Aston Martin Rally GT

Pay attention Bond! Here's an Aston Martin that's packed full of gadgets. However, 007 probably wouldn't be interested. This is the British firm's Rally GT competition model, which is based on the V8 Vantage road car.

It's the work of Aston Martin Racing and competition experts at Prodrive, who run Aston's DBR9 track racers. And if you think a rally version of an £80,000 coupé is too far-fetched, you would be wrong. The new GT has already completed three events in the French nat­ional rally championship.

The car is equipped with a standard chassis complete with full rollcage and a tweaked version of the 4.3-litre V8, producing 420bhp. Uprated suspension is also fitted, while customers can choose between the standard transmission and a close-ratio six-speed racing manual gearbox.

It joins the V8 Vantage N24 - a road-legal racer created to celebrate Aston's participation in this year's Nürburg­ring 24 Hours - in the firm's line-up of competition models. The Rally GT will be available in limited numbers by the end of the year, in time for the start of 2007's rally calendar.