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Aston Martin will race the Valkyrie hypercar at Le Mans in 2021

Aston Martin will challenge for outright victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 2021 with its Valkyrie hypercar, the British luxury sportscar maker announced on Friday after race organizers rewrote the rules. The governing FIA, who oversee the World Endurance Championship, and race organizers Automobile Club de L'Ouest, revealed earlier that hypercar derivatives would replace prototypes as the top category starting in the 2020-21 season. Aston Martin will field two works Valkyries, powered by V12 normally-aspirated engines, as part of a multi-year commitment to a championship currently dominated by Japanese manufacturer Toyota. The announcement comes 60 years after Aston Martin's sole overall triumph at Le Mans in 1959 with Britain's Roy Salvadori and American Carroll Shelby. Le Mans winner Toyota, meanwhile, has committed to staying in the WEC after 2020 subsequent to the hypercar rules. The Japanese manufacturer said in a statement before this weekend's race at Le Mans' Sarthe circuit that it would continue in 2021 with a hybrid-powered prototype based on the GR Super Sport road car. Track testing of the new car will begin next year. Defending champions Toyota will start on pole position on Saturday after sweeping the front row in qualifying for the third year in succession. "This new era of competition is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate our credentials not only as a race team against some of the best in the business, but also as a sportscar manufacturer," said Toyota Gazoo president Shigeki Tomoyama. The 2021 Le Mans will also be the 100th anniversary of Aston's first entry at the Circuit de la Sarthe. "I think you'd say from the brand's point of view, there's a little bit of unfinished business to be done," Group Chief Executive Andy Palmer told Reuters. Top Formula One designer Adrian Newey, who has won championships with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, helped create the Valkyrie. The limited edition road legal version costs in the region of 2.5 million pounds ($3.17 million). "We don't under-estimate the difficulty of an outright win at Le Mans and you never under-estimate the tenacity and resources of Toyota," said Palmer. "On the other hand, we're not coming just to make up the numbers. We're coming here to give it a bloody good shot." Palmer said the new regulations would significantly reduce the costs of competing, without giving details about the likely budget, and hoped commercial rivals McLaren and Ferrari would take up the challenge.

Aston Martin blacks out new Vanquish Carbon Edition [w/video]

Aston Martin and tuxedos go together like gin and vermouth, but those looking for that extra degree of formality need look no further than the British automaker's Carbon editions. Aston has bestowed the blacked-out treatment on the Vantage, DB9 and DBS, and has now turned its attention to the flagship Vanquish. The new Vanquish Carbon Edition is being offered in coupe or convertible form, in either black or white. Based on the recently upgraded model with its new eight-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission, the Vanquish Carbon Black offers the same 6.0-liter V12 with 568 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque, good for a 3.6-second sprint to 60 and a top speed of 201 miles per hour. What sets it apart from other Vanquish models is its special trim, including black window surrounds, blacked-out headlight trim, 10-spoke gloss-black alloys and an interior decked out with herringbone carbon-fiber trim, anodized black speaker grilles for the Bang & Olufsen audio system and available quilted leather upholstery. We're waiting for the full details to be released, so watch this space. In the meantime, you can scope out the microsite and the dramatic video clip for a closer look at Aston's latest flagship in either Darth Vader or Storm Trooper treatment.

Aston Martin Vantage might get a Mercedes inline-six

Aston Martin has turned its eye to the inline six-cylinder engine Mercedes-Benz installs in the CLS 53. The British carmaker uses an AMG-sourced 4.0-liter V8 for the DB11 and the Vantage, which produces 503 horsepower and 505 pound-feet of torque in the latter coupe. Aston Martin hasn't said anything about whether or when it would use the inline-six, nor mentioned a product to slot the engine into. If the six does migrate from Germany to England, the move brings several benefits for Aston Martin, and it would create the first six-pot Aston Martin since the 1999 DB7. The 3.0-liter, AMG-built six-cylinder uses an electric turbocharger to put out 430 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque, and gets help from a 48-volt EQ Boost micro-hybrid system throwing in 21 hp and 184 lb-ft. After driving it at a Mercedes-Benz test track, Aston Martin's chief engineer Matt Becker called the powerplant "very complicated and clever," and said, "it's a very impressive engine" that he could envision serving the brand. The 2019 Vantage engine bay can already fit the company's in-house, 5.2-liter V12, so a straight-six shouldn't be hard to swallow. As for how it would fit into the lineup, there's a chance a six-cylinder Vantage supplants the V8. However, since Becker said his engineering team "would not necessarily play" with the AMG's power curves, that option would probably have to wait until AMG upped the three-liters' output. We'd be surprised if Vantage buyers would accept giving up two cylinders and 73 hp. More likely, a six-cylinder Vantage could give Aston Martin a new entry-level model to undercut the $153,081 Vantage V8, but with plenty of ponies to thrill. A V6 coupe could also help the carmaker's emissions scores, and serve specific markets such as China where engine displacements greater than three liters get hit with heavy taxes. Related Video: