Presumably still beaming from his recent AMR V12 Vantage GT3 test on the Nurburgring Grand Prix loop earlier this month, this weekend will see Aston Martin's Nordschleife guru Peter Cate return to that infamous circuit to co pilot the Vantage GT8 in this weekends VLN 6.

Already having won accolades from previous races on the Green Hell circuit himself this year, Cate will drive along side Wolfgang Schuhbauer in the #134 SP8 class car as the car strives to maintain it's own current VLN podium success.

Joining them in the race will again be the #188 SP10 entry from Avia Racing with the  Mathol Racing V8 Vantage GT4. The 40th running of the RCM DMV Grenzlandrennen event shall be over the more usual four hour duration.

Photo credit - AML

Italian squad Solaris Motorsport make a welcome return to the International GT Open Championship at Silverstone this weekend having skipped the last round in Hungary.

Enduring what has quite frankly been a terrible start to their inaugural campaign into the european championship, Solaris have suffered everything that motor racing can throw at them from chassis' being written off through to set up issues and other gremlins prematurely ending any attempt to return to racing ever since their #007 V12 Vantage GT3 was rebuilt from new earlier in the year.

Having elected to sit out the last round in Hungary in favour of extensive testing both at home and abroad, the Italian squad will at least return to Silverstone with some set up data and experience of the circuit having tested their earlier in August. Since then we understand that their orange and black liveried car has found a home at the Prodrive factory ready for this weekend where drivers Francesco Sini and Mauro Calamia hope to put in a late charge as the championship enters its final phase.


"We changed everything on the car, from the smaller things to the bigger ones. We gained a lot of data on track and we had the chance to test many setup solutions, in order to find a good balance for the Aston with these Michelin tyres, having as main goal the best drive feeling possible for Francesco and Mauro." commented Roberto Sini, Solaris Motorsport Team Principal. "We are sure we made important steps forward in performances and I hope we will be able to show it right in Silverstone, the home track of Aston Martin. Both our drivers completed some laps here with the Vantage GT3 and we will have an extra test session before the official start of the weekend on Friday where we can try something else"

This time last year Aston Martin Racing enjoyed probably one of their best racing successes of the 2016 World Endurance Championship season with a double podium in the GTE Pro class, a race that established itself as the catalyst to the #95 securing the GTE Pro titles at the final race of the year thanks mainly to the progress made by Dunlop.

This weekend sees the three full season WEC entries from AMR return to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrguez near Mexico City for the fifth round of the WEC season in a situation similar to where the team found themselves last year completely, dependant upon the series technical officials allowing them to run with a competitive Balance of performance.


Despite the adoption of an automatic, computer interpreted BoP system for the 2017 WEC season, this race will see two GTE Pro cars run with their fifth different BoP setting of the season (Le Mans 24Hr has been included in that although they run with a separate BoP system to that of the WEC). In a break to previous rounds where the Ferrari 488 GTE has been used as a benchmark for the remaining three marques, the BoP adjustment made for Mexico alters each marque slightly differently and includes (for the first time) a reduction in power performance for the Ferrari so Mexico should see some tighter racing than previously seen.

The BIG topic of the race weekend at the moment however is the terrible weather conditions being experienced in Mexico as a whole with torrential storms forcing the closure of Mexico City airport and countless domestic and international flights in and out of the country being diverted or cancelled stranding many who should be, by now at the circuit.

This report from Dailysportscar.com describes the situation.


Other from that, there is no change to the driver line ups in any of the cars with Daniel Serra again bucking the trend and making up as third driver in the #97 car alongside Darren Turner and Jonny Adam.

Weather dependant, track action is scheduled to start tomorrow with the first of the Free Practice sessions before Qualifying on Saturday afternoon before the start of the race at midday on Sunday. For those in the UK, the time difference to Mexico is 6 hours behind BST.


Fingers crossed all works out for the race.

Photo credits - Aston Martin Racing

Sunday’s ‘4 Hours of Le Castellet’ delivered a large dose of frustration for Aston Martin Racing driver Darren Turner and the Beechdean AMR team. Early race pace in Round 4 of the European Le Mans Series signaled the opportunity for a podium finish but a mid-race mishap damaged performance and the #99 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE came home in fifth place.

The team had great pace at Paul Ricard last year, demonstrated by Darren’s pole position qualifying lap. However, with the majority of the competition testing there prior to the race the Beechdean boys were on the back foot in the first free practice session

The fourth round of the European Le Mans Series from the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France yesterday was always going to be a tough one for both of the Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE runners.

Featuring the same 'restrictive' Balance of Performance that hindered them at the previous round of the series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, their starting positions for yesterdays race gave another accurate reflection of how much work the Beechdean AMR and TF Sport cars needed to do during the 4Hours of Le Castellet in order to achieve any decent result.


