What is Aston Martin up to?

[Audi Racer]

P1 or gt. what would you guys like to see?

[Deleted]

Easy. Prodrive's two GT1 campaigns were massive hit... success of the prototype projects has been moderate at best.

GT is more suitable for AMR's image (and budget) anyways. Plus you don't need to ***** about diesels

[nobster]

Aston Martin and good GT cars is what we were used to, I would not mind if they just were competing with GT's.

[nobster]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

P1 or gt. what would you guys like to see?

I prefer a good Gt1 car over a miserable P1 car.

[Audi Racer]

Yeah i would like to see a full fledged Aston Martin GTE Pro team run in the ALMS. Directed by ProDrive. Thats them doing what they do best!

1 question. Considering their budget what the devil made Aston Martin not pursue a GTE program in a highly competitive GTE class where they know that they could at least fight for victory.

[MitchZ06]

Corvette

Joking aside they've essentially done a Top Gear, 'ambitious but rubbish'.

[alexkiller8]

i'm not so much convinced about the vantage gt2. That car runs in various champs since 2008 and has never been competitive! i blame the AMR for this, because has never had a serious program for the car, leaving the developments to differents external teams (hexis and JMW) and only in the last race of LMS 2010 at silverstone was (almost) really competitive. Is really unprobable that in this actual conditions the car will have the pace of other cars like ferrari, bmw and corvette. The only solution in my opinion is to create a provide backed team with the factory team drivers behind the wheels, only with full support this car can do good things. An example of this is the paul ricard round of this year where the young driver's vantage hadn't the pace of the 458's but was overall competitive in GTE-PRO roster.

[vyselegend]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

1 question. Considering their budget what the devil made Aston Martin not pursue a GTE program in a highly competitive GTE class where they know that they could at least fight for victory.

I believe their ultimate goal is to snatch another Le Mans victory. To achieve that you need a LMP1.

But they had not anticipated to run into so much troubles with the car, probably overconfident after the Lola journey, which showed good reliability and promising pace. They probably thought succes was mainly down to ACO balancing, and seemed to put all their eggs in the whining basket...

[MitchZ06]

I'd love that engine to run reliably but I'd prefer AMR to run the Lola chassis.

[Simmi]

I'd love to see them try and sort out their LMP1 programme somehow. Far easier said than done. GT battle is already superb regardless of whether Aston enter.

[The Badger]

Well , hats off to them ..... they just won Laguna seca with a car that was in a museum a few weeks ago .

Delighted for them .

[rich07]

Originally Posted by vyselegend

I believe their ultimate goal is to snatch another Le Mans victory.

Not to be a wet blanket but thats not probably going to happen in the next few years if they continue with the AMR-One. Especially with the diesels around and Porsche joining the fray. And a Le Mans LMP1 win wouldnt be as relevant if the LMP had no link to the roadcars like the Lola does with the V12 IMHO. If the AMR-One is such a dog then turning it into a competitive car will cost money-are Aston Martin willing to spend that money though? It doesnt help that the car is ugly and has no emotive appeal like the Lola does.

Originally Posted by The Badger

Well , hats off to them ..... they just won Laguna seca with a car that was in a museum a few weeks ago .

Delighted for them .

Me too Fantastic to see AMR back to their winning ways after such a crap year.

[JAG]

If I was Aston I'd look into running the coupe for a full season in the ALMS, get back into the habit of winning and give themselves some thinking time for their next project.

I can't see the sense in jumping from the frying pan into the fire by taking on factory GTE teams with a car that's so far proved to be little more than a midfield runner.

[Mt. Lynx]

They do have the new GT3 V12 Vantage though, wich probably will end up in the GTWC come the retirement of the DBR9. And YDAMR could be their sort of factory team there.

[courageous]

I would just like to declare my humble pie eating - regardless of quality of the opposition, who would have predicted an AMR win back in late June?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by JAG

I can't see the sense in jumping from the frying pan into the fire by taking on factory GTE teams with a car that's so far proved to be little more than a midfield runner.

It could very well more then that if they put more development into it...

Originally Posted by courageous

I would just like to declare my humble pie eating - regardless of quality of the opposition, who would have predicted an AMR win back in late June?

I wouldnt have but then again back in June who knew that AMR were going to dust off one of their Lolas? Im sure glad they did though-best decision they've made all year.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by rich07

It could very well more then that if they put more development into it....

It could but they'll still be playing catch up to Porsche and Ferrari, and in Europe at least, recieve minimal TV coverage compared to a P1 backmarker.

In the ALMS the coupe would be one of the stars, and as I say, a year to refocus could be whats needed.

[Fogelhund]

I would like to see Aston compete where they can have success. It is probable they could have success in the ALMS in P1, with the Lola Aston, so it should be a consideration. With their budget, I don't think they stand a chance at overall victory at LM, which was their goal.

With their available budget, I do believe they could compete for victories in GT, as crowded as that space is currently. Their budget is large enough for GT, but not LMP1 victories, outside of a depleted ALMS field.

[Mal]

Maybe a works effort in ALMS P1 and a works supported customer programme in GTE - WEC

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by Mal

Maybe a works effort in ALMS P1 and a works supported customer programme in GTE - WEC

That's some dangerously logical thinking.

