When I heard that Aston Martin were doing a ‘last hurrah’ of the V8 Vantage I was intrigued considering how great the GT12 was. 

The main two differences between the 12 and the 8 are 4 less cylinders and the option of a 6 speed manual. The GT8 follows the same ‘race car for the road’ ethos as the GT12 which also means it gets revised aerodynamics (including a silly wing and a massive rear diffuser), Carbon fibre (lots of the stuff) and of course, a very garish and antisocial exhaust which makes you grin after 5000rpm. 

As an Aston Martin, it doesn’t really blend in as well as some of the other cars in the current range that bare the same badge: It’s in your face and will definitely turn heads (especially if you have the sports button engaged). But this car isn’t just a track car, it is an Aston Martin after all… Yes the interior is covered in Carbon and alcantara but you still get everything you’d normally find in a Grand Tourer; comfy electrically adjusting seats, reversing camera, sat nav, USB ports and the like. The only thing you won’t find is a front lift system so if you do intend using your £165,000 hardcore GT8 as a daily, you may want to remove the front splitter blades. 

I suppose you could see this just as another limited run track focused car that’ll be kept in storage (in fact, there’s only 150 of them – all of which have been allocated) but this is a proper Grand Tourer and track car. In fact I’ll be seeing how this thing looks like on track very soon!