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Aston Martin Vantage AMR equipped with a stick shift to honor Le Mans win

Where and how a car debuts can say a lot about that vehicle. With the newest Aston Martin, the message is clear: It's all about the lasting visceral connection between driver and automobile. The Vantage AMR, with a manual transmission and a twin-turbocharged V8, debuted today at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second-to-last race in the 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship. Of the 200 examples, 59 will be available with special "Vantage 59" trimmings. We've known a manual-transmission Vantage was on the way for some time, but as our previous report said, this is the first time the Mercedes-AMG-sourced engine has been paired with a stick. So it expectedly took some time to develop. The brawny power source beneath the Vantage's hood is a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8. It is rated at 503 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 461 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm. It has a top speed of 195 mph and has a claimed zero-to-60 time of 3.9 seconds. The AMR's stats are slightly down from the base Vantage due to use of the Graziano-developed seven-speed transmission. The automatic Vantage offers 505 lb-ft of peak torque and has a listed zero-to-60 time of 3.6 seconds. In part due to the change from automatic transmission to manual, the AMR is significantly lighter than the regular Vantage. Switching to standard carbon ceramic brakes also helped the AMR come in 209 pounds lighter, yet Aston says the car maintains its nearly even 50-50 weight distribution. Several technologies aim to keep the AMR's motorsport-inspired driving feel as smooth, quick and efficient as possible. The AMR has a limited-slip differential, adaptive damping (with Sport, Sport+, and Track modes), and AMSHIFT, Aston Martin's version of heel-toe-mimicking rev-matching. The driver selectable transmission aid also allows for full-throttle upshifting. Although Aston Martin is earning the attention and admiration of purists by building a Vantage with a manual transmission, not everybody will be lucky enough to get one. Production is limited to 200 units, with 59 of those cars offered in an extra-limited-edition "Vantage 59" spec (this was similarly done to the DBS). Honoring 60 years since the DBR1's win at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, all Vantage 59 cars will wear Stirling Green and Lime suits. Inside, they get Dark Knight leather, Alcantara trim, and Lime accents. The remaining 141 cars are offered in Sabiro Blue, Onyx Black, China Grey, or White Stone.

Aston Martin and Mercedes will share F1 safety car duties

LONDON — Aston Martin is set to join Mercedes next season as a provider of Formula One's official safety cars, according to media reports on Tuesday. Racefans.net reported that Aston Martin would supply safety and medical cars at 12 of the 23 scheduled races in key markets, with the existing Mercedes cars used at the rest. It said Aston Martin's new DBX SUV, which uses a Mercedes-AMG V8 engine, would be used as a medical car. There was no official confirmation from Aston Martin or Mercedes. Sources indicated to Reuters that the report was accurate, however. Mercedes has been the official provider of the cars, which are deployed in the event of an incident or bad weather to keep the field lapping safely, since 1996 but that deal runs out at the end of this year. A shared supply would make sense for both carmakers, who already have close ties. Aston Martin's executive chairman Lawrence Stroll also owns the Racing Point team, who will race as Aston Martin from next season with four times world champion Sebastian Vettel arriving from Ferrari. Mercedes, a part of Daimler, is set to raise its stake in Aston Martin to up to 20% by 2023. Toto Wolff, principal of the Mercedes factory team, also has a private stake in Aston Martin. Related Video: Motorsports Aston Martin Mercedes-Benz F1

Soundcheck: Aston Martin Valkyrie begins to scream

In July, Aston Martin published the first video of the Valkyrie on track at Britain's Silverstone Circuit during the Formula One Grand Prix weekend there. Test driver Chris Goodwin didn't push the 1,160-horsepower coupe to its limits, merely massaging the throttle for the camera a few times. The English carmaker headed back to Silverstone this month with a group of guests in tow, and this time the test driver put a little more muscle into the fly-bys. Since the track was wet, the soundtrack still can't be considered the ultimate experience, but even so, the 6.5-liter Cosworth V12 sounds exceptionally good. This new video injects a high-pitched wail that was missing in July, the kind of wicked, soaring keen that jellies one's organs and notifies the mind of blinding terrors on approach. In fact, the Valkyrie now makes all the noises Formula 1 fans wished the F1 race cars could make. That's no hyperbole, either. Compare the modern Cosworth to the 3.5-liter Honda V12 in the 1991 McLaren MP4/6, the resemblance is clear. Remove the street-legal equipment on the Aston Martin and let Goodwin uncork it, as we expect to happen in next year's World Endurance Championship, and it's clear the WEC might have the best sounding racers in all of motorsport. Deliveries are scheduled to begin before the end of the year, so Aston Martin should be wrapping up its validation testing on Verification Prototype 1 if it hasn't already. After that come competition entries into the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). And after that, someone will need to convince at least one owner to drive the Valkyrie on the street so that we can all enjoy the noise.