What a week it's been for Aston smallest sports car. Fresh from Le Mans victory, the verdicts were in for the latest Roadster just a few days later, followed by the reveal on Thursday of the SP8T-spec racer for the 24-hour Nurburgring race. BMW might have dominated the headlines, but let's not forget about the Aston achievements either.
Given all that, it had to be a racy Vantage from the classifieds this Sunday. And I'd say that nothing comes closer to a motorsport Aston for the road than a GT8; it has the same stomach rumbling V8 soundtrack as those old GTE cars, a similarly wild aesthetic and, in this instance, even a gearbox operated by paddles...
Typically, I'd plump for a manual, but this GT8 spec was impossible to ignore. The overhaul for both this and the GT12 was divisive to say the least, that timelessly pretty Vantage silhouette embellished with aero add-ons, and I think this is the most successful demonstration of it yet. The black adornments complement the gorgeous red paint (when so often there's a clash), the wheels are a model of simplicity and style and the interior equally well done. It's obviously never going to be mistaken for a standard car, though neither will anyone wince on sight as some GT8 specs must surely do.
Having covered only 1,000 miles since 2017, this Aston approved GT8 actually offers a useful saving over list - unusual for limited run cars like this. New, it was £165,000 before any options, and now it's £140k. In fact, there are half a dozen cars just like this at similar money, so you can afford to be choosy - just nothing with the hi-vis green, please...
MB
The Panamera marches on. The facelifted model is quicker and cleverer and - as Matt found out this week - marginally more epic in Turbo S format than it was before. Nevertheless, its introduction reminds me of the lineup's missing component - the short-lived 4S Diesel which almost immediately fell foul of Porsche's decision to whitewash oil burners from its collective conscience.
The model did not deserve such a brief lifespan. I've mentioned its manifest qualities before, but they're worth reiterating. With a V-box strapped to it on a wet day in 2017 and yours truly aboard, the 4S outpaced the figures recorded by an F10 M5 at the same proving ground. Yes, all-wheel drive, but also 627lb ft of absurdly energetic torque. Then later that day it went on to very nearly cracked 43mpg at a cruise, which that meant with the 90-litre tank you could potentially get beyond 800 miles between fill-ups.
It did all this while seeming entirely congruous with the business of being the power source of a four-door Porsche and doing without the electric turbochargers that Audi insisted were essential to the V8's performance in the SQ7. Back then we assumed its residuals would be firmer than a memory foam mattress for the foreseeable. Of course we'd failed to see that the worm was already in the process of turning...
Consequently, in 2020 you can have one with middling miles for the price of a high-spec 5 Series. In the case of this two-owner, fully-kitted example, the dealer says it cost £101k when new. Today you can buy it for £58,995. No small amount of money perhaps - and destined of course to shed even more value as time goes on - but a stupendously talented car nevertheless and one never to be repeated.
NC
It won't surprise anyone to learn that the MK Sportscars Indy RR Hayabusa leaves quite the impression. Suzuki's 1.3-litre four-cylinder GSX1300R motor has that effect on people - especially when it's mounted in a flyweight spaceframe that weights less than half a tonne at the kerbside. It delivers 206hp at 9,700rpm. It's intoxicating.
But it is hardly alone in that regard. Building extreme versions of already fast cars has been a preoccupation of British car makers since there were cars to work on. The JPE is an archetypical case in point. Built in the days when Caterham was still run like a boy's club, the idea of a high-performance derivative was considered a virtual no-brainer; the firm simply ordered the same grade of motorsport engine that Swindon Racing Engines was supplying to the likes of John Cleland for BTCC use.
The 2.0-litre Vauxhall engine, festooned with trick components was said to have cost £13k (contributing to the JPE's sky-high asking price) but duly delivered Caterham the Guiness World Record for the fastest accelerating unmodified production car in 1993. Nowadays there are umpteen cars which dip under its 3.46-second benchmark; back in the early nineties it needed the McLaren F1 to unseat it from the title.
Given that only 53 JPEs are thought to have been built - the majority for export - it's little wonder that No. 19 with fewer than 11k on the clock is considered worthy of a £47,500 price tag (£9k more than a much younger Superlight R500 also on sale at Sevens & Classics). The idea of a rear-drive kit car with a BTCC engine is almost as compelling as one with a legendary bike motor.
SS
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