Issue 27 - Fuel the Passion (FTP) Weekly Roundup
Week Ending 7th June 2026
Editor’s Introduction - Dan, Fuel the Passion
This week’s roundup is being drafted a little earlier than usual, as I’m heading north this weekend for the Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC) Spring Concours at Alnwick Castle. I’m not taking part in the Concours this year, but I will be there with the camera, the FTP Vantage, and the aim of capturing other owners’ experiences of preparing, presenting and enjoying their Aston Martins at one of the Club’s special weekends. I just hope the weather holds out, as dozens of Aston Martins with Alnwick Castle as the backdrop, will hopefully produce some wonderful pictures and footage for an upcoming video.
Image © Fuel the Passion. Alnwick Castle, 2025
I attended Alnwick Caste last year during a trip to Northumberland, little did I know then, that this year that venue has been chosen for the AMOC spring concours.
Also now live on the Fuel the Passion YouTube channel is our latest film, Aston Magic in Yorkshire, following the AMOC Area 06 drive from the Bridge Hotel & Spa towards Whitby. It features around 18 Aston Martins crossing Aldwark Toll Bridge, heading over Blakey Ridge and the North York Moors, before gathering on the coast. In many ways, it’s exactly the kind of story I love filming: Aston Martins, great roads, beautiful scenery and the people who make the marque so special. The film was released on Friday at 6pm, but if you haven’t had chance to watch it yet, i’ve included it below;
That feels especially fitting, because the June edition of AM Monthly arrived through the letterbox this week and was full of reminders that the Aston Martin world is much broader than headline cars and race results. From AMOC Speed Championship reports to Aston Martin Heritage Trust activity and the start of the 25 years of Vanquish celebrations, it shows how much of the marque’s story is kept alive by owners, volunteers, archives, events and people simply using these cars properly.
That also means a couple of this week’s motorsport stories are still unfinished as I write. The Monaco Grand Prix weekend is still to play out, and so is the International GT Open round at Misano, so we’ll be monitoring those as live stories to watch, with the Aston Martin Aramco F1 team hoping Monaco can offer a slightly different opportunity, and Good Speed Racing carrying Aston Martin interest in GT Open at Misano.
Away from the live race weekends, this has been a proper Aston Martin week in the broadest sense, Valhalla has received some important mainstream and enthusiast media attention, Valkyrie continues to build towards Le Mans, Blackthorn has given us another strong customer-racing result, and Nicholas Mee & Company has provided a run of excellent heritage content covering the DB4 GT, the original Vanquish and the wonderfully divisive V8 Vantage Zagato.
There’s also the first-of-the-month reality check: Aston Martin Lagonda shares, fuel prices, oil movement and the wider ownership backdrop. None of that is as romantic as a DB4 GT or as dramatic as a Valkyrie at Spa, but it remains part of the bigger Aston Martin picture.
So this week feels like Aston Martin in split-screen: glamour, heritage and endurance racing momentum on one side; Formula 1 patience, business reality and ownership costs on the other. In many ways, that’s exactly why the Aston Martin story remains so fascinating, as we know by now, it’s never just one thing. So let’s dig in.
Motorsport Hub: Valkyrie survives Detroit, Blackthorn delivers at Monza
Before we get to the race weekends still to play out, there were two Aston Martin Motorsport Hub stories from last weekend worth bringing into the roundup properly.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes. Ross Gunn.
The first was in North America, where the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie of Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis reached the finish on the streets of Detroit.
This was never likely to be an easy venue for the Valkyrie. Detroit is short, tight, narrow and full of 90-degree corners, exactly the sort of place where a young hypercar programme is exposed to traffic, contact, strategy pressure and very little margin for error.
The Valkyrie qualified ninth in GTP and was provisionally classified 10th overall and 10th in class, completing the same 82-lap distance as the race-winning Cadillac. That looks tidy enough on paper, but the race itself was not straightforward. The Aston Martin was delayed by a pit-stop infringement, and later contact from the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 sent the Valkyrie into the wall, with IMSA penalising the Porsche for the incident.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes. Valkyrie, Detroit.
So Detroit was not a breakthrough result, but it was still another completed IMSA race for the Valkyrie on a very different type of circuit. For a programme still being developed in public, against established factory opposition, that matters. It gave Aston Martin THOR Team more street-course data, more race mileage and another chance to understand how the car behaves in North American competition.
The stronger Aston Martin result of the weekend came at Monza, where the second round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, round three of the overall GT World Challenge Europe season, turned into a chaotic but rewarding afternoon for Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn.
