Aston Martin’s most track-focused production Vantage to date, the new Vantage F1 Edition will get every motorhead’s heart racing.
We love Aston Martin, and it’s hard not to. The marque has been producing stunning sportscars for generations and its affiliation with our favourite globe-trotting spy doesn’t hurt either. Now, with the brand’s return to the world of Formula One after a 60-year hiatus, Aston Martin releases the new Vantage F1 Edition, a new breed of street-ready beast.
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Motivated by Aston Martin’s return to the world’s greatest motor racing series, for which the new F1 Edition will act as official safety car, the new model is the ultimate expression of Vantage performance and dynamism.
Not only is it the most powerful Vantage, but the new edition benefits from unique and significant chassis and aerodynamic improvements developed by Aston Martin’s hugely experienced engineering team. While the luxury brand’s Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One team was busy preparing a return to the grid, the engineering team behind the production models were creating the ultimate Aston Martin Vantage, tasked with developing significant performance enhancements without compromising its on-road capabilities.
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The engineering team targeted intelligent, incremental improvements across multiple areas of the Vantage F1 Edition’s auto-only powertrain, chassis and aerodynamics to bring out more character, increase tactility and expand its outright capabilities.
Starting with the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, power is up by 25PS to a new maximum of 535PS. Peak torque remains unchanged at 685Nm, but that peak is sustained for longer to further increase tractability and in-gear urgency. This relentless, muscular performance has been further enhanced by work to the 8-speed automatic transmission, with an optimised torque cut during upshifts that reduces shift times and increases the feeling of directness and precision. This torque management also enhances the driver’s sense of control and connection during downshifts, specifically under heavy braking, and allows for finer control when the driver is balancing the car at its limit of traction.
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Moving to the chassis, the team’s focus centred on the suspension and steering, with further detailed underbody modifications to increase front structural stiffness for a further improvement in steering feel and response. Reworked damper internals have increased the dampers’ effective force range, and the increase in bandwidth brings a noticeable improvement in vertical body control – both through high-speed compressions and over crests – without any deterioration in low-speed compliance.
To complement changes to the dampers, the chassis also benefits from increased rear spring rate and lateral stiffness to help sharpen turn-in, increase traction (especially over bumps) and ensure the rear-end is tuned to complement the front-end’s rate of response. Further improvements to response and – crucially – to what the driver feels have been made to the steering system, allowing feedback from the road to be transmitted more clearly, which in turn helps build a detailed sense of available grip.
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The Vantage F1 Edition’s standard 21-inch types have been developed with Pirelli specifically for the new model and the switch to a lower profile tyre provides greater feedback to the driver to ensure progressive on-limit handling to give maximum confidence in even the most extreme track driving scenarios.
Completing the Vantage F1 Edition’s performance enhancements is a comprehensive aero kit, bringing improvements that can be felt from the driver’s seat and measured against the clock. Designed to deliver positive front and rear downforce, totalling 200kg more downforce than Vantage at top speed – as well as optimising the overall balance of the car, the aerodynamic changes comprise a full-width front splitter, front dive planes, underbody turning vanes, and – most strikingly – the new rear wing. The rear diffuser remains unchanged but is still a core feature in the delivery of the aerodynamic performance working in tandem with the new aerodynamic features.
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The Vantage F1 Edition expresses its intensified performance with limited, yet distinctive colour palettes and trim options, including one that celebrates Aston Martin’s return to Formula 1 with an Aston Martin Racing Green colour scheme, mimicking that of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team car. Inside, the Vantage F1 Edition features new Obsidian Black leather and Phantom Grey Alcantara upholstery and trim, with a choice of Lime Green, Obsidian Black, Wolf Grey or Spicy Red contrast stripe and stitching.
The Vantage F1 Edition – available as Coupe and Roadster – is further distinguished by its vaned grille as standard, 2×2 Twill Carbon Fibre exterior detailing, unique graphics, quad exhausts and a new design of Satin Black Diamond Turned 21-inch alloy wheel.
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