The Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600 was nicknamed “the brute in a suit” by the motoring press after its release, and it’s not hard to see why – it was the most powerful production car in the world at the time.
The Le Mans V600 was built to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Aston Martin’s outright victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959, with drivers Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby taking turns at the wheel. It was named the V600 as under the hood you would find a V8 with twin superchargers producing 600 bhp.
Fast Facts – The Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600
- The Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600, released in 1999, celebrated the 40th anniversary of Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans victory. Known as “the brute in a suit,” it was the most powerful production car of its time, featuring a 5.3 liter V8 engine with twin superchargers, producing 600 bhp and 600 lb ft of torque.
- Only 40 Vantage Le Mans V600 models were made, each with significant upgrades, including a reworked engine, custom Koni suspension, thicker anti-roll bars, and interior features like Connolly leather and parking radar. The model paid homage to Aston’s Le Mans-winning DBR-1 with some of its design elements.
- The example featured here is the 37th V600 produced and one of just 18 right-hand-drive models. Finished in Bowland Black with a two-tone leather interior, it received an extensive engine rebuild and interior retrim by Aston Martin Works in 2012, costing £90,230.
- Scheduled for auction at RM Sotheby’s on November 2nd, this V600 is expected to fetch $325,000 to $390,000. With only 9,980 miles, it includes original owner’s guide, tool kit, fire extinguisher, and a full history file.
Building The World’s Fastest Aston Martin
The project to build the Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600 was launched in the mid-1990s. The car would be based on the Aston Martin Virage and Vantage of the era, but it would be completely redeveloped and given a new twin-supercharged version of the 5.3 liter Aston Martin V8.
Above Video: This vintage episode of Top Gear, from when Tiff Needell was one of the hosts, covers the Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600 and shows it being driven properly.
Interestingly, the V600 package had been developed a little earlier as an upgrade for Aston Martin Vantage V550 owners. They could send their car back to the Newport Pagnell factory and have it upgraded to V600 status, and no two were ever identical.
In 1999 at the Geneva Motor Show Aston Martin unveiled the Vantage Le Mans V600. Just 40 would be made, in honor of the 40 years that had passed since the company’s outright win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Vantage Le Mans V600 was much more than simply an upgrade package on a Vantage. The cars all included a slew of major upgrades to handle the power output, including upgraded suspension front and back with unique Koni shock absorbers and thicker anti-roll bars.
Each of the cars was given a blanked-out front grille with an air inlet on either side, as well as modified side vents which were an homage to the vents on the side of the Le Mans winning DBR-1.
Additional changes included a bigger front spoiler and a rear skirt, with an interior that featured a larger tachometer, parking radar, four-wheel traction control, heated electric front seats, and Connolly leather upholstery with matching Wilton carpeting throughout.
The engine would be a highly modified version of the V8 that had been developed by Tadek Marek back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This V8 has an alloy block and heads, double overhead camshafts per bank (four total), and a displacement of 5.3 liters.
Here you can see the Eaton superchargers, one on either side of the V8. The total output of this 5.3 liter V8 is 600 bhp at 6,200 rpm and 600 lb ft of torque at 4,400 rpm.In the 1990s the Aston Martin engineers had added two Eaton superchargers, intercooling, an electronic ignition, and an electronic engine management system resulting in a power output of 600 bhp at 6,200 rpm and 600 lb ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. This made it the most powerful series production car in the world at the time.
The Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600 Shown Here
The car you see here is the 37th example of the 40 cars made in the Aston Martin Vantage Le Mans V600 series. It’s also one of just 18 that left the factory built in right-hand-drive form. The car is finished in Bowland Black over a two-tone black and Magnolia leather interior with a brushed metal fascia.
This vehicle was sold to its second owner in 2012, this new owner then commissioned a full engine rebuild by Aston Martin Works at the factory, the interior was also retrimmed, and other work was undertaken which is all now on file. The total bill was £90,230 or approximately $117,000 USD at the current exchange rate.
The interior of the car is well-appointed for the time, but it does make use of plenty of parts from the Jaguar Land Rover catalogue.The car is accompanied by owner’s guides featuring 15 service stamps, tool kit, fire extinguisher, jack, armrest torch, and history file. It’s showing just 9,980 miles on the odometer and it presents a rare opportunity to buy Aston’s most memorable turn of the century design.
It’s now due to roll across the auction block with RM Sotheby’s on November 2nd with a price guide of $325,000 – $390,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images: Tom Gidden ©2024 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
