Remember the black and yellow Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 that raced in VLN, British GT and the Blancpain GT Series and was fondly known as Bumblebee?

That was the car that Paul Wilson raced with Stuart Leonard (and others) as these two accomplished Caterham drivers moved up (very successfully) to after their transition from the National club sport scene and into mainstream European GT racing during 2014 and 2015.


We make no apologies for replugging this offer currently being listed on Ebay by Gary Parravani of Xynamic Motorsport photography fame as he seeks to raise funds for the Daisy's Dream charity that helped Paul's young family after his untimely loss to cancer in 2017

Gary is offering literally a 'once in a lifetime offer' to bid for a A2 sized calendar that he has created for 2020 and has made available to Paul's family to raise critical funds for this deserved bereavement support. Further information can be found her at https://www.daisysdream.org.uk.

Only two of these calendars exist - the other will undoubtedly be on the wall of Gary's office!!


Bidding is progressing but as with every deserving charity - every penny counts. It would make for a cracking Christmas present for any discerning motorsport fan as shots of this size normally retail at over £20 each so this is a bit of a bargain!!

Further details on the current bid value can be found HERE

Photo credits - Xynamic / Blancpain

It was deeply upsetting to read reports in Dailysportscar.com today of the untimely passing of Aston Martin racing driver Paul Wilson after a gruelling battle against cancer. He was just 41.

Already being an accomplished Caterham driver both he and fellow Caterham driver Paul Leonard made a bold step up the racing ladder back in 2013 when they entered a Fortec prepared Mercedes SLS into the VLN series. The next year they were to swap to the Aston Martin Racing V12 Vantage GT3 with the help and assistance of the Aston Martin Test Centre.


Racing the black and yellow and affectionately named Bumblebee car for  next two years in series like the VLN, Blancpain Endurance, British GT as well as the Spa and Nurburgring 24 along side driver like Michael Meadow, Tom Onslow-Cole and Jonny Adam, Wilson and Leonard both looked like racers on the up.

It's been nearly a year to the day since we last 'spoke' with Paul via social media after it was apparent his health had forced him to miss the ADAC Zurich N24, optimistic that the cancer had been removed following a major operation.


Paul was of course not just a racing driver but a husband and a father. Our thoughts and sympathies are with them at this difficult time.

Photo credits - Leonard AMR / Blancpain / social media

Three Aston Martin V12 Vantages are now confirmed for the final round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring next weekend.

Full season entries Oman Racing and Leonard Motorsport return with their #44 and #32 cars respectively. As previously reported its all change in the Pro Cup Oman Racing car with Rory Butcher and Stefan Mucke now co-piloting the blue and white car with regular Ahmad Al Harthy. The car will however only be racing for pride having endured a torrid season of poor or non finishes prior to this race.


In the #32 Pro Am car Paul Wilson returns to the car having had to miss the last round at Spa due to the impending birth of  the latest Wilson Junior! Whilst Tom Onslow-Cole did a superb job at the 24H in his place normal service will now resume alongside Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows whilst they defend their runners up position in the series.

Newcomers TF Sport have recently announced an entry into Pro Am for their latest customer driver line up of Euan Hankey, SalihYoluk and Bradley Ellis. Whilst Hankey and Yoluk competed with great success last weekend in the International GT Open series, this race will be another step up the steep learning curve for them and the GT3 inexperienced Ellis who joins them for the first time.


Photo credits - GT Open / BES

Assuming that all the teams manage to get through Operation Stack that is currently in force on the M20 because of the ongoing problems at Calais, there will be a couple of additions and omissions for the 2Hr British GT race at Spa on Saturday.

Seeing that the British GT race is only a couple of weeks prior to the Spa24 a couple of Aston Martin teams have entered this weekends event as practice event.


In a positive light Leonard Motorsport have entered their black and yellow 'Bumblebee' Vantage GT3 car with Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows at the wheel and also joining them will be the Aston Martin Brussels GT3 car of Michael Schmetz and Tim Verbergt.

22GT Racing are due to be at Spa after having to rebuild the front end of their GT3 Vantage after its heavy, race winning impact at Silverstone. TF Sport also had work to do over the summer break also having to rebuild a car after accident damage at Silverstone together with engine issues in its sister car.


On the flip side Chloe and Jade Edwards' V8 Vantage GT4 continues to be absent from the series and this week they are joined by the Quantamatic GT4 car of Terry Langley and Mike Hart missing the event for what is being described as 'unforeseen circumstances'. Despite their 'eventful' start to their inaugural season the Leicestershire pairing are presently fourth in the drivers championship and second in the GT4 Silver Cup so will presumably be working hard to secure their series return.