In a break to the driver running order from last time out Beechdean AMR elected to start with Ross Gunn, then Bronze driver Andrew Howard and Darren Turner before Gunn saw out the final hour or so of the race whilst TF Sport would again start with their Bronze driver Salih Yoluc before alternating between Eaun Hankey and Nicky Thiim respectively.

Under a clear blue sky and searing track temperatures the start of the race would at least appear clean and orderly. Despite starting from the rear of the grid Ross Gunn would see his position elevate courtesy of same great driving to third by the end of lap three and then up to P2 in class by the end of the first fifteen minutes of racing.

Yoluc meanwhile would be spun around by a LMP2 car lapping him causing slight front end damage to his #90 car which would hinder them as the race progressed but at least he did what he could to hang onto the back of the GTE field come the end of his stint.


At the end of Gunn's first stint the disparage in performance between the AMR's and the Ferrari 488's was becoming evident with the #55 Spirit of Race car already 14 seconds up the road to him. The first Full Course Yellow of the race (to recover a stranded car on track) was also the signal point for all, who hadn't already done so, to complete their first full service stop and due to the abrasive nature of the track each AMR would take tyres at each of their stops.

With Howard now in the #99 car, he went out defending what was a ten second advantage over the chasing #66 JMW Ferrari but it soon became evident that all was not well with the blue and white Vantage as was soon passed by the JMW as well as the #51 Ferrari. Hankey meanwhile, had at least recovered their position slightly to have passed the #77 Porsche for fifth and was actively chasing down the #99 for what was now fourth place.

Having endured what must have been his minimum stint time Howard pitted his car to swap to Turner - again the body language of Howard exiting the car portrayed an underlying issue as indeed did Hankey similarly confirm with the series pit lane reporter at the end of his first stint.


By the end of the second pitstop cycle the two AMR's at least found themselves P3 and P4 for the Beechdean and TF Sport car respectively with Nicky Thiim being the faster of the two. The leading #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari was by this time even further ahead of the remaining GTE field so barring any unfortunate eventuality for them it was a case of squabbling over the remaining podium positions for the rest!

With just about 90 minutes of the race time remaining Thiim took Turner for third. Still the #99 car didn't look as stable as the #90 did at the same place at the same time, always appearing to be understeering in and out of the corners. It would only be after Turner's stint that we would learn that frontal damage sustained to the #99 car during Howard's stint was causing the car to 'lift' on the straights with chronic understeer into the corners to boot - "almost undriveable" Turner would add after.

Entering the final hour it appeared to be damage limitation again for Gunn in the Beechdean whilst it was all to race for for Hankey who was by then back in the TF Sport car with his quest being made easier by the then second placed JMW car being awarded a plus 10 second pit stop penalty for a previous pit stop infringement at their final stop. This time some luck going AMR's way!


With just thirty minutes remaining and after having chased Jody Fannin's JMW Ferrari down, Hankey was able to pass the #66 car for second position in the GTE class. Two further, and in quick succession FCY's for yet more stricken LMP3 cars (a class that by then had descended into a bit of a hinderance for the remaining two classes with their constant driver errors) at least accounted for about ten minutes of that time allowing Hankey to take the chequered flag for P2 with a manageable margin to the #66 car.


For TF Sport this was a great result securing three more championship points than their nearest championship rivals (JMW) whilst for Beechdean it was a case of what might have been. Both cars raced for the majority of the race with damage that clearly affected the stability of the car on track and without their front end damage Gunn commented they would have been in a stronger position to race TF Sport for the spoils of the race but ………. thats motor racing for you!

The series now moves onto to Spa Francorchamps for their penultimate round of the season and with all full season GTE entries still having a mathematical chance of lifting the championship there is still everything to race for!

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey / TF Sport / Beechdean AMR

With both Free Practice and Qualifying sessions now over, all eyes move swiftly over to tomorrows race and the start of the fours hours of Le Castellet from the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.

Marking itself as the start of the second half of the 2017 European Le Mans Series season, Aston Martin Racing runners TF Sport and Beechdean AMR will both be looking to do better than what they achieved last time out at the Red Bull Ring, Austria and indeed it appears that tomorrows race will require an equally determined race from the crews of both the #90 and #99 V8 Vantage GTE's to have any chance of adding to their respective seasons points haul.


As we all know, positions within the Free Practice timing charts mean for nothing more than pride as points are only awarded for both class pole position and at the end of the four hours of racing. By the end of this afternoon's ten minute Qualifying period both AMR's were unfortunately left at the foot of the timing chart starting fifth and sixth respectively for the #90 and #99 with a deficit of nearly one second to the pole taking Spirit of Race Ferrari.

