What is Aston Martin up to?

[Pandamasque]

What's nasty about that? Good fun. If you wanna see nasty, go through the pages of this thread

[AGD]

I'm not sure if this is news, but Gulf Racing (Wainwright/Goethe with the Dave Price hookup, not the Gulf Middle East team) may run their Vantage in a few races. ELMS and WEC are possibilities. I'm guessing it would be part-time if it happens.

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...ance-9323.html

EDIT: English link

[aneesh99]

Is their any news on the One or any sort of prototype programme?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by aneesh99

Is their any news on the One or any sort of prototype programme?

Short story: AMR-One dead, tub used for the DeltaWing, the old Lola-Aston V12 is no longer legal, AMR allegedly moving back to GT with factory-run GTE Vantages.

[pederb]

Do we know if the 2012 AM Vantage GTE will have the failed V8 or the very successful V12 engine?

[AGD]

Originally Posted by pederb

Do we know if the 2012 AM Vantage GTE will have the failed V8 or the very successful V12 engine?

V8 I'm quite sure. Are V12s even legal in GTE?

[alexkiller8]

i guess that structure and fractionation of engine is free (ex. we have porsche boxer type flat6 and toyota-cosworth V6 engine) but max displacement is set to 5.5L for NA engines
This year the vantage cars already used a different engine than what was used in the past, but i don't think this new one is much more better than the previous one! anyway i doubt that vantage only problem is the engine! in late 2010 JMW was able to get competitive the car, maybe prodrived should ask some tips to them.

[Accident]

I hope they have been working on the car, but it's been pretty quiet...

I don't think the Vantage is as terrible of a car as many seem to, but with the strength of the GT field already, and the updated Porsche and Corvette, I hope they are putting some development in and not just hoping BoP will make them competitive.

[Rodger Davies]

a-speed have bought a new GT3 for GT300 at least

[ep16]

Remember that the only race Young Driver AMR did with the Vantage in 2011 Thomas Enge put it on P2 of the GT Pro grid behind the AF Corse 458 Italia and .7 of a second ahad of the first Porsche. Admittedly the 2011 spec engine did not last but the car has pace BoP breaks or not.

Gulf were also the the joint fastest car with the labre 'vette in GT Am for the whole LM weekend untill they threw it at the scenery...

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by ep16

Admittedly the 2011 spec engine did not last but the car has pace BoP breaks or not.

How do you know that? Say that again when they run without their current weight, restrictor, fuel capacity and gurney breaks (and whatever waivers they have)

[Acid09]

Are there any news about GT3 Vantage customers aside from Beechdean?

[ep16]

Originally Posted by Chiana

How do you know that? Say that again when they run without their current weight, restrictor, fuel capacity and gurney breaks (and whatever waivers they have)

Ok, let me rephrase that. No offence to Jota but the car was quicker than what they go out of it in 2011, therefore it has more pace than what we have seen at Paul Ricard they were 1.6 seconds slower in qually than the young driver car (Sam Hancock Vs Thomas Enge)...

[alexkiller8]

triple A in gt300 will switch their current vantage gt2 with new vantage gt3.
In 2011 the vantage was really disappointed meanwhile they were running with 1195kg, 29.7mm restrictor and a fuel tank of 95L. I can't image that this already "advantaged" car will be competitive in 2012! it will be just if during the autumn/winter prodrive projected and developed a totally new version.

[ep16]

We'll have to wait and find out!

[AGD]

Dagys is Tweeting that AMR may only have 1 Vantage instead of two.

[JayBMS]

Cant see that, has it been deleted?

[AGD]

Originally Posted by JayBMS

Cant see that, has it been deleted?

It's on there.

Chris Draper

@johndagys Is Aston Martin still going to do GTE for 2012? You would think they would have announced by now. #WEC #ALMS #LM24

1 hour ago via web

replies ↓ John Dagys @

@chrisdraper2007 yes maybe only 1 car now instead of 2

1 hour ago

[JayBMS]

Thanks, I know they have more than one car in build but as of about 3 weeks ago it hadn't tested.

[Acid09]

Young Driver Aston Martin will run two GT3 Vantage's in the ADAC GT Masters, one of which will be driven by the Stuck brothers.

http://www.youngdriver-amr.com/news.php?id=86

[Simmi]

Forgive me if I've got the wrong end of the stick here. But with Aston not agreeing to sign up to the manufacturers cup in the WEC have we just seen the ACO screw them over by dumping what is a high profile works GT car in the reserve list?

I see they have an AM car entered. I wonder if there is ever any dialogue with teams such as AMR/Felbermayr to ask which they'd prefer to get in if they had to sacrifice one? It's a shame to see another Prodrive programme which is seemingly stuttering.

[Rodger Davies]

makes me curious too, i was thinking the same

I hope they find a way to get that second car in, but I suppose it's punishment for only entering one WEC car, not paying the small extra sum for manufacturer points and their performance last year. Both they and Hope Racing have got harsh treatment this year, so I guess that's why. Pity though, I hope they find a way to get in, but I fear the lightweight WEC entrants will stick around until Silverstone before they pull out.

[KA]

I wonder if we won't get an idea of the full story until AMR announce their drivers and any additional races in the programme other than the single WEC car and the Le Mans entries. You might be right about the single 'Pro' car being accepted for Le Mans being a response to AMR only committing a single WEC car, not signing up for manufacturers' points and last year's fiasco...

IIRC, there's been some speculation (DSC and elsewhere) of them doing some ALMS races as well- Could they be looking to run a 'split' programme- one car in WEC and one in ALMS?

An ALMS entry might give them a second car on the grid at Sebring, and do we know yet what, if any, provision the WEC rules make for one-off and race-by-race entries, or WEC teams running additional cars at occasional races? Audi are taking 3 cars to Sebring, and I'd be fairly surprised if Aston wouldn't want to have 2 cars at Silverstone, or Toyota to have a pair at Fuji...and I suspect many of the non-WEC teams on the Le Mans entry might want to run at Spa if they can...

I'm a bit puzzled by the Am car- a blatant attempt by AMR to get a 3-car LM entry, a customer team running under the AMR name as a 'flag of convenience' (interesting that Nygaard is the named driver for the Am car- Young Driver perhaps?), or simply an admission that they're depending on paying drivers to make the programme possible this year?

[Accident]

Originally Posted by KA

I'm a bit puzzled by the Am car- a blatant attempt by AMR to get a 3-car LM entry, a customer team running under the AMR name as a 'flag of convenience' (interesting that Nygaard is the named driver for the Am car- Young Driver perhaps?), or simply an admission that they're depending on paying drivers to make the programme possible this year?

Most of the GTE-Am cars seem to have their Am driver listed, so if that is the case with the AMR car as well the I would think Nygaard is considered a pretty strong amateur driver. He was pretty decent in most of the FIA GT races I've seen him in, so maybe AMR are thinking they can have a strong car in the running for the GTE-Am championship as a back up for the pro car since it will face stiffer competition.

Before I noticed they weren't on the manufacturers list I thought it might have been something to do with maximizing their chances to earn manufacturer points, but I guess that obviously isn't the case.

[Rodger Davies]

I seem to think it is indeed YD/Fischer's Aston Vantage from last year, which means of course it won't have the upgrades the new pair were supposed to get.