Lola Aston Martin LMP1. Licence to Thrill

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Being a Porsche guy in my heart the evocative Gulf Livery seems to really jump out at me no matter where it is used. The iconic colours of Gulf-liveried cars conjures memories of Steve McQueen, the movie ‘Le Mans,’ and his stunning Porsche 917 that carried Gulf’s baby blue and orange design.When Aston launched the first set of images of their full blown attack on the oil burning dominated class of LMP1 I couldn’t help but be completely sold on the baby blue and orange colour scheme that is so synonymous with motorsport, from the mighty 917 to the Ferrari killing Ford GT40 and the GT1 winning Aston DBR9 and many in between over the years.

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So here are the stats – It’s a Lola Aston with a 6.0-litre V12 churning 600+ gaydon horses and weighing in at a sprightly 900KG. So to help you along a bit that is 720bhp/ton. And…In comparison to all but two other cars it sounds like nothing out there…seriously it sounds that good!

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During the morning Session 007 with Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and local super star Stefan Mucke were pushing the limits into turn 1 resulting in a couple of locks ups..

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Darren Turner behind the wheel of 009..Darren Turner is one of the UK’s most successful and experienced racing drivers. Having competed and excelled in almost every four-wheel racing category, most notably taking two class victories at the Le Mans 24 Hours for Aston in the DBR9.

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Being able to get this close to the action was just incredible – I just wish I could put a sound bite to the picture! The most silky and evocative sound out on the track – pure V12 porn!

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Running line astern through the Schumacher esses as they did all race – cheeky bit of flame poking out of the exhaust.

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Lapping the Radical SR9 that was having more than it’s fair share of niggles during the race. If you cast your mind back to this years Le Mans you will remember these two had quite a coming together resulting in the Radical having a meeting with the wall.

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008 this time with Stuart Hall behind the wheel sharing the car with Migual Ramos and Christopher Buncombe.

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A simple panning shot as the Aston fired out through the complex past the Mercedes Arena…I had seen a shot similar when I was researching the track and took it upon myself to give it a go!

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I could have stayed in this position all day taking pics of the cars as they crested the hill coming up towards Schumacher Esses. It was such an incredible place to sit and watch the cars as the speed they where taking into the first left was insane..

So there you have it – my pictorial shrine to the best looking prototype (in my mind of course) of a generation.

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