Vantage Issue 25

The Valkyrie Effect IF THERE’S A QUINTESSENTIAL maker of big-hearted, front-engined GT cars, it is surely Aston Martin. My bond with the brand began as a young lad, when I first saw – and heard! – a late-70s V8 Vantage, but whether you’re more emotionally connected to the DB-era machines, the later Virage and Vanquish or, indeed, this issue’s spectacular Vantage V600, the strand of DNA is unbroken and undeniable. So what to make of this year’s Geneva show and the phalanx of mid-engined exotica that took centre stage? We knew it was CEO Andy Palmer’s plan for Aston to ‘do a Ferrari’, but Geneva was evidence that his Second Century Plan is less reinvention, more revolution. Since time immemorial, Astons have been, er, somewhat ‘big-boned‘ compared with their rivals. Again it’s…

THOSE OF US WITH moderately long memories might well recall the last time AML tried to revive the Lagonda name with a super-luxury SUV. The awkward-looking 2009 concept drew gasps of shock and a few snorts of laughter when it was revealed to the world’s media, though with hindsight Aston’s then CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, should be praised for his prescience of the coming trend for ultra-high-end SUVs. However, even Bez couldn’t have imagined the idea would be revisited ten years later with an all-electric concept of quite such audacity. Last year, you’ll remember, Lagonda was the surprise star of the Geneva show with the Vision Concept: an ultra-luxurious and fantastically futuristic four-seater that dropped the jaws of all who saw it. Of course it’s easy to do that with a…

100 YEARS OF MOTORSPORT On June 6, 1919, the first road-registered Aston-Martin, known as Coal Scuttle, set out on the inaugural London to Edinburgh Trial, an event demanding reliability and strict time-keeping. The Aston won a Gold Medal, and so the marque’s motorsport history began. This summer, the AMOC is reenacting the run with Astons of all ages, and organiser David Wright would love to hear from owners of early Bamford & Martin cars. Email david@73harleystreet.co.uk DRIVERS’ CLUB Aston Martin has launched a new trackday programme, offering the chance to drive some of the world’s greatest circuits. The AMR Drivers’ Club offers various packages and levels of tuition. Customers also have the opportunity to drive a selection of the latest Astons and – if they have racing ambitions – get coaching in a…

WITH THE WORLD ENDURANCE Championship (WEC) 2018/19 Super Season taking a breather until the 1000 Miles of Sebring in mid-March, many of the world’s best endurance racers spent their winter travelling to warmer climes. Naturally, Aston Martin Racing customer teams have been in the thick of the action. Rounding out the 2018 season was the Gulf 12 Hours, held at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi in December. The event saw three all-new Vantage GT3s entered by three of Aston Martin Racing’s most valued partner teams: Oman Racing by TF Sport and R-Motorsport in the GT3 Pro category, plus Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Motorsport in GT3 Pro-Am, along with a solitary all-new Vantage GT4 entered by the factory AMR team in the GT4 class. Issues at the first pit stop of Race…

ASTON MARTIN HAS ANNOUNCED a serious increase in its commitment to the burgeoning historic racing scene with the creation of Aston Martin Heritage Racing (AMHR), a new over-arching brand that unites the marque’s assorted historic motorsport activities. Fans of Aston Martin’s modern competition heritage will be thrilled at the news that the triennial Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Festival events held as support races for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012, 2015 and 2018 have been developed into an annual AMHR Festival Series. This new ‘home’ for owners of eligible modern-era competition and special series Astons encompasses the majority of Aston Martin Racing’s back catalogue. All GT1, GT2, GT3, GT4 and GTE cars are eligible, with the exception of the Lola-Aston LMP1 prototypes and the latest-generation Vantage GTE, GT3 and GT4…

STANLEY ‘WACKY’ ARNOLT was generally untroubled by self-doubt, as he demonstrated on September 26, 1938, when he crossed a treacherous Lake Michigan in a tiny boat to prove the reliability of his Sea-Mite marine engine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wacky was a man of faith; he kept an electric organ in his office and would belt out hymns for visitors to the Arnolt Corporation, a business so bewilderingly multifarious that he referred to it simply as a ‘job shop’. Too irrepressible, too Christian and too busy to have held a grudge, then, but Wacky would surely have allowed himself a chuckle at Aston’s expense had he been around to see this year’s Scottsdale auctions. Sixteen Astons were offered in the Arizona desert in January, but none attracted more attention than Wacky’s special-bodied 1954…