As for Vantage GT3 Chassis No 33’s history, headline-grabbing achievement is fairly thin on the ground. In 2015 it was a factory car but didn’t find any notable success. In 2016 it was turned to more local events in the hands of a privateer. Post-refresh in the winter months, the current owner picked it up concluding his search for a front-engined GT3 car.
“Did you look at the Corvette?” we asked. “It was an aesthetic decision to go with this” he replied.
When we floated the notion of this being the last 12-banger in motorsport, the owner seemed unfazed: “I actually was not aware of that”.
It dawned that we were getting a little dewy-eyed over something that is in effect a tool with a purpose. If something about it hinders it from doing its job (winning!), then that thing needs to be updated or changed to meet the competition. Whether it’s the adoption of hybrid drive, turbocharging, moving the engine behind the cabin or chopping out your big heavy 12-cylinders for a lighter tauter eight or six-pack, that’s par for the course. It’s why the current Ford GT has a twin-turbo six and an EcoBoost badge and why the fastest Porsche round Le Mans to date has four cylinders, a bank of batteries and some electric motors. So when this V12 GT3 is confined to the history books and the new car takes over, it’s not without reason. Progress waits for no man and she is relentless, if not without cause.
It’s times like this you realise these cars dating back less than five years are still relevant in the context of events like the Classic 24. It’s history in the making, unless the missions against emissions take a U-turn and are called off. We hope with every last bone in our bodies for that to be the case but we aren’t holding our breaths. In the meantime, a hearty salute to the unwitting Aston that carried the V12 beacon long after no one else would. Now we’re going to stop waffling, go out and listen to it…
Photography by Chuck Andersen