The new Vantage GT3, a major development “to widen the tuning window”

The 2024 season will be a great vintage for theEndurance in the GT categories, notably with the arrival of the LMGT3 class in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). To stay up to date, several manufacturers have developed either a new car or an evolved version of their previous vehicle for the coming year. It is towards this second option that we turned Aston Martin, by introducing its new Vantage GT3 this Monday.

The work of the teams from Gaydon (United Kingdom) is an evolution of the previous Vantage, and will compete in the main Grand Touring championships (GT World Challenge, etc.) and Endurance (WEC, IMSA) in 2024. Moreover, the most observant will have already spotted this EVO version in competition, since it was already entered during the 24 Hours of Daytona, last January (with a 4th place in the GTD Pro category for The Heart of Racing). It was also during the Florida event, the opening round of IMSA, that Aston Martin explained the changes made to the new Vantage GT3.

“The old GT3 took on the characteristics of the GTE, with behavior which made it a little more delicate for enthusiasts, explained Adam Carter, head of Endurance at Aston Martin, during a round table in Daytona attended by AUTOhebdo. In GT3, with a combination of Pro-Am drivers, the amateurs would have had a hard time getting by. The adjustment window was quite narrow. We lost a lot of time in braking zones and entering corners, and the previous generation GT3 could be [tricky]. This was not always the case – an amateur could do very well – but the window [of exploitation] could change from one race to the next. The new Vantage GT3 is focused on widening the tuning window and improving handling. »

An evolved, less nervous Vantage GT3

Aston Martin's work on the new Vantage GT3 focused on the connection to the ground, with new adjustments to the damping, but also on aerodynamics reworked in CFD. Adam Carter clarified these two areas are key elements in providing drivers with better balance when cornering. Overall, Aston Martin changed "85 subcomponents of the car" while focusing on areas such as the accelerator pedal configuration, brakes and brake cooling.

“The front suspension geometry has been changed, as has the rear suspension, and the aerodynamics have been changed significantly, develops the British manager. As part of this change, there are some fairly subtle modifications that combine the front suspension geometry with the aerodynamics, the platform, to make it less inconsistent in this type of entry corner phase. Before, [the old Vantage GT3] was nervous in this kind of situation. So, to try to calm her down at the entrance, you try to find a balance and a compromise. Racing cars are always about compromise, nothing comes for free. The car is now more efficient in traction and more stable when leaving the track. »

However, despite all these modifications made for the 2024 version, the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 remains only an EVO version, and has more or less the same characteristics as the old generation, namely a four-speed twin-turbo V8 engine. liters, located at the front, and an aluminum chassis. The new specification, however, introduces new mechanisms for replacing the bodywork, in order to waste less time in the pits in the event of damage.

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