The race was shaped almost immediately by a huge opening-lap accident at the first chicane. That the incident eliminated seven leading contenders, including the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. That was a major blow to Aston Martin’s Pro-class hopes, because the same crew had won the opening Endurance Cup round at Paul Ricard and arrived at Monza as one of the key championship contenders.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
With the leading Pro Aston gone before the race had really settled, the best Aston Martin story became Blackthorn. The #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, driven by Giacomo Petrobelli, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam, stayed out of trouble, worked through the cautions and strategy resets, and came away with a top-ten overall finish and second in the Bronze Cup.
That’s a very strong result in a 57-car GT3 field at Monza. It was not merely a class podium buried in the order; it was a proper overall performance in one of the deepest GT races of the season. It also made Blackthorn the leading Aston Martin finisher after Comtoyou’s early misfortune.
For FTP, this is exactly why the Motorsport Hub matters. Detroit showed the Valkyrie still learning, still taking the knocks and still building mileage. Monza showed one of our Featured Teams turning a chaotic race into a podium result. Different championships, different expectations and different stages of development, but both are part of the wider Aston Martin racing picture we’re now following week by week.
Full, more detailed race reports for both Detroit and Monza are now available in the FTP Motorsport Hub, including the race context, class results, incidents and wider Aston Martin implications.
Road to Race: Valkyrie belief builds as Le Mans approaches
Staying with Aston Martin’s wider endurance programme, the strongest motorsport film of the week came directly from Aston Martin, with the release of Road to Race | Season Two, following The Heart of Racing and the Valkyrie Hypercar programme behind the scenes. Although I’ve advertised it on the front page of the FTP website, for convenience I’ve placed it below, if you haven’t yet had the chance to watch it;
This is exactly the sort of content I enjoy seeing from Aston Martin, because it doesn’t just show the finished result, it shows the process. The testing, the systems checks, the tyre warm-up work, the communication, the garage atmosphere, the rebuilds, the driver feedback and the constant search for tiny improvements. The film makes clear that 2025 was very much a learning year for Valkyrie. The team was focused on understanding the car, improving execution and building confidence weekend by weekend.
For 2026, the tone is different, there’s more belief now, and with that comes more expectation.
The drivers and team members talk openly about wanting podiums, wins and eventually championships, but what comes through most strongly is that they know there’s no shortcut to getting there. That’s why the Spa section of the film is so encouraging. The Valkyrie looked more at home there, both Hypercars reached Hyperpole, and the #007 went on to finish fourth after a very strong race from Tom Gamble. It wasn’t quite a podium, but it felt like another important marker in the programme’s development. The car was no longer just circulating and learning; it was properly in the fight.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
The film also does a great job of showing the complexity of WEC racing. The Valkyrie drivers are dealing not only with the Hypercar competition, but with GT traffic, energy management, tyre behaviour, changing conditions and the need to execute over long distances. That’s the difference between a fast car and a proper endurance racing programme.
There’s also a nice human side to it. You see the mechanics rebuilding cars, the drivers processing mistakes, and the team talking about adversity as part of the learning process rather than something to hide from. Aston Martin’s return to top-level endurance racing is not going to be judged on one isolated result, it’ll be judged on whether the programme keeps getting stronger.
Now, of course, Le Mans is approaching and that gives the film extra weight. Aston Martin’s Valkyrie programme already carries enormous significance because of what the car is: a road-derived, V12-powered Aston Martin Hypercar taking on the world’s best manufacturers. But Le Mans adds another layer; this is the race that connects Aston Martin’s past, present and future more than any other.
There was also a small but interesting Le Mans-related sidebar this week, with Jenson Button saying he would love to drive the Aston Martin Valkyrie at Le Mans one day. That shouldn’t be treated as a confirmed programme or a future entry, but it’s still a lovely line. Button is now part of the Aston Martin ambassador family, and the idea of him wanting to experience a Newey-connected Valkyrie at Le Mans says something about the pull this project still has.
For FTP, the takeaway is simple, the Valkyrie programme is becoming more than a bold technical statement. It’s becoming a story of people, development, belief and ambition. The results are improving, the confidence is building, and with Le Mans now close, this feels like one of the most important Aston Martin racing stories to follow.
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Misano and Le Mans Cup: Aston Martin customer racing still to unfold
While Blackthorn’s Monza result is already in the books, there’s still more Aston Martin customer-racing activity to watch this weekend.
The International GT Open heads to Misano, and as this roundup is being drafted, that race weekend is still to play out. From an Aston Martin perspective, the entry to follow is the #14 Good Speed Racing Team Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 EVO, entered in the GT3 Am class for Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz.
One notable point is that Blackthorn Racing is not listed for Misano. After its strong start to the International GT Open season, and with the team level near the top of the Pro-Am standings, that absence is worth noting. It means Aston Martin’s GT Open focus for this weekend shifts to Good Speed Racing, while Blackthorn’s wider Aston Martin programme continues elsewhere.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
The next major Blackthorn watchpoint is also not far away. The Michelin Le Mans Cup Road to Le Mans entry is building into a significant Aston Martin customer-racing story, with Blackthorn set to take a pair of Aston Martins into one of the biggest support-race stages of the season.
There’s also an interesting wider Le Mans note. Blackthorn is on the reserve list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself, so if an entry drops out, there remains a possibility that the team could yet find itself on the main race grid. That’s not something to treat as a certainty, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on, let’s wait and see.
Le Mans week is not just about the Valkyrie Hypercars in the 24 Hours, it’s also a major showcase for customer GT racing, team development and the wider Aston Martin competition ecosystem. For FTP, that gives us two levels of Aston Martin interest to follow: the headline Valkyrie programme at the top of endurance racing, and the customer teams carrying the Vantage name into fiercely competitive GT fields.
So some Aston Martin results are already known, some are still to come, and some of the biggest moments are just around the corner. That’s exactly why the Motorsport Hub will keep being updated as the weekends unfold.
Formula 1: Monaco offers hope, but not a reset
From GT and endurance racing, we turn to Formula 1, where Aston Martin Aramco’s 2026 story remains much more complicated.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes. AMR26 in Monaco 2026.
At the time of writing, the Monaco Grand Prix weekend is still ahead of us, so this is a preview rather than a race report. From what we understand, Aston Martin hasn’t suddenly found a miracle fix for the AMR26, and we shouldn’t pretend Monaco changes the bigger picture. But it’s a very different circuit, and that gives the team a slightly different opportunity.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes. Alonso in Monaco 2026.
Fernando Alonso has been realistic about where Aston Martin stands. After Canada, he spoke about the team making small gains with the same basic package, particularly around gearbox behaviour, gear synchronisation, downshifting, settings and general fine-tuning.
It’s also worth highlighting an important detail: this is the first season Aston Martin has run its own gearbox, rather than buying from Mercedes, so some of the progress now being made is not just aero or engine related, but also about understanding and integrating new systems properly.
That’s the positive side. The reality check is that Alonso still expects the larger recovery to come only in the second part of the year. In his view, the fundamental deficit has to be addressed through more Honda power and a stronger AMR26 aerodynamic package. Until then, Aston Martin is still trying to extract more from what it already has.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes. AMR26 in Monaco.
The Canada retirement also added another uncomfortable layer to the story. Alonso’s race ended because of increasing discomfort linked to the cockpit and seating position. Motorsport.com reported that Aston Martin had tried modifying the seat, but that the issue may be more about the car’s more reclined driver position than a simple seat defect. That position exists for performance reasons, lowering the centre of gravity and reducing helmet exposure to airflow, but Canada’s kerbs and vibrations made the compromise too painful to continue.
That’s a good example of where Aston Martin’s 2026 problems appear to be interconnected. This is not just a “Honda power” story, or just an “aero upgrade” story. It’s about packaging, vibration, drivability, cockpit ergonomics, gearbox integration, cooling, energy deployment and execution. In modern Formula 1, those details all feed into each other.
Monaco may help in one sense because outright engine power is less decisive there than at many other circuits. Alonso has already described the weekend as offering “extra hope” for Aston Martin because of the slow-speed nature of the track. But Monaco also creates its own demands. Honda’s Monaco preview made clear that the power unit requires dedicated preparation for the circuit, with driver-in-loop simulator work at the AMR Technology Campus focused on energy management.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes.
Shintaro Orihara, Honda’s Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer, also highlighted cooling as a major challenge because of Monaco’s slow-speed sections and traffic. His most interesting point was that energy management has a direct impact on drivability, and drivability can produce lap time around Monaco.
That feels an important point as around the streets of the principality, confidence matters, a driver needs a car that is predictable, responsive and easy to place against the barriers.
So the FTP angle is simple: Monaco will not fix the AMR26, but it may give Aston Martin a weekend where execution, energy management, cooling and drivability count for more than pure straight-line performance. If the team can maximise that, perhaps there’s a chance of a more encouraging showing.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes.
Aston Martin will at least look different while trying. The team has unveiled a special Monaco livery in partnership with Principal Partner Maaden, using a colour-shifting iridescent wrap under the campaign title “From Rock to Racetrack.”
The design blends metallic copper-like tones into Aston Martin Racing Green and is intended to reflect the transformation of minerals and metals into high-performance engineering.
The interesting part is that this was not just a styling exercise. Aston Martin’s own feature explained the technical challenge of applying a specialist wrap to a Formula 1 car, where weight, heat resistance, durability and aerodynamic sensitivity all matter. The iridescent material couldn’t simply be applied everywhere, and the final design required careful use of hexagonal patterns, specialist preparation and plenty of logistical planning between the AMR Technology Campus and the track.
Image © Honda Motor Co. Ltd & Aston Martin Aramco. Used for editorial purposes. AMR26 on track at Monaco 2026.
It won’t make the AMR26 faster, but around Monaco, where image, precision and theatre are all part of the weekend, Aston Martin should at least have one of the most visually distinctive cars on the grid. For now, that’s where the F1 story sits: a difficult season, some hidden progress, a circuit that may offer a slightly better opportunity, and a team still waiting for the bigger performance answers to arrive after the summer.
Valhalla’s positive review pattern continues
Away from the race track, the clearest positive Aston Martin road-car story this week was the continued media momentum around Valhalla.
This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about positive Valhalla coverage in the Weekly Roundup. In recent editions, we’ve already noted the wider pattern: specialist and lifestyle reviews have generally been impressed by Aston Martin’s mid-engined hybrid halo car, with the coverage focusing not just on the numbers, but on the way the car feels, behaves and fits into the Aston Martin story.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
Back in Issue 18, we covered the main wave of reviews, where the findings have been remarkably consistent: reviewers have generally found it far more than a numbers car, praising its composure, usability, chassis balance, active aero integration and ability to feel genuinely Aston Martin despite the mid-engined hybrid layout.
The recurring message has been that Valhalla is not simply fast, rare and technically impressive; it’s surprisingly well judged, refined enough to be usable, serious enough to feel credible against the hypercar establishment, and dramatic enough to carry the emotional weight expected of an Aston Martin halo car.
In Issue 21, we covered another positive Valhalla verdict and noted that it reinforced a now familiar pattern. Then, in Issue 23, we picked up GQ’s positive Valhalla coverage, as well as the sighting of Jeremy Clarkson getting in and out of a Valhalla in London. At the time, we wondered whether that meant a review was coming and, if so, what he would make of it. This week, we got the answer.
Clarkson’s review appeared in The Sunday Times with the wonderfully direct headline: “I drove a £1 million Aston Martin. I liked it.” With Clarkson, that matters.
He’s not exactly known for politely admiring cars he doesn’t enjoy, and a positive headline from him gives Valhalla the sort of mainstream visibility that a technical launch story can never quite achieve on its own.
Top Gear also gave Valhalla serious attention, with Jethro Bovingdon placing it against the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X. On paper, that sounds like an unusual comparison: an £850,000 limited-run Aston Martin hybrid hypercar against a brutally powerful American performance car costing far less. But that contrast is what made the feature interesting.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes. Aston Martin Valkyrie showcase ahead of 2019 British GP, Silverstone.
The Corvette was treated as an extraordinary value disruptor, and rightly so. But the important point for Aston Martin is that Top Gear didn’t dismiss the Valhalla as theatre without substance. Quite the opposite. The car was praised for its chassis, active aerodynamics, precision, usability and the way Aston Martin has managed to bring some warmth and character into a very technical mid-engined platform.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
That’s exactly what Valhalla needs. It cannot just be fast, rare and expensive, it has to feel worthy of the Aston Martin badge, credible in the company of Ferrari and McLaren, and emotionally different from the cars around it. The significance of this week is not that Valhalla has suddenly started receiving praise; it’s that the praise continues to remain consistent across different types of media voice.
There was even a lighter social-media moment picked up by TheSupercarBlog, showing a Valhalla being driven hard on circuit, held sideways through a corner, before the driver calmly says: “I love my job.” It is not a full review, of course, but it adds a little colour to the more serious verdicts. The formal reviews suggest Valhalla has credibility; that clip reminds us it also has theatre.
For Aston Martin, this feels like another important step. After years of concept changes, delays, technical shifts and questions about where Valhalla would sit in the market, the car is now being judged as a finished thing and the pattern of coverage FTP has been following is becoming increasingly clear. Valhalla appears to be landing not only as an impressive hypercar, but as a convincing Aston Martin.
Nicholas Mee’s heritage week: Vanquish, DB4 GT and the V8 Zagato
From Valhalla, it feels natural to move backwards through Aston Martin history, because this week Nicholas Mee & Company released a run of videos that gave us exactly the kind of heritage depth FTP enjoys: design, engineering, ownership stories and the people who were close to the cars when they mattered.
The most timely of those was the live Q&A with Ian Callum CBE, focused on the original Aston Martin Vanquish. That fits perfectly into the wider 25 years of Vanquish theme we’re building through June, with the Aston Martin Owners Club and Heritage Trust.
What stood out from the conversation was how personal the Vanquish still feels to Callum. He spoke about Project Vantage, first shown in Detroit in 1998, and the circumstances that helped the production Vanquish happen. The DB7 had given Aston Martin a much-needed commercial lift, and the company suddenly had the confidence to create a proper V12 flagship.
The most interesting part is that Vanquish was not designed by committee in the way many modern cars can be. Callum explained that Aston Martin didn’t yet have the kind of full design and engineering operation it has today, so the car was developed through TWR’s design studio at Leafield. He also recalled being largely left alone after early senior approval, with only certain production details changed later.
Image © Aston Martin Lagonda. Used for editorial purposes.
There were compromises, of course. The production Vanquish had to accommodate real-world parts, packaging and manufacturing decisions, from door hardware and lamps to interior execution.
Callum was open about the areas he was never entirely happy with, which is partly why his later CALLUM Vanquish 25 project revisited the car and refined some of the details he had always wanted to improve.
For FTP, that’s exactly why the original Vanquish remains so fascinating. It wasn’t perfect, but it was important. It carried Aston Martin into a new century, gave the marque a modern V12 flagship, became a Bond car, and still has enough design strength to be discussed seriously 25 years later.
Nicholas Mee also released a short film on a very special 1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT. We’ll return to that car properly in this week’s FTP Car of the Week, because it’s the actual car we’ve chosen to feature. For now, it’s enough to say that the video (featured in the Car of the Week section) fits the wider theme beautifully: Aston Martin’s road-and-race DNA, captured through one of the most important models of the David Brown era.
The third Nicholas Mee film explored one of Aston Martin’s most divisive modern classics: the 1980s V8 Vantage Zagato. This is a car that has always split opinion visually, but the video did a good job of explaining why it deserves to be taken seriously.
With former Aston Martin director Kingsley Riding-Felce adding first-hand period insight, the V8 Zagato was presented not as an eccentric styling exercise, but as Aston Martin’s attempt to remain relevant in the 1980s supercar conversation. Ferrari had the 288 GTO. Porsche had the 959. Aston Martin, working with limited resources during the Victor Gauntlett era, turned to Zagato to create something lighter, more aerodynamic and more aggressive from the V8 Vantage base.
Only 50 coupés were built, and the car’s rarity has perhaps worked against it in terms of public familiarity, with many enthusiasts never having seen one in person. But the engineering intent is clear: reduce weight, improve aerodynamics, sharpen the performance and create a car that could stand in the same conversation as the new supercars of the period.
That’s why the video is so valuable. It doesn’t try to pretend the V8 Zagato was conventionally beautiful. Instead, it explains the brief, the context and the ambition. For me, that makes it much more interesting. Sometimes Aston Martin’s most important cars are not the easiest ones, they’re the ones that show the company fighting, improvising and trying to stay in the game.
Taken together, the three Nicholas Mee videos gave us a lovely cross-section of Aston Martin history:
…the David Brown-era DB4 GT, the Victor Gauntlett-era V8 Zagato, and the Ford-era Vanquish. Three very different cars, from three very different moments, but all connected by the same theme, Aston Martin trying to build something memorable, desirable and distinct.
A special thanks to Nicholas Mee & Company for continuing to produce such thoughtful, well-presented Aston Martin content on YouTube; these are exactly the kind of videos that help enthusiasts understand not just the cars themselves, but the stories, people and context behind them.
Market Watch: a rare Touring-bodied DB2/4 Mk II heads to auction
One more Aston Martin market story caught my eye this week, kindly flagged by a fellow AMOC member and friend (thank you Simon). RM Sotheby’s is offering an exceptionally rare 1956 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk II Spider by Touring, chassis AM/300/1163, in its Sealed June sale. To take a closer look at this car, click HERE.
Touring-bodied DB2/4 Mk II
This is not a normal DB2/4 Mk II. It’s described as the third and final example of just three DB2/4 Mk II chassis bodied by Carrozzeria Touring in Spider form, using Touring’s lightweight Superleggera construction. That makes it an important early chapter in the Aston Martin / Touring relationship, before Touring went on to help shape the DB4, DB5 and DB6 era.
