Aston Martin V12 Vantage

Following on from the mighty Vantage N24, Aston Martin will be stepping up a gear at this year's Nurburgring 24hr race with this racing version of the new V12 Vantage road car. Amazingly, Aston's engineers haven't had to do much to adapt the limited edition model to the track – it uses the same 510bhp 6.0-litre V12 engine with no modifications!

Even the changes that have been made are relatively small with the usual array of safety equipment (such as a roll cage and fire extinguishers), a stripped-out cabin to reduce weight and updated suspension. Pirelli P Zero Circuit Racing slick tyres complete the upgrades. Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez will continue to share some of the driving too. The race is seen by the firm as the final engineering durability test for the V12 Vantage programme.