​Aston Martin V8 Vantage V600 The Whole Story​

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage 550 bhp was Aston Martin's foot in the door to get back into the supercar race and THEN came the V600....

Within the Aston Martin Works Service department a Special Vehicle Operations were producing a number of bespoke bodies, the highest quality build and components, one of the most potent drivetrains in production but a loss of power in hot climate Far East countries was a problem.

As a result the Special Operations Department were dealing with concerns with extreme climates and the inefficient intercooler system on the car which in turn would not release any more power from the engine.

Tadek Merek's V8 Engine was first bench tested at 275 bhp in July 1965 and some 33 years later, Aston Martin was producing a road going versions at more then twice that power.

The first up-rated Works Service engine was produced for a special customer in 1997 in a new model Vantage, which had a strangled standard exhaust system to get through the 74da drive by noise test. So by increasing the intercooler and removing the restrictive exhaust the difference was amazing.

Other modifications to the engine included, re-engineering the air intake cooling system, an additional inter-cooler radiator with extra cooling pumps, increased boost pressure for the superchargers and changes to the throttle mechanism. The exhaust system was up-graded to a bigger bore tuned stainless steel, a super sort was also available.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage V600

Some of the press reports were excellent results the Aston Martin V600 was a total hit with the press.

TO BE CONTINUED