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Aston Martin will compete at the Nürburgring 24-hour race on 15-16 May with the marque’s new four-door sports car, the Rapide. This will be Gaydon’s fifth consecutive year racing at the famous Nordschleife circuit after previously campaigning the V8 Vantage and V12 Vantage.
Aston’s decision to use the Rapide is to “underline the sporting credentials” of its four-door car. The Rapide will compete in “near-standard specification” apart from mandatory changes required to compete in the endurance race such as safety mods, interior trim removed to reduce weight, retuned suspension and slick tyres. No star drivers either; the Rapide will be driven by a team of Aston engineers lead by Aston Martin CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez.
He explained: “This race represents the ultimate final engineering durability test for any sports car – it subjects the car to the toughest possible assessment under public scrutiny. The Rapide has the capability to carry four people in comfort but first and foremost it is a sports car and we will subject it to the same tests we would our other sports cars.”
The 470 bhp 5.9-litre V12 Rapide will be joined by a similarly lightly modified V12 Vantage which won the SP8 class last year on its competitive race debut, finishiing 21st place overall. Porsche GT3s have won the event since 2006.
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470bhp is comparetivly low for a v12 and 6 litre
y so many stickers?
That’s because , it’s an engine tuned for a four door luxury saloon, where driveability matters most.
FYI, the version found in Aston DBRS9 GT race car easily pumps out in excess of 600 bhp…
This would be the car of choice if i want to play traffic light drag race.This will pretty much win everything on the road.Amazing Car….
for a 24 hours race you need reliability even more than brute power.if you squeeze every ounce of hp the chances of breakdown will increase.
Aston from the onset is entering as standard. So in the context of the race car there’s no issue of Aston pullng small nombors as they’re not moding it… It’s a question of why stock figures are low which jaybond has answered…
love to see merc CLS in racing series
This plan to race the Rapide in near-standard form sounds more like an advanced product reliability and quality test rather than part of a true racing campaign. Nevertheless, this will help loads with the Rapide’s development and improvement over time. Who knows, maybe Aston Martin could be planning a more performance-oriented version with the data gained from racing it at the Ring.
i want enter in my merc s-class…can ah? also near standard
I want to enter my Iswara Aeroback can ar… nevermind finish last… as long as can finish the race safely.
It will be a plus point for them if they can make it to finish line.
But, if it break down after 12 hours, should any Aston Martin owners get concerned?