Things are heating up for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Not only will returning champions Audi have to watch over its spoiler for its diesel rival Peugeot, but now the TDI champs will have to duke it out with Aston Martin as well. As we reported earlier, Prodrive is dangling its feet in the waters of the highly-competitive LMP1 class to fight for overall victory in the famous endurance race, in addition to fielding Astons for the first time all the sportscar classes including GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4.

This past Saturday and Tuesday, the Aston DBR9-powered Lola B08/60 went out for its first laps as Jan Charouz, the gentleman racer at the head of Charouz Racing, drove the Lola-Aston around Prodrive’s test track outside of Warwick, England. The Prodrive-backed Lola will run alongside a second Judd-powered Lola, giving us two more reasons to look forward to this year’s race.

[Source: AutoBlog]

It was less than entertaining to watch the Corvettes race themselves in the GT1 class year, void of any competition from the Aston Martin teams that left the series to race exclusively in Europe. It was a shame, since the GT1 class has always been one of the best to watch. Despite Corvette’s dominance over the past several years, they’ve always had great competition from the Vipers, Saleens, Maseratis, Ferraris, and Aston Martins. In 2006, the last time they faced competition from another team, Corvette Racing just barely captured the manufacturer’s championship in the last race of the season at Laguna Seca.

This week, just in time for the initial testing sessions for the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the ALMS announced the return of the Aston Martin DBR9 to the GT1 class thanks to Florida-based Bell Motorsports. Team principal Jim Bell has been involved with ALMS since it inception, and even raced against the Corvettes in 2005 with the ACEMCO Saleen S7R. Other details about the team will be announced at a later date, including the driver lineup, but we should know the full details by the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March.

[Source: AutoBlog]

In our day-to-day, we come across a fair number of replicars. Some are especially convincing, while others are just plain bonkers. Far more so than the Miata-based AMX07 we brought you back in 2006, this Aston Martin V12 Vanquish replica could have had us fooled.

Made by Ontario, Canada-based Exclusive Motor Cars, this Aston replica is based on a previous-gen Ford Mustang. Ten companies are then involved in the transformation — stretching the wheelbase, widening the track and lowering the ride height with suspension mods; crafting, painting and fitting the 34 composite body panels; custom upholstering the interior and fitting interior trim pieces; and mounting all the extra details from the headlights to the badges.

The end result, at least as far as we can tell from the pictures (you can judge for yourself in the gallery below), would appear to fool anyone but the most trained eye. Exclusive even plans to offer a “spy package” complete with (what we’d hope are fake) grille-mounted rocket launchers and hood-mounted machine guns in an effort to complete the “Die Another Day” 007 package. Although the company’s pricing page is currently blank, you can bet it costs a heck of a lot less than the authentic, now-discontinued V12 Vantage itself. You very well might be the only one who would know the difference.

[Source: AutoBlog]

Ever since Ford sold Aston Martin earlier this year, there was speculation as to whether the marque would provide James Bond’s company car again when the 22nd installment of the movie series hits theaters next November. Speculation over. Aston Martin announced today that its flagship DBS would return to play the hero car alongside Daniel Craig as 007 in the still-untitled film (Bond 22 is the working title). Since Ford still has one flick left on the three-picture deal it signed with the producers, we expect to see cars from the Oval populating the screen as well. In any case, we’re glad that Bond’s keeping his wheels. They suit him.

[Source: AutoBlog]

The Aston Martin DBS has been voted as having the “Rear of the Year” in a poll conducted for the MPH ’07 car show takes place in early November. It’s J-Lo-esque posterior narrowly beat out the Bugatti Veyron’s bum for the top honor, though when divided by sex, women voters were more attracted to the Bugatti’s butt. The survey was conducted by NewCarNet and attracted the opinion of 1,260 people on the best aft anatomies in the car biz.

It’s hard to disagree with a poll that honors the derriere of an Aston Martin. It’s so admired that modern designs ape it outright, like the Jaguar XK for instance, which men chose as the fourth best booty and women the fifth. The Audi R8 and Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione also ranked highly for their back sides. Coincidentally, the rear of these cars is likely all you’ll ever see if every you encounter one in the wild.

[Source: MPH '07]