The Aston Martin GT8 was quick enough to compete with some of the faster GT3 cars | This past weekend marked the 12th year the British Aston Martin Racing Team contested the ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24-hours race (which for obvious reasons from here forward will refer to as N24), and they returned with a score to settle.In 2016, the Aston Martin Vantage GT8 led the SP8 class for much the event before an unfortunate incident ended their hopes of victory. “The GT8 performed very well at last year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours,” according to David King, President of Aston Martin Racing. “Ultimately the car crashed out in challenging conditions but it was leading its class and running like clockwork at the time so I have high expectations of a top result this time out.” First run in 1970 as a Touring Car event, the race utilizes the entire Nürburgring circuit, not just the Nordshielfe, but the Grand Prix circuit as well, making for a monstrous 15.53 mile circuit – enough to start over two hundred cars. The model chosen by Aston Martin for the 2017 N24 is the 150-unit limited edition Aston Martin Vantage GT8, which originated as a car equally at home on the road as on the track. As it carries the production 4.7L V8 engine, gearbox, and electronics, the GT8 doesn’t compete with the full-race GT3 Audis and BMWs that race in the WEC (SP9), but rather in the SP8 class for less-modified cars. 
Awaiting the start - 100s of hours of work just to get to this point - then the green flag drops | In fact, allowable changes are pretty much limited to safety (seat, roll cage, fire system, fuel cell), some limited aerodynamic aids and very little work on the engine. For example, from the throttle body back the intake needs to remain stock.One component the production-based Aston Martin GT8 shares with the full-race WEC GTE are that both rely upon K&N air filters for their intake systems to draw in as much air as possible. Piloting the GT8 for the 2017 N24 were Aston Martin FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Darren Turner and Nicki Thiim, along with Aston Martin N24 regular Peter Cate and Markus Lungstrass, who drove alongside Darren Turner earlier this year at the Bathurst 12 Hours in the very same car. The Aston Martin team qualified second in class, after running quickly in the qualifying race. No matter to driver Darren Turner who said, “I’m happy with that. We were actually a bit quicker during the qualifying race weekend, but the ambient temperature was a lot lower then, so an 8 minute 59 second is an okay lap and we are P2 on the grid – which is where we wanted to be.” 
The team finished 21st overall, first in class - quite an accomplishment for a near-stock car | As the race unfolded the Aston Martin GT8, despite being a less-sophisticated race car than the front-running GT3 cars, was battling among them from nighttime onwards.Lead driver Darren Turner tasked with bringing home the close-to-production Vantage GT8, needed all his experience and skill in the final stint to navigate a dramatic late storm that drowned a third of the 15.53 mile N24 circuit in water, which was a real threat to erase the team’s efforts throughout the race. In the end, David King and Turner together decided that Darren should stay out and bring the car home safely first in class and 21st overall, rather than pit and risk track position. Turner said afterwards, “when you have heavy rain here, it might only fall on a third of the track. So you really want to wait until it looks like everything is going to get wet before changing tires”. Lead driver Darren Turner summed it up nicely, “It’s great to have won here at the Nordschleife. You are constantly fighting the circuit and the elements here rather than the competition. This is a hard track, in what is effectively a production car, and to survive that is testament to the build and quality of the Vantage GT8.” |