The car also has a strong period story, having been displayed at the 1956 Earls Court Motor Show before later spending decades in Southern California. RM Sotheby’s lists an estimate of $1.2m–$1.6m, which is a reminder that the most unusual coachbuilt Aston Martins sit in a very different part of the market from regular production examples.
In a week where our Car of the Week is a 1959 DB4 GT, this Touring-bodied Spider adds a nice extra layer. It shows how Aston Martin’s post-war grand touring identity was already evolving before the DB4 arrived, and how Italian coachbuilding was about to become central to one of the marque’s most celebrated design periods.
AMOC and AMHT: competition, heritage and Vanquish momentum
While the Nicholas Mee videos gave us a specialist view of Aston Martin history, the latest issue of AM Monthly was a reminder that the marque’s story is also kept alive by the Club, the Heritage Trust and the owners who continue to use, compete with and celebrate these cars.
Image © Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC). Used for editorial purposes.
The June 2026 edition, Issue 903, arrived through the letterbox this week, and it gave a useful snapshot of just how much is happening across the Aston Martin Owners Club and Aston Martin Heritage Trust world at the moment.
Alongside the concours and events calendar, the AMOC Speed Championship pages were a reminder that club competition remains a very real part of Aston Martin ownership. Recent reports from Anglesey and Mallory Park featured a wonderfully varied mix of cars, from DB2/4 MkIIs and DB7s to V12 Vantage S, Vantage GT4 and more modern machinery. Last weekend I attended Aintree to see these cars in action andget a taste of the AMOC Speed Championship myself. A video will be coming soon about that, so I won’t expand the detail here.
That variety is part of the charm. AMOC motorsport is not just about lap times. It’s about members using their cars, learning, improving and enjoying the shared experience. It’s a useful reminder that the Club is not only about concours lawns and static displays; it’s also about driving, competing and keeping the sporting side of Aston Martin ownership alive.
The Aston Martin Heritage Trust pages were particularly relevant this month, because the Trust is now beginning its 25 years of Vanquish celebrations. The V12 Vanquish cutaway is due to be displayed at Alnwick Castle during the AMOC Spring Concours weekend, before the theme continues at the David Brown Dinner on 20th June and the AMOC Festival at Gaydon on 21st June.
Image © Fuel the Passion. The two Vanquish cut-outs outside the AMHT Museum, Oxfordshire, UK
From July, the museum is also planning a temporary Vanquish exhibition featuring the 2000 V12 Vanquish cutaway, the 2012 Carbon Fibre Vanquish Coupé cutaway and a 2013 Vanquish Volante. That ties directly into Fuel the Passion too, as AM Monthly mentions the forthcoming video walkaround talks created with Steve Waddingham.
With the Vanquish trailer already live and the wider Vanquish anniversary content building through June, it feels like exactly the right moment to revisit a car that has become one of the defining modern Aston Martins.
There was plenty of older Aston Martin activity in the issue as well, from pre-war Astons at the Monaco Historique Grand Prix to Flying Scotsman rally reports, Prescott, Drive It Day and DB6-era news. Put together, it shows the strength of the Club scene across every generation of Aston Martin, from pre-war competition cars to the modern Vanquish story.
Image © Aston Martin Owners Club (AMOC). Used for editorial purposes.
For anyone interested in joining the Aston Martin Owners Club, or simply finding out more about the Club’s events, regions and membership, you can click on the logo opposite for more information.
For me, heading to Alnwick this weekend with the camera, that’s exactly the kind of community story I hope to capture. I’m not entering the Concours this year, but I am looking forward to filming the people, cars and stories around it, because often, the most interesting part of an Aston Martin event isn’t just what is parked on the lawn, but why those cars matter to the people who bring them.
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Aston Martin in the wider world: LEGO, collectors and former Aston people
From the Club and Heritage Trust world, it’s worth briefly stepping sideways into a couple of smaller stories that still say something about Aston Martin’s wider reach.
Image © Lego. Used for editorial purposes.
The first is one for collectors. After last week’s rumours, LEGO has now officially listed the LEGO Technic Aston Martin Aramco AMR25 F1 Car. The confirmed set is 42240, an 18+ Technic model with 1,547 pieces, due from 1st July 2026 and priced in the UK at £199.99.
The important detail is that this is the AMR25, not the AMR26 as some of the earlier rumour coverage suggested. LEGO’s own description highlights proper Technic features including push-rod suspension, working steering, a differential, a two-speed gearbox, a V6 engine, a simulated electric engine and DRS.
