It should be made clear, a few weeks into this feature, what we believe qualifies a car to be a PH Showpiece of the Week; because, technically, this
Vantage GT2
doesn't qualify. But we'll make an exception. Each contender must be advertised for at least £300,000, and be notable beyond the fact of its colossal price tag. Now guess what this Aston doesn't make it on...
Yep, at £299,950, this GT2 is £50 under budget. Bargain. We'll allow it though since, well, it's an Aston Martin racing car, and also because some of the road equivalents make it look sort of reasonable value.
Look at this GT12. All rather lovely in its Volcano Red splendour, but it's £425,000. So is this one. Even a GT8, the roadgoing homage to the GT2 and GTE road cars, is nearly a quarter of a million. It's probably a little disingenuous to be comparing road models with racer, though we'll call it poetic licence for the sake of a story: if you want a track focused Aston Martin, what about an actual motorsport car?
This car was one of just 10 Aston produced before switching from GT2 to GTE regulations; appropriately enough it's chassis number 007, too. Built in 2010 it competed in the International GT Open that season - see it here under the Villios Racing team on
Wikipedia
- and, if the stats there are correct, it won its class in one of the Brands Hatch races plus took podiums at Imola and Catalunya. It was not the most successful race season ever, but nothing to be disgraced by either. And it's a hell of a lot more interesting than having been placed on a trickle charger in a collection.
After then the car was used once more in 2012, were it won the Aston Martin Festival at Le Mans, and was bought by its current owner in 2015. Following a mechanical recommission it won its class at last year's Masters Endurance Legends at Spa, a qualifying video from which you can see here. Don't leave the volume down...
Which brings us right up-to-date, with an Aston Vantage GT2 that's eligible for 2018's Masters Endurance Legends and Aston Racing Festival at Le Mans (i.e. two events it already has victories in) and is being sold race ready from a renowned Aston specialist with a host of spares. Like every Aston Vantage that ever there was, it looks outrageously good as well; just admire that relationship between rear wheel, rear arch and rear haunch - perfection.
Of course buying a GT2 car is more of an investment (in every sense of the word) than just any other track toy, and will need a lot of time, energy and expertise to get the best from. Imagine though the thrill of thundering up Eau Rouge, or towards the Corkscrew, or into the Schumacher-S in your Aston racing car - one of the rarest Astons ever made, to boot - and in a series as exciting as the Masters Endurance Legends. It's going to require some effort, sure, but what activity worth doing didn't take effort? Racing a V8 Aston as wonderful as this one would surely be worth every hour, pound and weekend spent.
See the original advert here
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