Autoblog

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It's pretty incredible to think that three years ago there were no Aston Martin race cars. Now we can watch them in the European Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series, FIA GT racing, as well as endurance races like the 24 Hours of Nurburgring and the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. To celebrate both the factory-backed and privately-owned teams, Aston Martin hosted all of its racing cars at the Paul Ricard circuit in France for a little preseason test. The product of that event, aside from many famous drivers taking their turn behind the wheel of each and every car, was this family portrait of Aston Martin Racing. Front and center is the Gulf livery DBR9 flanked by the new Vantage GT2 on its left (our right) and one of many V8 Vantage N24 cars on its right. See that white car being left in the dust way in the back? That's the V12 Vantage RS concept that just got off a plane returning from the Geneva Motor Show. Since we know you want to make this pic your desktop wallpaper, we've included an extra special 1,980-pixel-wide version for you to download, and there are more Aston Martin Racing galleries after the jump.


[Source: Aston Martin]

Aston Martin rocks. Remember back in June when they won their class at the Nürburgring 24 Hours with pretty much a showroom stock V8 Vantage? The one that finished 24th overall out of a field of 220 entrants, most of which were pure race cars? Well, Aston Martin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ulrich Bez does. He had promised that customers would be able to purchase a similar package for their Vantages soon after. And true to his word, we just got notice of the new N24 spec V8 Vantage will be available at a dealer near you. Already meticulously crafted, these N24 editions will be given even more special attention as they work their way through the assembly process, in a dedicated facility at the firm's Gaydon HQ.

Besides losing its air conditioner and most of its interior as part of the 550-lb Biggest Loser diet, the N24 will be reworked to coax an extra 30 hp from its mellifluous V8. Sidenote – This is the third best-sounding production car in recent years behind the Porsche Carrera GT and the Audi RS4. The Vantage N24 would make an excellent track day car for club racers, but should also be able to run in the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nürburgring, the Britcar endurance series, the Dutch Supercar Challenge, the Australian GT Championship and the European Endurance Championship. It might also qualify for the proposed European GT4 series, the Grand-Am Cup and SCCA Touring Car Class in the USA.

On sale now, the N24 will start at £78,720 ($152,350) and will actually debut in the Yokohama booth at the Autosport International Show at the Birmingham NEC in a couple of days. We like this trend of factory race cars like the Ferrari F430 Challenge, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, and the Subie rally cars down under

Full press release with specs after the jump.

[Source: Aston Martin]