What is Aston Martin up to?

[MitchZ06]

Once again the only GA fan is endearing himself to sportscar fans here at Ten-Tenths with his eloquent use of English....

Wouldn't mind a Aston powered DP, would prefer an Aston powered LMP more tho.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

Once again the only GA fan is endearing himself to sportscar fans here at Ten-Tenths with his eloquent use of English....

Wouldn't mind a Aston powered DP, would prefer an Aston powered LMP more tho.

The humble user name should tell you all you need to know.

I would be more excited if the Aston DP engine was the V12...

[sukispeed]

Racing Line Dec. 2012

[TF110]

So they havent made it wider it seems, but upgraded the suspension significantly, decreased weight, better aero. Like we noticed, there are different side sills for the exhaust and openings behind the front fenders. I wonder how the rear wing mounts to the chassis instead of the boot? I guess the supports will be further apart and attach to the top of the rear fenders.

[MitchZ06]

Or go right thru the bootlid and boot and mount directly to the frame under it like other frame mounted wings...

[TF110]

That's what I was thinking if they go that route, like the DBR9-

[joeb]

Originally Posted by TF110

So they havent made it wider it seems, but upgraded the suspension significantly, decreased weight, better aero. Like we noticed, there are different side sills for the exhaust and openings behind the front fenders. I wonder how the rear wing mounts to the chassis instead of the boot? I guess the supports will be further apart and attach to the top of the rear fenders.

I wonder if these improvements will lead to less ACO performance adjustments?

[TF110]

Maybe it will perform better at 1240kg in 2013 than this past season before the drop in weight. The article talked about lower cog, so maybe itll do ok with the ballast.

[Simmi]

Looks like the big surprise in the line-up is Bruno Senna! Back for a second bite at Le Mans. I thought he hated it.

Jamie Campbell Walter, Peter Dumbreck, Fred Mako, Stuart Hall, Rob Bell, Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke all in attendance according to Graham.


EDIT: Senna/Mako/Bell and Dumbreck/Turner/Mücke the trios.

Then Campbell-Walter in an AM car with Stuart Hall and Roald Goethe?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Looks like the big surprise in the line-up is Bruno Senna! Back for a second bite at Le Mans. I thought he hated it.

Jamie Campbell Walter, Peter Dumbreck, Fred Mako, Stuart Hall, Rob Bell, Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke all in attendance according to Graham.


EDIT: Senna/Mako/Bell and Dumbreck/Turner/Mücke the trios.

Then Campbell-Walter in an AM car with Stuart Hall and Roald Goethe?

Also Turner/Mucke/Senna is the trio for the car that will be heading to Sebring.

EDIT: As for Senna hating Le Mans, maybe he needs the "knock on the head" that McNish got in 1998: standing on the Le Mans podium to realize there's more to motorsport than F1.

[TF110]

He said he wants to win races, and the opportunity to do that in F1 isn't there. I say good move, F1 isn't the only racing there is.

[TF110]

http://www.astonmartin.com/en/racing...b-6f53e9a4611c
Aston's official Launch for 2013

[TF110]

[Simmi]

Good to see Gulf have re-committed to Aston for the next 3 years. Should hopefully include a new regs GT car in that time.

[Aysedasi]

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm tiring of that Gulf colour-scheme on those Astons.......

[Canada ALMS fan]

Happy to see they'll be at Sebring again. This looks like a massive effort overall. Not that I am complaining at all but it is too bad they could not have thrown these resources at a proper LMP1 program once they decided to go the bespoke chassis route. With Viper now running the 8L V10, perhaps AMR will run the V12 in the Vantage in the WEC and at Le Mans when the new global GT platform arrives?

[TF110]

That'd be sweet, and Vette can get their bigger engine out if the new Vette has it.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Good point. And bring McLaren at that point too since they've killed their GTE program.

[NaBUru38]

Now that's a serious lineup! Let's hope that they keep up the pace with AF Corse, Manthey and Corvette.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm tiring of that Gulf colour-scheme on those Astons.......

Honestly, I'm tired of Gulf colors on any race car for now really.

There just have been way too many of them in recent years and it has somewhat lost its appeal to me.

[rich07]

I'm just happy that Gulf is putting money into sportscars again

That said I got no problem seeing Gulf on Astons, there's history there.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by rich07

I'm just happy that Gulf is putting money into sportscars again

That said I got no problem seeing Gulf on Astons, there's history there.

Absolutely - any company supporting sportscars with Dollars on a long term basis shouldn't be knocked.

Well done Gulf

[GT6]

Sportscar racing needs all the sponsership it can get so we should all back Gulf, although perhaps an updated paint job would help. This year I am hoping that the AM program pays back all the effort they seem to be putting in but the competition is stiff so lets hope it attracts an increase in media coverage so all teams and backers get a good return

[Mr Pink]

Originally Posted by GT6

Sportscar racing needs all the sponsership it can get so we should all back Gulf, although perhaps an updated paint job would help.

Agreed! A Gulf art car or something like that would be really cool. Also I kind of liked this livery:

[Victor_RO]

Aston Martin seem to be crazy serious about Le Mans this year, DSC reports a 32-hour endurance test at Portimao is coming up over the next few weeks, back-to-back aero tests with the 2012 and 2013 cars in the USA, a post-race test session at Sebring (presumably shared with Audi)... no stone being left unturned I guess.