Aston Martin will build a track-ready V8 Vantage for 150 lucky enthusiasts

Aston Martin has announced that the Vantage will be replaced by an all-new model next year, but that doesn’t mean the current car will slowly fade away into the history books. The British automaker has published a teaser sketch to preview a more hardcore version of the Vantage called GT8 that was developed primarily to hit the track.

The GT8 will be to the V8-powered Vantage what the sold-out GT12 was to the V12-equipped model. Aston Martin hasn’t published technical specifications yet, but the GT8 is believed to use an evolution of the regular Vantage’s naturally-aspirated 4.7-liter V8 that will be tuned to make over 420 horsepower and 347 pound-feet of torque. The extra power will help the coupe hit 60 mph from a stop in approximately 4.5 seconds.

Aston Martin remains committed to keeping the manual transmission around, so it comes as no surprise that the GT8 will ship with a seven-speed manual. Enthusiasts who would rather have two pedals will be able to order the coupe with an automatic transmission, likely at an extra cost. Rear-wheel drive will come standard regardless of which gearbox is chosen.

The GT8 will be the lightest Vantage Aston Martin has ever built thanks to the widespread use of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum, and titanium. Aston’s teaser sketch, pictured above, suggests the GT8 will receive a full body kit that will include a deep front splitter, and a huge wing out back.

British magazine Autocar reports the Aston Martin Vantage GT8 will be shown to a hand-picked group of customers this week, so we expect that official information and pictures will be published in the next few days. Pricing will reportedly start at £170,000, about $243,000 at the current conversion rate, and production will be strictly limited to just 150 examples.