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Aston Martin reveals Vantage GTE art car for Le Mans

The Gulf livery is undoubtedly one of the most iconic in all of motorsport, but at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, Aston Martin will be running an altogether more original color scheme. Looking like something between a television test pattern and a 3D projection viewed without the requisite glasses, the livery is actually designed as an optical illusion, to distort perception and trick the eye into thinking the car is moving even when it's sitting still. Of course it still features the unmistakable Gulf logos, and is made up of alternating bars of orange, yellow, blue, and black. It's the work of German artist Tobias Rehrberger, renowned for his abstract experimental art, and will appear on the #97 Vantage GTE this coming weekend when the famous endurance race gets under way in Western France. ASTON MARTIN UNVEILS REHBERGER VANTAGE GTE - Aston Martin Racing unveils 24 Hours of Le Mans art car - Design revealed to racing fans in Le Mans town centre - Unique effects on Vantage GTE created by artist Tobias Rehberger 8 June, Le Mans: Aston Martin Racing is today unveiling a 24 Hours of Le Mans art car designed by artist Tobias Rehberger. The unique creation gives the Gulf #97 Vantage GTE the illusion of movement and speed, even when static. Rehberger is renowned for his abstract art and optical effects that distort perception and has received numerous international prizes and awards, including the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Aston Martin Racing invited him to design a livery that would work with the Gulf Vantage GTE's lines and colours in a way never attempted before. Thirty years since the first art car ran in the 24-hour race, Rehberger set out to create a design that uses geometric shapes and patterns to give the car, when static, the impression of movement and speed. The German artist, who will attend Saturday's race as a guest of Aston Martin Racing, explained: "My design for the Aston Martin art car is rooted in my interest in distorted perception and related phenomena like auto moving patterns, optical effects, camouflage and visual confusion, which I have addressed in many works before. "In this case, the design is based on a geometric optical effect pattern.

You can buy this gorgeous one-off Aston Martin Jet 2 Bertone shooting brake

It was the last project built by Italian coachbuilder Bertone before it went bust, a one-off project designed and commissioned by the man who drove a 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 around the world in 80 days, and now's your chance to buy it alongside the full-size clay model and fiberglass mold that preceded it. We’re talking about the Aston Martin Bertone Jet 2+2, a wagonized Rapide that we last saw at the Geneva Motor Show back in 2013. It was built in homage both to AstonÂ’s centenary and to mark six decades of cooperation between the automaker and the Italian design house. At the time, the identity of the client who commissioned it was kept secret. ItÂ’s being offered for sale by Barry Weir, the British motoring enthusiast famous for his four-continent, 22-country, 34,000-mile world rally record, set in 2000. He designed the shooting brake based on the Rapide saloon, added a rear hatch, full-length tinted glass roof and sliding rear floor, and got it approved by Aston, which reportedly intended to put the car into production after Bertone built 10 of them. But that never happened, as Bertone folded operations after this project. View 10 Photos Nevertheless, Weir says he found the fiberglass molds and clay model used to build the car earlier this year on auction in Italy while browsing the web. He managed to negotiate their removal from the auction and bring them back to the U.K., and heÂ’s even offering to sell the tooling set separately. “IÂ’m minded to sell the complete package, and the buyer can choose what they wish to do with it,” Weir says. “They could reproduce the moulds and model or, alternatively, have it as a one-off production car which is registered as Aston Martin Jet 2; which is a new model.” The finished product is said to share 70% of its DNA with the Rapide, including the stock 6.0-liter V12, offering 476 horsepower, and the same wheelbase and a nearly identical curb weight to the donor car. Inside, it features a 2+2 setup with four individual seats, the two in back foldable at the press of a button to make for hauling stuff, and Bertone gave the interior some wood, glazed aluminum and two-color leather trim, per request of Weir, whose name is etched on a plaque inside the cabin. The total design and build took around 3 1/2 months. Related Video:    

Kahn Design to reveal Aston Martin Vengeance in Geneva

The major automakers won't be the only ones with new metal to showcase in Geneva next month, so will aftermarket tuners and coachbuilders like Kahn Design. The British outfit is rolling into the Swiss expo this year with the long-awaited Vengeance, its own take on the Aston Martin DB9. We first caught wind of the Vengeance project in May – just after a similar project by Henrik Fisker was quashed. But unlike the proposed Fisker Thunderbolt, Kahn secured Gaydon's blessing in developing the Vengeance: "Aston Martin has entered into a supply agreement with Kahn Design," AML spokesman Kevin Watters confirmed to Autoblog at the time, "and will supply a very limited number of DB9s for an extensive coachbuild conversion." The design, as you can see, bears the familiar hallmarks of a contemporary Aston, but rendered more aggressive in a style that looks similar to the manufacturer's own One-77. It won't be the first such coach-built Aston Martin we've seen, but most of the others to date have resulted from a longstanding collaborative effort between the British automaker and famed Italian carrozzeria Zagato. Another recent project saw Bertone convert a Rapide into the Jet 2+2 shooting brake in a revival of the Vanquish-based Jet 2 from 2004. In a bit of a role reversal, Aston served as something of a coachbuilder itself in rebodying the Toyota/Scion iQ as its own Cygnet, having previously outsourced production of the Rapide to contract manufacturer Magna Steyr. Alongside the Vengeance, Kahn plans to display the Flying Huntsman 6x6 pickup based on the Land Rover Defender at the Geneva Motor Show. It will be joined by a customized red Range Rover and blue Range Rover Sport done up as pace cars, and a widebody Jeep Wrangler from its Chelsea Truck Company division. Related Video: