2011 Aston Martin Dbs on 2040-cars

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London man keys $150k Aston Martin while pushing stroller

Police are looking for a man who was caught on a dashboard camera keying a supercar last month while out for a stroll with a child in east London. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was sitting in a parking spot in the London borough of Hackney. It was minding its own business – with its dashboard camera running – when it caught the eye of man passing by. Not unusual for a sleek sports car, but what happened next was unexpected. Instead of admiring its British design from afar he angled the pram off the curb and walked toward the car. Footage shows he then took an object out of his pocket and dragged it along the side of the Vantage's aluminum body panel. The owner of the Vantage told the BBC the damage cost over $14,000 to fix. In terms of cars to destroy, this vandal has excellent taste. The Vantage is small, light, and agile. The most affordable version, the V8 Vantage GT, comes with a full leather and Alcantara cabin, with thick contrasting stitching, combined with real carbon fiber and wood finished in piano black. It can sprint from zero to 60 mph in about 4.6 seconds. News Source: BBC Auto News Weird Car News Aston Martin Videos viral video vantage scratch

Aston Martin spars with WEC over Valkyrie's exit from racing

Confirming an earlier rumor, Aston Martin announced it has stopped developing the track-going version of the Valkyrie it planned to enter in the World Endurance Championship's (WEC) new Hypercar category. It blamed its decision on a recent change in the regulations, but the sanctioning body responded that's not the full story. The British company explained it's unhappy with the WEC's decision to harmonize the Hypercar class with the LMDh category and the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship during the early 2020s. Without providing additional details, it declared the Valkyrie will not make its racing debut at the Silverstone track in August 2020 and it will not challenge Glickenhaus, Toyota, Peugeot and others in the 2021 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It added it's considering canceling the program altogether, meaning the Valkyrie would never race. Aston Martin isn't quitting racing; far from it. It will continue to enter the Vantage GTE in WEC events around the world, and the Racing Point Formula One team will be rebranded Aston Martin after the 2020 season. The sudden and unexpected entry into Formula One led by investor Lawrence Stroll may have played a role in convincing executives to cancel the Hypercar program. Racing is expensive, and Aston isn't doing well. The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) that regulates the WEC doused cold water on Aston's explanation. It opined the harmonization doesn't impact the category, and it pledged to prove this claim when it releases additional technical specifications in March 2020. It instead blamed the decision to withdraw the Valkyrie from racing on the highly-publicized financial issues that have plagued Aston since 2019. "The decision announced by Aston Martin is very regrettable but perhaps not unexpected in light of the persistent rumors over the last six months concerning the fragility of the brand's exposure in the rapidly-evolving automotive market," it wrote. As of writing, executives haven't responded to these allegations. Aston Martin and the FIA both noted they're open to working with each other to find a solution, but the carmaker's statement is highly ambiguous. It affirms Aston's future presence in the racing world will be "defined by its activities at the highest level of both single-seater competition and endurance GT racing" and glaringly leaves the Hypercar category behind. To us, it sounds like the program has already been consigned to the attic.

Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari 512M and more immortalized as Lego sets

Lego has announced a slew of new Speed Champions sets, the ones based on actual licensed cars, for 2022. The latest batch includes a smorgasbord of supercars, from beloved classics like the Lamborghini Countach to yet-to-be-released promises like the long-awaited Mercedes-AMG One. There are seven cars in total, released in five sets.  Our favorite is probably the 262-piece Lamborghini Countach, based on a later LP500 variant. Not only does it tick the box of a childhood dream machine, but the angular shape of the real-life Countach lends itself well to being recreated in Lego bricks. Also, it's modeled in white rather than the typical red. Lego Speed Champions Ferrari 512M 1 View 6 Photos We also really dig the Ferrari 512M. It marked the last of Ferrari's V12 endurance racers, and even though it was soundly spanked by the Porsche 917, the cars are undeniably beautiful. The 291-piece Lego set does a great job of capturing its brutal wedge silhouette in brick form. Lego Speed Champions Lotus Evija 1 View 5 Photos Rounding out the single-car sets is the 247-piece Lotus Evija. The electric Lotus has a bit of a generic supercar look about it, but that's not entirely the fault of the Lego kit. Its dramatic vents can't really be replicated with the limited "resolution" of the Lego bricks. Its rear, with unique taillight-encircled air tunnels, is a bit more distinctive. Lego Speed Champions Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR & Vantage GT3 1 View 7 Photos In addition to the single car sets, there are two larger sets of two cars each. One is a 592-piece Aston Martin-themed pack that includes the Valkyrie AMR Pro and Vantage GT3. Again, it's a bit difficult to sculpt the cars' curvaceous lines out of straight-edged bricks, but the effort is admirable. The Valkyrie is probably the more successful of the two, as the Vantage would resemble a Corvette or Viper if it didn't have stickers to clarify the details. Lego Speed Champions Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Project One 01 View 9 Photos Last but not least is a twofer comprised of 564 bricks to build the Mercedes-AMG One and seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton's W12 racer. In Lego's official product description the driver is not mentioned by name, but the number 44 gives it away. The model of the One indeed looks like a sharp supercar, but the blocky pieces don't exactly replicate the lines we've seen on camouflaged test mules.