New Drayson Racing LMP car

[Limps With Beer]

I agree.  As an Audi owner, I've always thought their marketing plan for NA was off base.    They raced diesels for years before introducing a diesel production vehicle.     They dumped the Speed World Challenge GT and TC Audis which is what they actually sold.  An R8GT would fit their marketing in the same way GM markets the Vettes.  Race what you can buy (ok, an R8 is a bit of a stretch).

ps  ... it does look like Audi is going to build a new P1 car - the R15 has too much downforce.

With that, I think I'll have a 

[BillBones]

I'm pretty sure the Aston Martin Vantage was designed as a GT2 car.  Dryson's first car was a GT3 DBRS9 running as a GT2 while waiting for delivery of the GT2 Vantage.

Audi had deisels in Europe well before the R10 came along.  When people here in the US think of a diesel they think of Mercedes 220Ds, Oldsmobile deisels from the 1070s and dump trucks.  The diesel has come a long way since then.

[pureadrenalin]

I'm pretty sure the Aston Martin Vantage was designed as a GT2 car.  Dryson's first car was a GT3 DBRS9 running as a GT2 while waiting for delivery of the GT2 Vantage.

No, it was originally designed by Prodrive as GT1, then the CEO or head of development or something...for AM(i don't remember who exactly)decided he wanted to run an AM in the Nurburgring 24, but didn't have the skills to do the GT1 speeds. So they built the N*24, which was built to FIA GT3 specs at the time, now that those specs have evolved slightly, Drayson brought the DBRS9(formerly the N24) to the ALMS while wating for the improvements to come into the chassis for a full on ACO legal GT2 car, which is what we see now.

[Chris24]

I could be wrong but i also believe the Vantage was designed from the word go as a GT2 car. Drayson did indeed run a DBRS9 for the first two races while waiting for the Vantage to arrive. That car was basically a GT3 car running in GT2.  The Vantage has never been a GT1 car. The GT1 car was the DBR9.

Back on subject though, Lord Drayson invited me into the garage at Silverstone last weekend to have a look at the new Lola Coupe, and it looks stunning in the flesh. It has the Union Jack flag design on the rear cockpit area as it slopes back into the rear bodywork. Also has his Drayson green logo on the sides just behind the front wheels.

We asked why he wasn't using the Aston engine in the car (ie like the Speedy Sebarah Lola is using in Europe) and he may have misunderstood our question but the answer that he gave us was that Aston Martin Racing are working on a totally new car for next year and he didn't want his first season racing in the prototype class to be in a car under development, he wanted a car that was already sorted so that he can concentrate on learning how to drive the car rather than developing the car. That is why he selected the Lola Coupe and also he could apply some green technology to it as well.

So in his answer he has let slip that Aston Martin Racing are building a new car  for next year rather than developing the ones they already have.

[gasblendergirl@10]

Excellent work there Sherlock! Looking forward to that if it indeed does happen. God knows I like the Astons! WooHoo....

[BillBones]

It looks like Aston is developing a new P1 for 2011, with a three year program planned.  The factory will not race the current cars next year, but they are available to customers for purchase.

Reportedly the price on one of the factory Lola-Astons is $1.765 Million.

http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/news-focus-2399.html

http://www.amr-teams.co.uk/2009/09/aston-martin-racing-working-on-2011-car.html

Cars for sale at http://www.racingcars24.com/index.php?site=ad_detail&adtitle=10926