gaydon, in Warwickshire, were invited to Germany to undertake a day of driving to assist in achieving 30,000 miles in a V8 Vantage over the course of just 30 days.

Using the excellent transport infrastructure and access to the Autobahn network in Düsseldorf as well as Aston Martin’s new dealership in the region, Moll Sportwagen, employees drove the Vantage through the day and night to achieve the mileage.

Bez, who started the celebration by driving the car from the Nürburgring to Düsseldorf immediately after the 24 hours race, said: “Production of our 30,000 production car signals the pace of change at Aston Martin in recent years.

“When we launched our plans to reinvigorate the brand in 2001, Aston Martin had produced just under 20,000 cars in 87 years and now, barely five years later, we are approaching our 30,000th car.

“This exercise – in conjunction with our success at the Nürburgring – proves what we have always believed; the Vantage is a true 24-hour sports car, tough and usable, and as durable on the track as it is on the road.”

The V8 Vantage used to complete the project, signed by every participating employee, is joined at the British International Motor Show by the V8 Vantage that completed the 24-hour Nürburgring Endurance Race in June.