Retro Review: Fast Family — Car Magazine, 1984.

CAR Magazine pits the Ferrari Boxer, Porsche 911 3.0 Turbo, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, and Lamborghini Countach against one another for a stunning road test circa 1984.

And so it begins:

“Road cars come no fast than these; together they amount to an astounding £185,000 and 1500bhp. For this test we took them to racing circuits and to Britain’s most challenging back-roads; we blasted them down motorways and hacked them in the city. And found, above all else, that unless you drive these cars together, you know very little about any of them…”

(click through each for a very readable 3312x2288 pixel version)

– scans via flickr

Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 swaggers onto the scene.

The new V12 Vantage GT3 is set to take the endurance racing reigns from the its big brother DBRS9.

Built upon racing fortified VH architecture and packing a 600bhp V12, the Vantage GT3 will be eligible to compete in the FIA GT3 Championship, ADAC Masters, Nürburgring VLN, Blancpain Endurance Series, British GT, Belcar and Open GT, among others.

Look for the new car to make its debut in during the 2012 racing season.

– via Aston Martin

Mandatory reblog.

theautoinsider:

DBS: cars that make you go whoa.

Reading the DB’s reflections gives a pretty damn good impression of what the designers were after. Pure genius.

Image via: Mike Crawat Photography

Aston Martin Racing AMR-One #007 V12.