The AMR Pro is one wild farewell party for the Aston Martin Vantage

Think back to a time before the iPhone existed. A time when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. A time when the E46 M3 was still available brand new from BMW dealerships. And quadruple F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were still in Formula Three. That time was 2005. And it's a dim and distant epoch into which the Aston Martin Vantage was born. What I'm trying to say is it's quite an old car. I mean there are newer Morgans out there, for crying out loud. Despite being an old car, it is still a very, very good car. It might not have all the latest modern gizmos. But that's actually a very good thing. I mean, what more do you need? We've got a fantastic, naturally aspirated V8 up front driving the rear wheels, manual gearbox in this car. The sound's absolutely glorious. We've got beautiful hydraulic and power system steering that just wakes up and tells you everything that's going Hang on with the front wheels. And of course you've got the lifts, which look as fresh as the day they left the sketch pad. In short, I just adore driving [UNKNOWN] I mean, yes the ride might be a little bit firm, but the [INAUDIBLE] mean that you know exactly where the car is all the time and that's what you want. No it's not the fastest car out there these days but it's fast enough. [MUSIC] It's just a lovely, lovely road car. This particular car is the, and I use the word advisedly, new Vantage AMR. This is sort of the last hurrah before the all new Mercedes engine Vantage arrives. They are going to build just 200 V8 AMRs, and 100 V12s. The V12 gets a little more power, but the V8 remains standard at 438 horsepower. The purpose of the AMR brand is to draw closer links between the road cars and the company's very successful race cars. It's especially pertinent in this case, as it was advantage GTE car wearing identical shades of sterling and lime green That won the World Endurance Championship in 2016 under the guidance of ProDrive. There are red, white, and blue enameled badges as well, just to remind you this is about as British as the [UNKNOWN] countryside that we're driving through. The AMR really does It does look very lovely. The trouble is though, underneath its fancy skin its just [INAUDIBLE] We feel that saying goodbye to a car [INAUDIBLE] wonderful advantage is given us. So many years of terrific motoring. There should be more. So we [UNKNOWN] this one. [MUSIC] This is the wild V8 Vantage AMR Pro, it's cherry picked parts from racing road cars nd blended together into intriguing and very desirable package. The engine and transmission are essentially from a GT4 racecar The V8 Aston is referring to is plus, plus spec. Thanks to a lot more carbon fiber under the bonnet helping get air into the 4.7 liter engine. The outputs of 509 race horse power and 415 pounds per torque, delivering those to the rear wheels is a pedal operated seven speed single clutch sport shift box. Straight line performance is brisk but not bombastic, with 0 to 60 miles an hour taking 4 seconds dead. Top speed of course depends on how you adjust that huge rear wing, but if you've got a long enough straight then you should see 186 miles an hour. [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] We've had every [UNKNOWN] weather today. It was wet this morning which it made it very tricky [UNKNOWN] knowing the car. But. [NOISE] Now he's [UNKNOWN]. What a car. It still feels like a [INAUDIBLE] racecars underneath here. [INAUDIBLE] As well. [INAUDIBLE] [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] Somebody needs to do a bit of calibration with the gear box apparently so [INAUDIBLE] perhaps it's Driving is quite special. The objects. [BLANK_AUDIO] While the drive train is from the GT4 race car. The suspension and largely carbon fiber bodywork step things up another level. They're essentially taken straight from the whack GTE race car with a few bits from the extreme GTA road car. [MUSIC] Just set an examples of the gorgeously aggressively ground hugging AMR Pro will be produced at an eye watering 950,000 pounds each, plus any local taxes. I actually drove this car before the very kind owner had properly put his hands on it. I also didn't know the price of the car when I drove it And I'm not sure I would've discarded the traction control so readily if I had. [SOUND] Still. It's nicely running now. [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] A Michelin top tier tire on [UNKNOWN] [INAUDIBLE] [UNKNOWN] you can feel it just pushing at the front end [car engine racing] [BLANK_AUDIO] [UNKNOWN] The volume's something which is really quite intimidating. This is still a virgin jumping in. These quick corners here you can feel the arrow helping you. [BLANK_AUDIO] [INAUDIBLE] What a day. This is the loudest thing here today. [SOUND] [INAUDIBLE] Just enjoy it for a moment the incredible sound thundering from [INAUDIBLE], the age of [INAUDIBLE] electric motors is coming. Then we should revel in something like this while it is still permitted. The AMR Pro actually felt lovely on the handful of slow laps that I did when driving for the cameras or cooling down on the way back into the pits. It wasn't awkward or aloof as some racecars feel but tactile and approachable like the best road cars In fact the Lotus' soul is a track only model, I rather hope somebody finds a way to stick some number plates on one. [SOUND] [BLANK_AUDIO] This is a really really really cool piece of kit. [LAUGH] It seems It seems sort of odd at first and you know everything underneath it. It's a proper race car under here with the engine, the road joints, the suspension and the proper arrow. And you get in here and you're like this is very road car, it's very much like the AMR that we drove and you drive it. It's strange because it sounds like a racecar and it feels so much more agile and sort of quick to turn in, and yet then when you turn everything off. Actually it's still just as faithful as a road car to drive over the limit, and it is on a road tire as well so that sort of adds to that feel of progression i suppose. [SOUND] What a way to goodbye to the Vantage. This is, yeah, this is proper. [LAUGH] [MUSIC]