.It is
true to say that Aston Martin have built cars especially for
rallying before, but this time I would say it's a little different.
Back in 1955, a pair of DB2/4's were prepared for the Monte Carlo
Rally by the Racing Department at Feltham. The Aston Martin Racing
V8 Vantage Rally GT, chassis 0947, was a little surprising when it
first appeared in the GT class of the Lyon-Charbonniers Rhone Rally
21/22 April 2006. Generally speaking, the French Rally Championship
is run on tarmac (unlike the loose surfaces that we are more used to
in the UK) and the GT class is ideal for the Porsche 911 GT3 for
example. On it's debut in the hands of Subaru rally driver and AMR
works driver Stephane Sarrazin with co-driver Stephane Prevot,
managed a 2nd place in the Series GT class.
The car has been prepared by Prodrive in Britain and financed by the
motorsport enthusiast Frederic Dor. Of course, Prodrive, who are
partners in AMR have 20 years experience in the world of rallying
with such cars as the WRC Subarus for example. I took these pictures
whilst the car was displayed in the Silverstone paddock during the
FIA GT race in May 2006.
Such was the success of the prototype, Prodrive started offering the
the Rally GT for sale under the banner of 'The most exclusive rally
car in the world'.
The production Rally GT has been extensively re-engineered but, just
like the DBR9, starts with the standard road car chassis to which is
added a roll cage for safety and increased torsional rigidity.
Whilst the engine is closely based on the all alloy road car 4.3
litre V8 unit, it has been tuned to make it more flexible and
responsive for the demands of rallying - is 420bhp sufficient for
you? The suspension on the Rally GT carries over the road car’s
wishbones, but has new competition Eibach springs and three-way
adjustable EXE-TC dampers. The standard road car transmission is
kept on the rally car, but this can be upgraded to a six-speed,
close ratio dog engagement gearbox, developed specifically for the
Rally GT.
The Rally GT was successfully demonstrated during the 2006 Race of
Champions held during December at the Stade de France in Paris at
Race of Champions.
Since Prodrive will only build a limited number of Rally GT's, it is
described as the worlds most exclusive rally car, the first examples
were with customers before the end of 2006, just in time for the
2007 season. |
