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Aston Martin Rapide AMR spied testing at the 'Ring

At last year's Geneva Motor Show, Aston Martin launched its AMR line of limited-edition, high-performance models. The first two models presented were a Vantage AMR Pro designed only for the track, and a Rapide AMR that's was a slightly hopped up version of the Aston sedan. Though they were fully revealed back then, it seems Aston Martin has still been doing a bit of testing, since one of our spy photographers caught the Rapide AMR at the Nurburgring. The car is most certainly a test vehicle, since the hood and front bumper are unpainted. It's also missing its florescent green stripe down the middle. But it looks like there haven't been any visual changes to the bodywork compared to the show car. It is also missing four massive exhaust tips at the back. Still, it should have the same 592-horsepower V12 under the hood with a louder exhaust system and plenty of carbon fiber bits inside and outside of the car. This may be one of the only times we ever see one of these cars at the famous German race track, or any race track for that matter. Only 210 Rapide AMR cars will be built, meaning collectors will probably be squirreling them away into garages and only bringing them out for the occasional car show or Sunday drive. Hopefully Aston will also record and announce a lap time for the big-engine sedan, since we doubt anyone else will try to set a record time. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Aston Martin Rapide AMR spy shots View 13 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Aston Martin Luxury Performance Sedan aston martin rapide aston martin racing aston martin amr

15-year-old Russian footballer crashes Aston Martin he's owned for 3 days

You wouldn't expect a 15-year-old boy to have the driving experience required to tame an Aston Martin, and things went just as you would suspect for one young, Russian soccer player who fits that description. It only took three days before the teen reportedly collided with a Volkswagen Tiguan at an intersection in Saint Petersburg, Russia. To make matters worse, the boy allegedly fled the scene afterward because he didn't have a driver's license. The purported driver was Konstantin P., a goalkeeper for the Zenit-84 soccer team, according to Life News from Russia. The teen told the website that the Tiguan came out of nowhere at around 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). He was driving into the intersection and claimed to be going about 25-30 mph (40-50 km/h) when they collided. No one was reportedly hurt in the incident. Konstantin allegedly bought the Aston Martin with his own money, but he might not have been responsible enough to actually drive it. According to CarScoops, he's now facing potential charges from the incident. News Source: Life News, CarScoopsTip: CarScoops Weird Car News Aston Martin Coupe Performance vw tiguan

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!