New Aston racer?

Not quite, no. Cast your mind back to March and the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, as that's where Aston Martin announced its intentions to launch a new sub-brand influenced by the Aston Martin Racing team and called AMR. It will be further split into AMR Pro cars - which will be highly specialised, very focused and very expensive - and the 'regular' AMR models, which is what we have here. It's the Vantage AMR and it's yours from £97,995 with first deliveries at the end of this year. Oh, and Aston will only make 300 of them.

What's with all the colours?

Well spotted. The Vantage AMR, though limited in production numbers, can be personalised to a great deal by those with deep pockets. There are four standard exterior colour schemes matched to unique interior leather and Alcantara colours, plus the 'daddy', the Halo Pack. That adds an even more lurid colour scheme, inspired by Aston's actual racers, plus the no-cost option of the cool enamelled Union Jack 'wings' badge on the bonnet.

And there's lots more where all that came from. The AMR Aero Kit adds a prominent carbon fibre body kit, buyers can specify individual carbon bits for the interior and exterior separate to that and the alloys have three different finish options. Presumably some of those carbon bits can save weight, such as carbon fibre seats inside, while an optional titanium exhaust sheds another 14kg.

Any other mechanical changes?

Not a lot. The Vantage AMR can be had as a 436hp V8 (same engine as the V8 Vantage S) or a 603hp V12 (a little more than in the V12 Vantage S), in Coupe or Roadster body styles with manual or automatic transmissions, but no mention anywhere of updates to the chassis.

Can I take a closer look?

You can if you're in Le Mans this weekend, where Aston Martin will be doing its best to take GTE class victory at the annual 24-hour race. It will also find time to unveil the Vantage AMR to the fans at the track.

Shane O' Donoghue - 14 Jun 2017