Created by Petrolheads, for Petrolheads

I have just nipped into the guys at Quicksilver R&D in Witley who have whipped off the secondary cats and popped on some straight pipe to replace. Just driven the 3 miles home and said hello to a whole new world of awesome sound(s)! Thanks to Ben, Ollie and Paul. I really appreciate you guys – exhaust geniuses!

We stopped off for a quick picture outside The Kennels (the GRRC’s club house) at Goodwood today. Obviously shut currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fingers crossed they will be re-opening sometime in July.

It is sad to see the Alpine A110 go. I had planned to keep her for 3-5 years. An amazing drive! Without doubt the car has deserved all the accolades and awards over the past few years. I’m really pleased I have owned and experienced one, though our time together has been brief. Just unlucky that the market has shifted so much that I find myself in the fortunate position to acquire my dream car. Farewell little Bleu.

So I have found my perfect car (well I say that every time I buy a new one). Welcome to my Vantage V8 AMR special edition. She is 1 of 200 final production cars and celebrations AM’s 2017 Le Man win. This is Astons last naturally aspirated V8 with a manual gear box. It also introduced Aston’s new AMR range to the brand, the ‘R’ stands for racing. My car is in the optional Halo race livery (Stirling Green with Acid Green painted stripe and details throughout) and comes with the optional full carbon pack inside and out, plus carbon bucket seats and a tan, alcantara and leather interior. Output is 440bhp post secondary cat deletion which is happening next. 0-60 time is currently 4.5 secs but with a bit of exhaust work that can be improved.

My car is 2 years old and virtually brand new. Two owners, the first was collector who put just 27 miles on the clock and kept it in storage, the second was a ‘petrolhead’ 90 year old gentleman who just loved cars and wanted something in his garage to clean, sit in and go for the odd drive, he added 1000 miles. On both occasions the car went back to the original AM dealership in Nottingham from where it was originally sold from and where I found it.

There is no way I could have afforded this car unless the supercar market had not taken a down turn over the past 12 months aided by the COVID-19 crises. Right car, right price, probably wrong moment, but fortunate to be able to switch out of the Alpine easily.