The Aston Martin Vantage GT12 will make its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this month.
The car will be part of Goodwood’s Moving Motor Show on Thursday 25 June in the Supercar Paddock, before being driven up the hill by Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer during the weekend.
Other Aston Martin vehicles on show at Goodwood include the Vanquish Coupe V12 Vantage S Coupe, V12 Vantage S Roadster, Rapide S and Vanquish Volante.
Originally called the Vantage GT3, Aston Martin changed the name to GT12 earlier this year - a move understood to have been prompted by Porsche's claimed rights to the GT3 moniker.
While many manufacturers use the GT3 prefix to describe track focused or race-inspired models - the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Bentley Continental GT- R are just two recent examples - Porsche is understood to have claimed exclusive use of the name. The badge first appeared on a Porsche model in 1999.
First revealed at the Geneva motor show - and at the time carrying the Vantage GT3 name - the track-focused Aston Martin gets more than 592bhp from its 5.9-litre V12 engine. It will be built in a limited production run of just 100 units, each costing about £250,000.
All of the production run has already been snapped up by Aston Martin’s VIP customer base.
The new Aston is based on the V12 Vantage S road car and inspired by the Vantage GT3 race car - which could also now have its name changed to GT12. It makes extensive use of lightweight materials inside and out — including carbonfibre, magnesium, titanium and aluminium — to reduce its kerb weight by up to 150kg over the 1665kg V12 Vantage S with all the lightweight options fitted. In its standard form, the Vantage GT12 weighs 1565kg.
An extensive aerodynamic package also features on the Vantage GT12, as does a more focused seven-speed automated manual transmission, wider tracks, revised adaptive damper settings and a new titanium exhaust system.
David King, director of the Aston Martin Special Projects arm that created the model, told Autocar the aim was to “create the essence of a GT3 racer in a still-legal Vantage road car”.
King added: “We wanted to push the Vantage as far as we could to make a more extreme track day car that’s visually and functionally inspired by the race car, but still with the style and craftsmanship Aston Martin is known for.”
The engine, codenamed AM57, is carried over from the V12 Vantage S but with some modifications. The inlet manifolds are new, made from magnesium and with revised geometry. The titanium exhaust system is also new and offers a weight saving of 19kg over the V12 Vantage S’s exhaust system. As a result, power is up from 565bhp to more than 592bhp and torque rises slightly from 457lb ft to an estimated 461lb ft at its peak but with bigger gains through the rev range.
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That Mustang grille should
It's time for Jaguar to come out with a GT3 class car?
Is it just me?