Photo Credits - Aston Martin Brussels / Leonard Motorsport / Richard Leach

Having gone through the practice and pre qualifying preliminaries today both Leonard Motorsport's and Oman Racing's V12 Vantage GT3's are looking more racy than they were at the same points at the last round in Monza.

The #32 Pro-Am Leonard car of Paul Wilson, Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows improved throughout the day starting with a 2:03:55 to finish P9 out of 42 in the Bronze Test through Practice and into Pre Qualifying to finish the day in P6 out of 61 entries with a 2:01:766.


Over in the Pro Cup class the #44 Oman Racing car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Daniel Lloyd and Jonny Adam started their day with a 2:03:048 and P11 in Free Practice and ended the day with a 2:02:263 and P15 in Pre Qualifying.

At the same point of the Monza meeting both teams were languishing back in P33 and P45 respectively.

Tomorrow will see the three fifteen minute qualifying sessions start at 09.00Hrs (local) with the three hour main race starting at 14.45Hrs (local).

Live streaming from Blancpain can be found here

Photo Credits - Blancpain

This weekend sees the Blancpain Endurance Series have its opening round of the 2015 season at the Autodromo Nazionale in Monza, Italy with a mouthwatering 60 car grid.

Unfortunately, the 2015 season will again see just two Aston Martin Vantages at the opening event with Oman Racing Team returning with their #44 car again (entered into the Pro Cup), joined this year by last years VLN wizards Leonard Motorsport, who's #32 car will be competing in the Pro-Am Cup.

Having just competed in the opening round of the British GT championship only this Monday the Oman Racing Team (Motorbase) have had their work cut out (along with a few other BGT entries with a similar racing calendar) to get the car and crew cleared out from Oulton Park and shipped down to the track in time for this weekend's technical preliminaries.

 The #44 Oman Racing team will also be fielding to changed driver line to last years entry with Ahmad Al Harthy being partnered this time by his current BGT driving partner and Aston Martin Evolution Academy driver Daniel Lloyd and Aston Martin Racing/Beechdean driver Jonny Adam.


All three drivers have prior racing experience of the Blancpain series and in an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3. The team are also hoping to enter their other V12 Vantage into the series as and when suitable funded drivers can be signed.

The #32 car of Leonard Motorsport have for 2015 swapped from VLN events at the Nordschleife to full season BES entry. Joining former Caterham drivers Paul Wilson and team boss Stuart Leonard will be Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Michael Meadows again.



The trio have raced together before in the BES in 2014 in the teams black and yellow "Bumblebee' Vantage but only at selected events at Spa and Silverstone. This will obviously be a step up for them this year.

Photo Credits - Leonard Motorsport - 

Despite the plethora of Aston Martin V12 Vantages completing in the Blancpain Endurance Series last season it now appears that we are down to just two full season Aston Martin entries for 2015.

With all the teams having converged onto Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France for the mandatory test/balance of power test it was confirmed that just the #32 car of Leonard Motorsport and the #44 car of the Oman Racing Team (Motorbase) have entered the Endurance and non in the Sprint Series.

Leonard Motorsport announced their driver line up of Stuart Leonard, Paul Wilson and Michael Meadows some weeks ago and having worked together in the BES events they entered last year will be hoping for good results in the Pro-Am Cup.


Having also tested at the Aston Martin Racing weekend in Monteblanco, Spain Oman Racing are also at the BES test fielding their blue and white liveried V12 Vantage.



Whilst the driver line up has officially been announced for that car yet (but assuming it was Ahmed Al Harthy and Daniel Lloyd as per the British GT announcement) their pace wasn't too shabby! At the end of Free Practice 1 this morning the #44 was being listed second fastest behind Reiter Lamborghini. The team do have a second Vantage available for a Blancpain full season entry if suitable drivers can be found.

This week has seen the first steps of many Aston Martin teams preparing for their 2015 season - some embarking on a journey into the unknown and some returning to pastures covered previously hoping to improve on past performances.



TF Sport were first out of the garage door on Tuesday morning at chilly Snetterton running a simple systems check on both of their V12 Vantages entered into the British GT. Jody Fannin was at hand to put just a few miles  onto the car he shares with Andrew Jarman together with Derek Johnston with his and Matt Bell's car in readiness for the Aston Martin Racing's (and partner teams) test weekend at Monteblanco, Spain next weekend.