Presumably continuing with a BoP that doesn't allow the mighty V8 to shine to its maximum potential (like what happened in Austria), it will again be down to strategy and driving consistency to overcome the speed differential being shown up again between the AMR's and the prevalent Ferrari 488's in Qualifying.


As with any race and like TF Sport demonstrated at the Red Bull Ring, a race isn't over until its over as they sneaked a podium finish late on into that race so both AMR's will be hoping for more of the same for themselves.


On a balance of probability however, it will most likely be the #90 TF Sport car of Salih Yoluc, Euan Hankey and Nicki Thiim who prosper the most out of the two cars purely on the basis of track knowledge with Yoluc and Hankey each already having raced at the circuit this year in the Blancpain GT Series. For Ross Gunn in the Beechdean car, this is his first racing experience of the circuit as he continues up upon his learning curve in the GTE powerhouse alongside team boss Andrew Howard and AMR works driver Darren Turner.

The start of the race begins at 12.00hrs local Sunday.

Let the battle begin!!

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey / TF Sport 

It was great to read this piece from Daliysportscar.com today of Ross Gunn having his driving services promoted to assist the Prodrive supported China Equity Racing team at their next round of the China GT Championship in Shanghai in a few weeks time.

With the China GT Championship permitting GT4's to be entered into their new GTC/GT4 races for the first time this season, China Equity Racing (who's parent company is a major stakeholder within Aston Martin Lagonda) was supposed to have had four cars entered into the previous three rounds but to date has only appeared at both the Official Test and opening two races of the season in Beijing.


Since then, customer team ZEA FIA Racing have been left racing for the AMR marque with some good results admittedly and Gunn's arrival into the Championship will (depending of the competence of his co driver of course) really take the race to the season dominating McLaren 570s and KTM X-Bow's.

We are also aware of another V8 Vantage GT4 being dispatched to China form the Prodrive factory only three weeks ago!

Photo credits - R Gunn / China GT

Trawling through the realms of the internet today, we find that Diecast Legends have available the full range of 2017 Aston Martin Racing GTE cars entered into this years Le Mans 24hr race.

This year joining AMR at Le Mans with their own three, full season WEC entries were of course the Am class entries from both Beechdean AMR and TF Sport.

Full details of availability can be found HERE

TF Sport head to Circuit Paul Ricard this week (25-27 August, 2017) for the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series. With a first, second and third positions in the last three races, the British-based team lead the LMGTE championship with 59 points, six clear of nearest rival JMW Motorsport.

Last time out in Austria, TF Sport secured third place after a fantastic battle for position with Nicki Thiim fending off those behind to take the final step on the podium by 0.3s; a result that very much felt like a race win for the team.

Thiim is again joined by regular teammates Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey for the 4 Heures du Castellet and the team are confident that the circuit should be better suited to their package.

MacMillan Racing's Jack Mitchell has today confirmed his position within the BRDC Rising Stars programme thanks to his racing efforts in British GT and Ginetta Supercup this year.

He joins a long line of AMR drivers to this accolade, some of whom have gone into lofty heights of GTE competition.

Well done Jack - hope to see the BRDC roundall on the Vantage at Donington for the final round of the British GT season in a few weeks time.

Photo credit - Jacob Ebrey

After missing the last round of Blancpain GT Series Asia due to business commitments, James Cai and Kenneth Lim made a successful return to the championship at Fuji in their #69 CMRT Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

A fifth place in the Am-Am class, after accident damage forced an unscheduled pit stop, in the first race of the weekend was followed up by a second in class, Kenneth Lim having led the class for much of his stint in the car.

It took the duo a while to shake off the cobwebs, not having sat in a race car for three months, but by the first race day they were back in the groove and feeling confident. However, contact on the first lap saw Cai having to pit twice to repair the damage and the time lost resulted in a drop to fifth in class.

“With the pace both drivers demonstrated today, I am confident we can be on the podium tomorrow,” was the opinion of Team Manager, Martin Quick.

Indeed, he proved to be correct, with Lim taking second place after a good start and this soon became first when the leading Audi fell by the wayside. After the pit stops had cycled through James Cai emerged in second place which he held to the flag.


Round five of the series will be held at Shanghai on 24 September. “As most of our class competitors have a lot of experience compared to James in particular we know that they will not get much quicker whereas James and Kenneth are improving with every event,” said Quick. “We cannot wait for Shanghai where I am sure we can be closer to a class win.”

Source material - CMRT Eurasia
Photo credits - Blancpain GT Asia

George Miedecke earlier confirmed that he and the Miedecke Stone Motorsport team shall indeed skip next weekends Sydney Motorsport Park's opening round of the Australian Endurance Series.

Despite hoping to compete and defend their 2016 winning achievement it appears that factors unknown have prevented this.