The ALMS P1 idea has been mentioned by a fair few people now. I completely agree with it. One would have to think they'd have at least entertained the idea behind closed doors.

[Gingers4Justice]

They just need to stick to one plan and stop fannying about. I'd say stick with the AMR-ONE, no matter what - think how much they'll learn from 3 years with that thing.

I'm convinced AMR can build the ultimate machine for LMP1. All they need to do is remember what they did with the design process and manufacture of the AMR-ONE, and do precisely the opposite for both

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

I would like to see Aston compete where they can have success. It is probable they could have success in the ALMS in P1, with the Lola Aston, so it should be a consideration. With their budget, I don't think they stand a chance at overall victory at LM, which was their goal.

With their available budget, I do believe they could compete for victories in GT, as crowded as that space is currently. Their budget is large enough for GT, but not LMP1 victories, outside of a depleted ALMS field.

I think ALMS LMP1 should definitely be under consideration. The main advantage is that they can probably continue to run the Lola-V12 assuming the ALMS continues grandfathering. That will allow them to have another season where they can run up front with little development cost. Also, since it looks like Cytosport probably won't continue to use their Aston, AMR can take that car and return the Lola they have been running to the collector it belongs to or whatever the situation is. Cytosport may be tough for AMR to beat if they get their hands on a HPD or two, but I think the Lola-V12 can still take on the Dyson AER Mazdas next year. Who knows who will even show up.

With the money saved by running the old car, they can either develop a new prototype car or a GTE car. The Lola is in many ways a more competitive car than the GTE Vantage when you consider the struggles of the Vantage even with all the performance breaks they have been getting. They definitely need to do some work in that direction. Maybe they could do some sort of P2-GTE program centered around the same powerplant. I know they want to win Le Mans overall, but that probably can't happen until the bottom drops out and major programs leave ala 1995 or something. That seemingly won't happen until 2016 or so at the earliest.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

They just need to stick to one plan and stop fannying about. I'd say stick with the AMR-ONE, no matter what - think how much they'll learn from 3 years with that thing.

I'm convinced AMR can build the ultimate machine for LMP1. All they need to do is remember what they did with the design process and manufacture of the AMR-ONE, and do precisely the opposite for both

Unless they get some serious backing from somewhere, I think they will struggle to be competitive. P1 for the next few years will be the domain of the big boys spending lots of money with hybrid and other technologies.

There is a slight window in 2012 / 13 before the new regs that someone with a properly sorted state of the art works petrol P1 could compete but I don't think the AMR one is that car, nor is the Lola based P1. The on car that looks potentially capable is the ARX 03.

A works P1 Lola based effort (or AMR One if they can get it up to speed with Dyson / MM) in ALMS would play to their biggest market for a fraction of the cost whilst a good GTE factory supported programme will be relatively cost effective.

Remember Aston Martin works cars with racing provenance are valuable cars and therefore if they built a competitive car it would be far more attractive to the private team than most other GTE's on offer.

[alexkiller8]

the grandfathered cars will be elegible again next year but will be ever more restricted, for this reason at example pescarolo team will upgrade their car (or cars) to be again competitive. I don't know if in ALMS the lola aston will be still competitive, but in europe will not. The amr-one has been a flop, is the first thing i thought when i saw the pic, was a car already born old! ok had an innovative cooling system but with that aero and weight destribution even with a full working engine i really doubt that could be better than pescarolo's or lola rebellion. AMR should buy some coupè chassis from lola and again develope a bodywork, then should use a sort of judd/zytek/AER/AMR engine and only after a full development of the 2.0 L6 turbo can use that engine. The actuals 3 chassis of AMR-one could be sold to some external team (but i doubt someone is intersted).

[CTD]

Originally Posted by alexkiller8

the grandfathered cars will be elegible again next year but will be ever more restricted, for this reason at example pescarolo team will upgrade their car (or cars) to be again competitive. I don't know if in ALMS the lola aston will be still competitive, but in europe will not. The amr-one has been a flop, is the first thing i thought when i saw the pic, was a car already born old! ok had an innovative cooling system but with that aero and weight destribution even with a full working engine i really doubt that could be better than pescarolo's or lola rebellion. AMR should buy some coupè chassis from lola and again develope a bodywork, then should use a sort of judd/zytek/AER/AMR engine and only after a full development of the 2.0 L6 turbo can use that engine. The actuals 3 chassis of AMR-one could be sold to some external team (but i doubt someone is intersted).

The basic idea is good, unfortunately the relationship between AMR/Prodrive and Lola isn't good after the Lola/AMR car.
Also, buying a whole car from another manufacture, develop our own aero design, purchasing a top spec engine and developing our own by the sideline is something which demands a massive budget, and isn't efficient for at team wishing to run at the top, as the organization will be too spread out and hard to manage.

The best thing for AMR is right now to focus on 1 effort.
If they feel that the AMR-One is a good car with potential, then they should focus 100% on that and come back full force when ready, otherwise they should scrap it, take a years absent and run a brand new top dog in 2013. (both unfortunately has major funding problems as they require no sponsor income(because of no racing) and only funding from investors who are a fragile income)