In the orange and black car we understand that this will be crewed by two drivers returning to the team  - but who will they be and in which series will they race?

As yet nothing is known about the third Vantage.

Thursday it was back to a biblically wet Snetterton and with 'soggy bottoms' it was the turn of British GT returnees Beechdean Motorsport to try and strut their stuff!. A British GT entry for team owner Andrew Howard (now sporting a proper 'man beard' for the season alongside stalwart Jonny Adam were announced some weeks ago for their #007 V12 Vantage GT3 but nothing has yet been confirmed regarding their GT4 car nor indeed their proposed second GT3.

There were a few other drivers there testing the V8 Vantage GT4 alongside its bigger brother but we have been asked not to identify these people in the short term. Hopefully, all will be revealed by the end of next week.


Unfortunately the weather was to severely restrict their running in preparation for their test weekend along side the works and other partner teams in Spain next weekend.



Also alongside Beeechdean was the return to the circuit of TF Sport for the second time in the week. This time it was with their as yet unassigned V8 Vantage GT4 which now appears that it will be  entered into the GT Sup series alongside its two other stablemates with a single driver.



Finally we move to today, Friday 27th February and a whole plethora of Vantages testing at a gloriously sunny Silverstone circuit. Testing there today were  British GT returnees 22GT Racing with Jon Barnes and Mark Farmer in their V12 Vantage GT3 together with their V8 Vantage GT4 entered into selected GT4 Cup and Britcar rounds with father and son Chris and Mika Brown.

Alongside them were full season Blancpain entrants Leonard Motorsport with their V12 Vantage GT3 nicknamed 'Bumblebee' out for a shakedown test with Paul Wilson and Michael Meadows together with the Quantamatic liveried Vantage GT4 of another set of British GT newcomers in Mike Hart and Terry Langley with Team Parker Racing.


A gearbox sensor issue would see their day cut short  after just seven laps with the team having to return the car to Prodrive to effect repairs. The team are due out again at Oulton Park next week.

Taking breathe to continue the above cars were also accompanied by a further two ex GT4 Challenge V8 Vantage GT4's belonging of Vantage Racing with Tom Black and another with Chris Kemp under the guidance of Gulf Racing's Stuart Hall.

We will hopefully update this report with pictures from each event as and when available.

Photo credits - Richard Leach / team and driver social media

As we come out of the winter doldrums here in Blighty,  the next few weeks should start to brighten our days and give us all a good taster of what's coming up from an international, european and national racing perspective.

For the Aston Martin Racing stable that journey literally starts with what is considered to be their now annual pilgrimage to southern Europe for their works and customer teams (with other invited guests) to this years choice of the Monteblanco circuit, southern Spain for the weekend of the 7/8th March.

It is expected that many of their full season WEC entry drivers will be at the event gaining valuable track time, particularly the 'as yet unannounced' drivers for both the Gulf Racing and Rees/MacDowall cars whose identities should be announced any time between now and the end of the month. Alongside the works team it also the custom to invite their customer teams such as Beechdean, TF Sport, Strata21 and Motorbase, etc along so that they can test with their own GT3 and GT4 cars under the full technical guidance of the factory. We are expecting most of the British GT/Blancpain series entered teams will attend.

This event sadly normally takes place only behind closed doors with only small pieces of information being allowed to flow out on social media - so we may have to wait a bit longer to find anything out!


Next up, and just a few days later will be the official test days for the Blancpain Endurance Series over the 11/12th March at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France.

It may be the case that a few teams taking part in this test will also have been in Spain for the private AMR test. Whilst only Leonard Motorsport have confirmed their full BES season entry it is understood that they will be joined by at least three other cars from the AMR stable including driver placements for those taking part under the new driver Evolution Academy.

Further information regarding the test, together with information regarding free admission can be found here


Following that,  next up will be Media Day (and official test) for the British GT series at Brand Hatch on Wednesday 25th March. In the absence of any confirmed information it is expected that all named series AMR entries shall be at the Kent circuit with is also allowing free public admission to the event.

Again, it is still expected that there shall be at least another two to three (possibly more) Aston Martin entries announced prior to this date. Particular reference is made towards Motorbase, who have to date not announced any 2015 participation.



Finally, at the end of the month it will be the turn of the 'big boys' to officially test with the European Le Mans Series testing at Paul Ricard on the 23/24th March followed by the FIAWEC 'Prologue' (Official Test) at the same circuit on the 28th March.


