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Aston Martin Vantage: special models in racing colors

Aston Martin Vantage
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G enau It's been 60 years since Aston Martin won the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time. The teams Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori as well as Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frère drove two DBR1 racing cars to the first two places and relegated the strongly represented Ferrari pack to their places. To celebrate this important event for the sports car manufacturer, the British not only acted as the main sponsor of the Festival of Speed ​​in Goodwood; including statue that shows that DBR1. No, Aston Martin also produces special models of the Vantage that are reminiscent of the brand's legendary racing paintwork.

Silver-green like the Razor Blade from 1923

The silver representative of the “ Heritage Racing Edition “sextets are reminiscent of a record car from the early days of the company's history. The “Razor Blade” set speed records in Brooklands in 1923 in the 1,500 cubic centimeter class. The streamlined aluminum body came from aircraft manufacturer De Havilland, who left it unpainted. The green accents of the special model should also resemble those of the Razor Blade.

Aston Martin
In addition to the paintwork, the six representatives of the special series present the new aerodynamics package.

The dark red specimen is reminiscent of the Aston Martin Ulster. A similarly painted racing car was class winner and third overall at Le Mans in 1935. Also note the lettering in the side air outlet of the front fender, which was then painted by hand on the hoods of the racing cars. Classic British Racing Green in connection with yellow accents presents a third Vantage special model. This color scheme is mainly inspired by the DB3S, with which Aston Martin raced in the mid-1950s and that of the predecessor of the DBR1was.

The Gulf colors of the DBR9 for the Vantage

Jump in time to 1989. In the great era of Group C racing prototypes, Aston Martin competed against Sauber-Mercedes with the AMR1 , Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan and Toyota. With manageable success: In the sports car world championship the team only finished sixth, in Le Mans Aston Martin finished eleventh. But Aston Martin considered the blue-white-red paint scheme specified by the sponsor at the time, Mobil1, to be iconic enough to paint one of the Vantage “Heritage Racing Editions” with it. We know the color combination of light blue and orange from many historical racing cars. The Ford GT40 competed in the Gulf colors as well as the Cobra or the Porsche 917. But also Aston Martin. In 2007 and 2008 the DBR9 in this design won the GT class at Le Mans.

With the designs of the “Heritage Racing Edition” special series, Aston Martin is not only looking back, but also looking forward. The sixth Vantage in the group presents the colors in 'Lime Essence' and 'Stirling Green' in which the current Vantage GTE is also on the road in the endurance world championship.

Aerodynamics package brings more downforce

With the special models, not only the special paintwork was presented, but also a new aerodynamics package, which can be ordered for every Vantage. It consists of an extended front splitter, winglets attached to the side of the front apron and a generously dimensioned rear wing. Particularly light wheels, the Sports Plus package and carbon details in the interior are also included. The parts of the aerodynamics package alone should increase downforce by 194 kilograms at 306 km /h.

On the other hand, the rest of the technology of the Aston Martin Vantage remains the same. The two-seater's four-liter twin-turbo V8 continues to generate 510 hp and transmits up to 685 Newton meters to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic from ZF. The performance: 3.7 seconds from zero to one hundred and a top speed of 314 km /h.

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