Aston Martin Updates V8 Vantage With Racer and New Gearbox

Despite recent news of being put on the auction block to raise money for Fords financial ailments, Aston Martin has been the bearer of nothing but good news. Aside from having more models in its range than ever before, enjoying another debut in a major movie and a strong showing on the race track, its V8 Vantage has also helped increase its sales volumes to some of the largest in the brands history. In fact, more good news comes from Paris, where it announced two new additions to the V8 Vantage model.

Since the days of the DB7, Aston Martin has been an active participant in motorsports racing. Its most recent efforts have also been amongst its most successful, running the DBR9s in FIA-governed Le Mans categories. Aston has once again teamed up with Prodrive, the engineering firm that developed the DBR9s to create a special Rally GT model, which will be sold to privateers for use in rally competition.

No, you wont be seeing the V8 Vantage go up against the Impreza STI or Focus WRC cars; the V8 Vantage Rally GT model is a part of the Series GT type of rallying, a cross-country, on-road rally. So far, this car has already competed in the French Rally Championship, taking second place in the Lyon to Charbonniers Rally.

The GT Rally is essentially a stock V8 Vantage, fitted with race components in order to improve its competitiveness and its durability. The engine has been fitted with a stainless steel exhaust system, and has been tuned to make it more flexible and responsive, while AP brakes, and an Eibach adjustable suspension kit enable it to better deal with high speeds. The only new addition is the six-speed close-ratio "dog box" option, for more direct shifts, and a race-grade rally cage. The car will be offered to privateers by years end.

Aston also announced a new gearbox for the V8 Vantage, for those who wish to shift via something other than the standard six-speed manual. Called the Sportshift, it is an electro-hydraulic controlled version of the regular manual gearbox. The system was developed in 18 months, and tested to perfection on race circuits like Germanys Nurburgring.

Though the controls for the gearbox are similar to the DB9, with pushbuttons mounted on the console, the gearbox itself is mechanically similar to the Vanquish. Gear changes are made by tugging on the magnesium paddles located on the steering column, delivering upshifts in less than 200 ms, three times faster than the regular manual, which drops the cars 0-100 km/h time down to five seconds flat.

Most sequential manual gearboxes are plagued by jerky shifts, but not this one says Aston. A special "crawl" mode eases the clutch in and out, reducing the jerking sensation most sequential gearboxes have at low speeds, during multi-point turns and when parking. The addition of the new gearbox should give the baby Aston even greater appeal; pricing and availability will be announced in the new year.