Key features of these cars are

• DB9 2011MY coupe
• Mayfair Black or Park Lane White coachwork
• Obsidian Black semi-aniline leather 0r Blue Gin ultrasoft waxy semi-aniline leather
• Leather and alcantara DBS style steering wheel
• Course silver seat stitching
• DB9 logo embroidered in the seat back in course silver thread
• 10-spoke forged black painted diamond turned wheels
• Microspin alloy facia
• Leather roof lining (Obsidian Black / Blue Gin)
• Special edition sill plaques, 1 to 6 Mayfair Black, 1 to 4 Park Lane White

Previous Stratsone special edition cars have included the DB7 i6 Stratstone and the DB7 V12 Vantage Jubilee.

Photos are copyright Aston Martin Stratstone

I’ve been waiting eight years to see this car on the track. The eventual introduction of the ‘Super GT’ race within AMC Club Racing has at last allowed the car to compete at the popular club meetings. The pictures below were taken at the 2008 AMOC St.John Horsfall race meeting at Silverstone in June 2008.

David Ellis has a website for this interesting car, try www.gt700r.com.

After a few weeks of voting, the final spec was decided.

• DB9, Right hand drive, UK spec, Touchtronic 2, 2+2 seating
• Morning Frost coachwork
• Obsidian Black upper and Spicy Red lower interior environment, Obsidian Black stitching with low line split
• Piano Black Veneer
• Obsidian Black carpet and binding
• Warm charcoal seatbelts
• Black brake callipers
• 20 spoke Diamond turned wheels

So now you may be wondering why the car on these pages is blue? Well the last item to be specified was an exterior design wrap to make the DB9 1M car totally unique. And the one chosen was called ‘Aero’ – and as the interior has already been specified in an Obsidian Black / Spicy Red combination, explains why there is a bit of a clash of colour! I grabbed these exclusive photos just before the car was unveiled to the AM Facebook fans in late June 2012.

For 1978, RHAM/1 was even more modified with and output of 800bhp assisted by twin Garret AiResearch turbos. Unfortunately, fuel consumption dropped to as little as 2.5mpg (for the 1977 race, the average speed was 5.75 mpg) so the entry to Le Mans was withdrawn with only two weeks before the race.

By 1979, the shape of RHAM/1 was dramatically altered with a lowered roof, steeply raked windscreen, huge front airdam and lowered bonnet line. Both the fitting of fuel injection in place of the Weber carbs and reducing boost pressure to give maximum power of 650 bhp helped to reduce fuel consumption to around 4 mpg. During the 1979 Le Mans 24 hour race (with the same set of drivers as 1977), the car unfortunately had only competed for 2 hours 45 minutes when a connecting rod broke due to a melted and holed piston.

In 1980, the car competed in the Silverstone 6 hours race, RHAM/1 now sporting a huge rear wing – still fitted to this day. After just 61.5 miles, the rear hub failed. Just for something a little different, in October 1980, RHAM/1 broke the world caravan towing record at almost 125mph, on the runway at Elvington Airfield, Yorkshire. With his first hand experience at Le Mans, Robin Hamilton went on to develop the Aston Martin Nimrod Group C racing car in the early 1980’s.

Whilst this could never be seen as a works car, support was provided by the factory, and indeed lessons learned from the wind tunnel were applied to the V8 Vantage in the form of front air dam and rear spoiler. But not quite on the same extreme scale as this car though.

Despite this inauspicious start, lessons were indeed learned and the breed was consistently improved. Indeed the Aston Martin V8 engine made plenty more visits to the La Sathe circuit powering RHAM/1, Nimrod, EMKA and finally 22 years later, in AMR1. Production of the V8 engine finally ended in 2000 with a fraction over 5000 units built.

This car, chassis number SL73/101, was photographed at the 1996 Coys Festival, Silverstone and the Aston Martin Centenary Celebrations at Kensington Palace in July 2013.