You can take a closer look via the Lego website, just click on the image opposite and we’ll take you straight there.
The timing is a little awkward, given the real Aston Martin Aramco F1 team’s difficult start to 2026, but as a collector piece it’s still a welcome addition. It also shows how far Aston Martin’s Formula 1 identity now reaches beyond the race weekend itself. Whether through model cars, merchandise, special liveries or fan activations, the F1 team is now part of the broader Aston Martin ownership and enthusiast culture.
Image © Lego. Used for editorial purposes.
There was also a small but interesting British automotive industry story involving a familiar Aston Martin name.
Former Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer has led the acquisition of Kleandrive, a British EV engineering firm specialising in converting diesel buses and heavy vehicles to electric powertrains. The deal was completed through Palmer Energy Technology, preserving the Kleandrive business as a going concern through administration.
This is not an Aston Martin story directly, and it shouldn’t be treated as one. But Palmer remains part of the modern Aston Martin story, particularly through the DBX, Valkyrie period and the wider transformation era. His latest move sits in a very different corner of the industry; battery technology, repowering and fleet decarbonisation, but it still carries a familiar theme: British engineering capability, transport innovation and the struggle to keep specialist skills alive in the UK.
For FTP, it’s a short sidebar rather than a headline, but it’s still interesting to see a former Aston Martin CEO continuing to operate in the automotive space, even if this time the focus is electric buses rather than Gaydon sports cars.
AML Shares: A Fragile Rally That Faded
As this is the first FTP Weekly Roundup of the month, we’ll briefly check in on Aston Martin Lagonda’s share price.
Over the last five weeks, AML shares have shown a small but fragile rally rather than a clear recovery. The stock began in May, in the low 40p range, climbed towards the 50p mark by mid-month, then slipped back again through late May and early June.
By 5th June, market data was showing AML back around 41p to 42p, broadly close to where it had started the five-week period. In simple terms, investors appeared willing to respond to signs of progress, but not yet ready to fully trust the recovery story.
For FTP readers, the key point is not whether the share price moves a few pence in either direction, but whether Aston Martin can turn its current wave of desirable new cars, including Valhalla, DBX S, Vantage S and DB12 S, into stronger margins, better cash generation and a more stable business behind the badge. Of course, we’ll keep a watchful and supportive eye, here at Fuel the Passion.
Fuel Prices: Premium Petrol Still Painful at the Pumps
Image © Fuel the Passion
As this is the first FTP Weekly Roundup of the month, we’ll also briefly check in on UK fuel prices. Over the last five weeks, standard unleaded has edged up rather than surged, moving from around 156.8p per litre in early May to around 158.7p per litre by the start of June. For many Aston Martin owners, however, the more relevant figure is premium E5 / super unleaded, which live forecourt data now places around 173p to 176p per litre nationally. That means a typical 70-litre fill of super unleaded is still comfortably in the £120+ territory, before you even think about motorway-service-station pricing.
The wider picture remains volatile. The conflict in the Middle East has continued to feed uncertainty into oil and wholesale fuel markets, and the CMA says the rapid rise in pump prices earlier this year was mainly driven by increased wholesale costs and higher demand linked directly to the crisis. The RAC also notes that UK pump prices are shaped not just by crude oil, but also refining costs, the pound/dollar exchange rate, distribution, retailer margins, fuel duty and VAT.
Market Watch and Car of the Week: 1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT
From the wider Aston Martin world, we move into this week’s Car of the Week, and this one is very much at the serious end of the market.
The car is the 1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT currently offered by Nicholas Mee & Company at £1,950,000. That’s a huge asking price by any normal measure, but the DB4 GT is not a normal Aston Martin.
Aston Martin built only 75 Touring-bodied DB4 GTs, including several lightweight versions, before production ended. The Zagato-bodied cars sit in an even rarer category, with only 19 DB4 GT Zagatos produced. That scarcity is the starting point for understanding why genuine DB4 GTs sit in serious seven-figure territory.
Even then, prices can vary widely. Provenance, originality, matching numbers, restoration quality, competition history, road usability, documentation and exact specification all matter enormously. A project car, a standard DB4 GT, a lightweight, a Zagato, a continuation car and a car with major period race history are all very different propositions.
That’s why this Nicholas Mee car is so interesting. The car is described as the second DB4 GT constructed by Aston Martin and the first built in right-hand drive. It was delivered new in December 1959 through Brooklands Ltd, originally finished in Bristol Red with Cream Connolly Vaumol hide, before later being restored and repainted in Aston Martin Racing Green.
