Aston Martin's V12 Volante RS was caught during testing on roads near the Nurburgring in Germany. (pic by Carparazzi) Photo Gallery
Winning at the Nurburgring is not enough for Aston Martin.
Despite sweeping two production classes in this year's German 24-hour classic, including a fresh victory for the latest V12 Vantage coupe, the British brand is doing all it can to translate motorsport success into showroom results.
That could even lead it into grand prix racing in 2010 with David Richards, the Prodrive and Ford Performance Racing chief who is also the chairman of Aston. Richards has just filed an entry for next year's Formula One world championship, but that's another story . . .
While the track work has been paying off for Aston it is also working to create a Road Sport range to give a halo to the brand and bridge the gap to its super-exotic One-77 coupe.
It is already pushing the V12 Vantage RS and now has a drop-top model ready to go: the Volante RS.
Aston is not believed to be going as hardcore as Porsche does with its RS models, and particularly the stripped-down GT3 RS, but still wants to provide more performance.
It is also following Bentley, which is doing the RS job with its growing line-up of Speed models.
The V12 Volante RS was caught during test on roads near the Nurburgring in Germany but there is no new yet from Europe about a potential on-sale date or pricetag. But the car will definitely be fast with a 6-litre V12 in the nose.