The specs for the V8 Vantage S Dragon 88 were as follows

•2012MY V8 Vantage S, LHD, Sportshift 2 transmission
•Amethyst Red, Volcano Red or Champagne Gold coachwork
•Bright grille with Magnum Silver bonnet mesh
•24-Carat Gold Plated Aston Martin Wings Badges
•10 spoke Silver painted Diamond Turned alloy wheels
•Black Brake Callipers
•Spicy Red, Deep Purple or Chancellor Red leather all with Sahara Tan stitching
•Piano Black facia with intricate gold Inlay
•Obsidian Black carpets edged in Spicy Red, Deep Purple or Chancellor Red leather
•Dragon seat embroidery, inspired by one on the “Nine-Dragon Wall” in Behai Park, Beijing
•Limited edition laser-etched sill plaque
•Optional cost equipment fitted as standard: Auto-dimming rear view mirror, alarm upgrade, second glass ECU, two leather pouches
•Leather wrapped presentation box containing the owners guide, 2 glass ECUs and a customised pair of Bang & Olufsen Earphones

The SP10 was considered rather special as it the first time that the V8 Vantage S has been made available with a conventional stick shift six speed manual gearbox. You will no doubt remember that when introduced, the ‘S’ was only ever intended to receive the Sportshift II gearbox. It has to be noted that it was also possible to specify as an option, the Sportshift II gearbox on this model.

The cosmetic specification of the SP10 is as follows.

• Ceramic Grey metallic coachwork
• Optional Onyx Black (from 2014MY) and optional Lightning Silver (2014MY, Australia & New Zealand only)
• Comfort suspension, optional Sports Suspension
• Six-speed manual transmission as standard
• Optional Sportshift™ II automated manual seven-speed transmission
• Obsidian Black leather with Black Alcantara seat inserts and Silver stitching
• Sports seats, optional memory seats, optional lightweight carbon fibre seats.
• Alcantara trimmed steering wheel
• Piano Black centre console
• Headlining in Black or Taylors Grey Alcantara
• Gloss black painted 19 inch V spoke wheels, diamond turned
• Black painted brake calipers
• Clear rear lamp clusters
• “Aston Martin Vantage SP10” badge on the engine block
• 750W Premium Audio System, 1000W Bang & Olufsen BeoSound Audio System as an optional extra
• Optional Reversing Camera

The base price for the Aston Martin Vantage SP10 was €96,635 (plus VAT and local charges).

Although the SP10 was initially an unlimited special edition, production of the car continued for two years, such was it’s popularity. Effectively replaced by the N430, total production of the SP10 coupe reached 384 examples

Photographs with the kind permission of Aston Martin Lagonda

Specification for the DB9 Carbon Coupe is as follows

• Two-door coupe with 2+2 seating
• AML Carbon Black or Stratus White coachwork (some other colours were also produced in limited numbers for North America)
• Black window surrounds (known as DLO for ‘Daylight openings)
• Carbon fibre side strakes, front splitter, rear diffuser, mirror cars and rear lamp infills
• Graphitic finish on the tail pipes
• Standard or sports exhaust
• Black meshes
• Painted or optional carbon door handles
• Gloss black diamond turned wheels
• Brake callipers in a choice of black, grey, red or yellow
• Obsidian Black hide
• Welt in a choice of black, silver, red or yellow with same or black stitching
• Carbon Fibre facia and door pulls
• Paddle tips in carbon fibre or optional red, yellow or silver leather
• Steering wheel in black leather or Alcantara
• Piano Black air vents
• Black anodised rotary switches
• Black tread plate and pedals
• Special Carbon sill plaques

Although most DB9 Carbon Coupes were either Carbon Black or Stratus White, a very few other cars were delivered in the North American market finished in China Grey, Cobalt Blue, Jet Black, Lightning Silver, Morning Frost White, Onyx Black, Silver Fox, Silver Jubilee, Skyfall Silver and Storm Black 2.

