Autoblog

When Aston Martin was purchased by a group of investors led by Prodrive founder Dave Richards, news of future production Astons began to fly. The rumored product that has garnered the most attention is the mid-engined Ferrari F430 fighter we told you about recently. We loved the idea last week, and we're still squarely in the corner of "hurry up and build it now." Some of you will remember that Prodrive actually built a one-off sports/rally coupe called the P2 before their acquisition of Aston. It boasted blistering speed, good looks, and catlike agility.

The P2 was built to showcase the company's race-inspired technology as applied to a road car, but production was never really an option, and for good reason. At the time, Prodrive didn't have a factory, and factories are expensive. Now that it owns Aston Martin, however, the factory is there, and Aston's desire for a supercar jibes perfectly with what Prodrive is highly adept at: building fast, highly capable race-bred vehicles.

Now, no one's saying the P2 itself would be the basis of any Aston Martin. After all, it's based on the itty-bitty Subaru R1 (a JDM city car), which has no business being mentioned in the same breath as a $300,000 supercar. Similarly, the turbo four driving the P2 is around 8 cylinders short of what a proper Aston Martin should have sitting in the engine compartment. The lessons learned and the technologies employed in building the P2, however, could certainly be leveraged on future Astons, including a supercar destined to fight the exotics. That's where the rally-inspired coupe could leave its mark on the superluxury brand's future portfolio.

If you've never heard of the Prodrive P2, hit the jump to watch video of Top Gear's review of the concept car. It's handling is so good that Clarkson actually tossed his cookies after an extremely impressive cone maneuver (if you don't believe us, watch the video).

[Source: eGM CarTech]

Dyson Racing is moving to the LMP2 class for 2007's American Le Mans Series season, and they'll do so in style as they become the first customer team to run Porsche's RS Spyder racing prototype. You'll recall that Porsche's official development partner, Penske Racing, ran a pair of the DHL-liveried Spyders for the 2006 season.

The cars Rob Dyson's team will run are the new 2007 models, which are more aerodynamic (and dare we say better looking) than last year's 1st gen cars. They will be identical to the cars Penske runs, and they are sure to add even more juice to a very energized LMP2 class that's also welcoming Acura into the fold next year. In fact, LMP2 appears to be the class to watch, as Dyson's departure from the LMP1 class leaves reigning champion Audi Sport and Autocon Motorsport alone to duke it out for the P1 crown. (Danbury, CT-based Highcroft racing left P1 as well and is one of the teams that will field the new Acura racer.)

When you consider that the R10 TDIs went undefeated in P1 last season, it doesn't look like that division will be a source of much drama. Most people will wait for the utter steel cage match that will be Audi vs. Peugeot in a diesel-fueled France vs. Germany duel at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It should be great fun to watch Chris Dyson and Guy Smith in the #20 car and Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace in the #16 car as they do battle in in what has become a substantial LMP2 team roster. The 12 Hours of Sebring can't arrive soon enough.

(Press releases, #20 car livery after the jump)

[Sources: Dyson Racing, American Le Mans Series, Porsche]