Whilst further information on the WEC event and free trackside admission can be found here the  ELMS test is unfortunately a closed event.

If all of this isn't enough then you'll obviously need to include all the other private testing that many of these teams shall be doing over the coming weeks all in readiness for the 2015 racing season that effectively starts in April.

Don't forget to breathe as the season is only about to begin ……………….!!

Aston Martin Racing partner team Leonard Motorsport AMR has entered the 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series with its V12 Vantage GT3 and all-British line-up Stuart Leonard, Paul Wilson and Michael Meadows.

The team, which entered three of the championship’s events in 2014, will contest the entire 2015 season with its sights set on the Pro-Am class honours.

2014 was the first season of GT3 racing for the Race Logic VBOX-sponsored team, but it took no time in making its mark in Blancpain Endurance Series. In the Nürburgring round, which was characteristically marred by rain, the team narrowly missed out on a podium spot and it ran as high as fifth in class at the Total 24 Hours of Spa, the team’s first long-distance endurance race.



The Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 has had strong results in Blancpain GT Series events including an overall win at Silverstone in 2013 and a second place finish at Baku in 2014.

The team, which welcomes Brookland Speed - Avalux Ltd as a new commercial partner for the upcoming season, will contest the centre-piece of the championship, the Total 24 Hours of Spa, alongside an Aston Martin Racing works driver to be confirmed nearer the time.

Stuart Leonard: “Leonard Motorsport is very excited to be back in what we see as the best GT racing series in the world. The quality of drivers and teams is unrivalled and, as competitive drivers, that’s where we want measure ourselves; against the best. We have learned a lot in our collective first season of GT3 racing and we look forward in taking that knowledge into a campaign where we hope we can challenge for Pro-Am class honours.”

Michael Meadows: “We made significant progress throughout last year. With the V12 Vantage GT3 we have a good package that will be competitive. The aim is obviously to go and win some races, something I feel is certainly achievable. The team has come together well over the winter, and we want to use our experience from the events last year to give ourselves the best chance. Personally, the highlight will be competing in Total 24 Hours of Spa again, and although we showed well last year, this year a podium has to be the target.”

Source - Aston Martin Racing
Photo Credit - Blancpain / Leonard Motorsport

Having had a brief sabbatical from the VLN series Leonard Motorsport's Stuart Leonard and Paul Wilson returned to the Nordschleife on Saturday for VLN 9 and their first competitive run since the Spa 24Hr.

Having qualified their #32 V12 Vantage GT3 in P10 in their SP9 class the British duo were able to bring home their car P5 in class and P6 overall and on the lead lap against the race winning Rowe Racing Mercedes SLS.

With the race preparation 'pleasantries' having already taken place yesterday in the town centre of Spa Francorchamps with the now customary GT car entries driving from the circuit and into town together with the driver briefing in the local theatre followed by the public presentation in the town square, the gloves have now come off as all attention now focuses on the race event itself.



With both practice and qualifying taking place over Thursday evening and into the night all five Aston Martin Customer Teams were jockeying for position, aiming for that top 20 shoot out that would ultimately decide pole position for the race. With MP Motorsport and Beechdean noting the quickest times in Free Practice and Pre Qualifying Practice respectively earlier today friendly rivalry was already being expressed between their fellow Pro and Am drivers before the evenings qualifying. Important grid positions and driver bragging rights were at stake in the Aston Martin garage.

Starting the whole qualification process in the early evening would be Pedro Lamy (Leonard Motorsport), Stefan Mucke (Beechdean), Onslow-Cole (PGF Kinfaun), Darren Turner (MP Motorsport) and Michael Caine (Oman Racing) but obviously all drivers would have to enter timed laps at some point during the day and again in the night proceedings. The twenty minute Super Pole shoot out will be held tomorrow (Friday).



With all drivers having completed their mandatory laps all that was to be determined was whether or not any would qualify in the top 20.

Driver line ups:-

#32 Leonard Motorsport Pro-Am

#96 PGF-Kinfaun Pro-Am

John Gaw
Phil Dryburgh
Tom Onslow-Cole
Paul White

#38 MP Motorsport Pro-Am

Mark Poole
Richard Abra
Joe Osbourne
Darren Turner

#44 Oman Racing Team Pro

Ahmad Al Harthy
Michael Caine
Stephen Jelley

Live Race stream http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live

Live timing http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live#live-timing

Photo Credits - Leonard Motorsport / Aston Martin racing / Blancpain