Below are photographs of an example of the DB9 Carbon Edition in Stratus White, seen in the Stratstone Aston Martin showroom in Park Lane, London during 2015.

The sales brochure for the car shows it to be a V8 Vantage S although AML records show the car as a N430. To be honest, the difference is very minor but I thought that I should mention it.

• Storm Black 2 coachwork
• Carbon Fibre Mirror Caps, Carbon Fibre Side Strakes
• Machined Carbon Fibre Wings Badge
• Quarter sized diamond quilting on the seat and door inner, contrast Stitching in red
• 700W Aston Martin Premium Audio with Dolby Prologic
• Full Length Twill Carbon Facia Trim, 
• Bluetooth Telephone Connectivity
• Brake Calipers in Red, Electric Seats with Memory
• 19″ Alloy Wheels satin black finish, 
• Parking Distance Control – Front and Rear, 
• Rear Parking Camera
• Auto Dimming Rear View Mirror
• Special Q badges in red and silver on the wings, numbered sill plaque

Planned production was for 10 Sportshift 2 cars and 6 conventional manuals.

A similar V8 Vantage S dealer inspired special edition was created for the Swiss Aston Martin dealer, Emil Frey. As yet AMHT doesn’t know how many were made but it is known that they had Onyx Black coachwork.

The AMR sub-brand was introduced with two distinct tiers. Series production limited edition models such as the V8 & V12 Vantage AMR Roadster sit at its entry point, while extreme and extensively modified AMR Pro models created by Q by Aston Martin Advanced Operations sit at the pinnacle of the range, including the exclusive Vantage AMR Pro announced at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.

The V8 engined AMR was fitted as standard with the Prodrive designed Sportshift II automated sequential manual paddle-shift transmissions but the six-speed manual gearbox was also available as an option.

The V8 Vantage AMR was available in five distinctive AMR exterior schemes:

• AMR ‘Halo Pack’ was taken from the Aston Martin Racing’s 2016 World Endurance Championship-winning #95 Vantage GTE; a combination of Stirling Green paint with Lime Green front to back stripe.
• Stratos White with an Orange stripe
• Ultramarine Black with Blue stripe
• Zaffre Blue with Red stripe
• Scintilla Silver with Grey stripe

As a finishing touch, a special Union Jack-enamelled AML wings badge, made by Vaughtons and previously featured on last year’s GTE racer, was available as a no-cost option.

Each of the exterior schemes was matched to a different interior scheme to compliment the exterior colours. In keeping with its exterior the Halo Pack interior features boldly contrasting colours, including Lime Green welts and accents.

Lightweight carbon fibre seats were standard fit on the AMR and the car had many other carbon fibre features, including a lightweight front grille, side strakes, lamp infills and mirror caps on the outside, instrument surround, door tops and door grabs on the inside. The V8 Vantage AMR came with 5-spoke alloy wheels with a choice of three different finishes. 

Alongside the introduction of the AMR cars, AML also introduced a range of AMR accessories, many of which can be also fitted to earlier cars. Suitable for the whole V8 Vantage range was the Aero-kit, lightweight mesh grille, performance clutch for the manual box, titanium exhaust, and a multispoke AMR wheel.

Mechanically, the V8 Vantage AMR Roadster bwas identical to the previous year V8 Vantage S Roadster with the same 430 bhp 4.7 litre engine. 

Total production of the V8 Vantage AMR Coupe and Roadster began in the final quarter of 2017 and was limited to just 200 examples. According to records held by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, the Roadster version only accounded for 63 of the 200 AMR cars. The AMR was only available in the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and China but not North America. The 2018MY V8 Vantage was not homologated for sale in the US market, so the last V8 Vantage cars sold there were the 2017MY V8 Vantage GTS.  

In the UK, the V8 AMR coupe was priced from £97,995 (about £3,000 more than the outgoing V8 Vantage S) which represented excellent value due to the previously optional features fitted as standard.