George did however confirm that his father Andrew shall be out racing again in a V8 Vantage GT4 in a few weeks time

Being away from home with the same old issue of intermittent broadband there's just enough time to bring you these updates.

Aston Martin Nordschleife specialist Peter Cate has revealed that he will be taking up large step up the racing ladder this week by testing an AMR V12 Vantage GT3 on the Nurburgring Grand Prix loop later this week.



Having made his mark competing on the Nordschleife for over fourteen years, Cate has spent the last seven racing principally for Aston Martin Lagonda principally and their Test Centre squad in the SP8 class in both the ADAC N24 and VLN Series races.





This year Cate joined up with AMR works drivers Darren Turner and Nicki Thiim together with R Motorsport's  Markus Lungstrass to win the SP8 class and finish P22 overall in the 'one of a kind' AML Vantage GT8.


At the moment we understand that this is a simple 'no strings attached' test but will be his first experience of a GT3 platform.


Photo credits - AMR / Cate

It appears that those in Copenhagen this weekend had a right feast of motor sport activity at their annual Historic Grand Prix event.

Including racing and displays from a whole range of race cars and series of various ages, it appears that they were also given a spectacle of everything old and new from Aston Martin Racing including the form of the older Young Driver AMR DB9 and the newer AMR Vantage Pro and Rapide with various things in between.



With not only Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen being on hand, they were also joined by Jan Struve and Jac Nellemann from Young Driver AMR (amongst others) to put on a display including a run in the YD AMR 2016 WEC GTE Pro winning car (or on every much like it). Danish squad, Massive Motorsport were also there but only in the Danish Touring Car running guise.


Thanks for all who posted photos and video of the event on-line

Photo credits - Social Media / Copenhagen Historic GP

Dual SRO Series duo Matt Nichol-Jones and Will Moore finally hooked it together this afternoon to claim pole position in the GT4 class for tomorrows penultimate round of the 2017 British GT Championship from Brands Hatch.

With all the teams facing some really tricky track conditions today with sometimes very heavy rain showers between sessions (and importantly just before GT Qualifying itself) the crew of the #62 car carried calm heads to claim their first class pole of the season by over a tenth from the second placed #100 McLaren 570S in the incredible strong 18 car entry.


Further to the front go of the grid, top honours in the GT3 field again went to the #24 MacMillan Racing Vantage of Jack Mitchell and James Littlejohn who finished second to the 'absolutely flying' championship leading Lamborghini of Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw.

Just behind them was the #11 TF Sport entered V12 Vantage of Jon Barnes and Mark Farmer, who at one point this morning had to get their car dug out of the gravel at Paddock Hill bend following a 'miscalculation' on Farmer's part during Free Practice.


The remaining full season entered GT3 of Jonny Adam and Dereck Johnston finished their Qualifying in P7 whilst the remaining GT4 entry of Jan Jonck and Will Phillips finished mid table in P10. The one off entry from Ultimate Speed Racing struggled for pace throughout the day to finish at the rear of the GT3 grid some seconds off the time of the car in front.

Tomorrows two hour race starts 14 14:10hours and should the weather be anything like it has been today it would be a brave person who would predict the podium in either class.

Photo credits - Jacob Ebrey

Thanks to the kind people at Prodrive we will be offering two of these Aston Martin Racing commemorative posters as prizes to two lucky 'winners' from a simple Twitter competition that we shall be setting up in the next few weeks.

Designed to rejoice in the teams GTE Pro class win for the #97 Vantage at Le Mans this year, this Jonny Adam signed poster is truly a special 'money cannot buy' item for any discerning AMR fan.

We will give you all plenty of warning so no need to worry about being away on holiday!!

From the outset of the 2017 Australian GT season we have known that the New South Wales based Miedecke Stone Motorsport team would only be scheduled to compete in their 'local' race of the Australian Endurance Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Twelve months ago the father and son duo won (quite deservedly) the Sydney101 race with their yellow, white and black #95 Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 and with the 2017 round just two weeks away we are still awaiting confirmation of the teams entry.

We did see several weeks ago that George Miedecke had suffered a painful looking ankle injury that would at least delay his training programme leading into the race but for the last 4-6 weeks information flow from the team has been somewhat limit.


We are also keen to learn from Miedecke Stone of more news associated with the influx of AMR Vantage GT3 and GT4 platforms into Australia for their blossoming national GT racing calendar. We saw just a few weeks ago of the Australian GT organisers agreeing with the SRO to allow SRO homologated GT4 platforms to race within the main GT events rather than the Trophy races at present.


We are already aware of MSM importing a number of AMR V8 Vantage GT4's into the country as well as increasing the number of AMR V12 Vantage GT3's to five cars so as a Full Partner AMR team, MSM are heavily involved with the promotion of the AMR marque.

We will ave to wait and see what happens…………!!

Photo credits - MSM