Its history also includes ownership by Frank Sytner, co-founder of the Sytner Motor Group and former British Touring Car Champion. Later mechanical work by RS Williams included a rebuild to 4.2-litre capacity with strengthened forged conrods and Cosworth forged pistons, reportedly producing 350bhp on the dynamometer. The listing records the car as a 3.7-litre model in the overview, which reflects the original DB4 GT specification, but the description explains the later 4.2-litre rebuild.
For me, the appeal of this car is not just the value, although that’s clearly part of the story. It’s what the DB4 GT represents.
It was Aston Martin’s road-and-race philosophy made physical: shorter, lighter and more focused than the standard DB4, but still road-equipped and usable. It sits right in that wonderful space between gentleman’s express and competition machine. As shown above, I haven’t included photographs of this Car of the Week, due to the excellent Nicholas Mee video on this actual car, which is well worth watching.
In the same roundup where we’re talking about Valkyrie, Valhalla, Blackthorn, The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin’s modern motorsport programmes, this DB4 GT reminds us that the marque’s competition identity didn’t begin with contemporary Hypercars or GT3 machinery. It runs much deeper than that.
At £1.95 million, this is not exactly a casual Sunday purchase. But in DB4 GT terms, the price is not outlandish, particularly given the provenance claimed for this example. It’s a golden-ticket Aston Martin: rare, historically important, beautifully specified and directly connected to the road-and-race DNA that still defines so much of the brand today.
FTP Update: heading north for Alnwick, editing Whitby and following Blackthorn more closely
Closer to home, this has been another busy FTP week behind the scenes.
The main focus now is the AMOC Spring Concours weekend at Alnwick Castle, where I’ll be heading with the FTP Vantage and camera gear. I’m not entering the Concours this year, but I am hoping to capture something slightly different: the owners’ side of the weekend. The preparation, the nerves, the stories behind the cars, the judging process, and the atmosphere that makes these AMOC events feel so special.
That feels especially timely with the Aston Martin Heritage Trust beginning its 25 years of Vanquish celebrations at Alnwick. The V12 Vanquish cutaway is due to be displayed during the weekend, and that links directly into the wider Vanquish anniversary content we have been building on Fuel the Passion.
Image © Fuel the Passion. Steve Waddinham, AML Historian filmed with the Vanquish cut-outs - videos coming soon.
The Vanquish trailer is now live, and June is shaping into a proper Vanquish month. With the David Brown Dinner, the AMOC Festival at Gaydon, the Heritage Trust’s forthcoming Vanquish exhibition, and the Steve Waddingham walkaround talks created with Fuel the Passion, it feels like the right moment to give this car the attention it deserves.
I’m still chasing the approval of the Vanquish videos with AML, so hopefully soon they’ll be ready for release.
During the week, as advertised in the introduction, I’ve also been putting the finishing touches to the AMOC Area 06 drive-out to Whitby film, which is now live on the Fuel the Passion YouTube channel. Featuring some beautiful drone footage, the film captures what was a brilliant day with the Club, not just the Aston Martins themselves, but the roads, scenery, places and shared journeys that make these community events so special.
If you haven’t already, please do consider subscribing to the Fuel the Passion YouTube channel. We’re aiming to reach 5,000 subscribers by 1st January 2027, and although there’s still some way to go, every single subscriber is a huge show of support for the channel and genuinely means a great deal. You can subscribe by clicking on the button below and then look for the subscribe button on the YouTube Channel:
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
Behind the scenes, I’ve also been in conversation with Blackthorn about how FTP might be able to get more involved with filming the team in the future, both behind the scenes and at race events.
We’ll see how that develops, but I’m very much enjoying following their progress through their bespoke section in the FTP Motorsport Hub.
Their Monza result earlier this week is exactly why that section feels worthwhile: it gives us a team to follow properly, not just a result to mention once and move on from.
To find out more about Blackthorn Racing, click the button below and we’ll take you straight there and why we have them as our ‘Featured Team’;
The Motorsport Hub itself continues to grow. The Detroit Valkyrie report and the GT World Challenge Europe Monza report are both examples of why the Hub matters. The Weekly Roundup can give the broader story, but the Hub gives us space to go deeper into results, race context, team progress and the wider Aston Martin implications.
As always, the challenge is keeping up. Between the Weekly Roundup, Motorsport Hub updates, video planning, filming, editing, website work and the Aston Martin Buyers Guide project, Fuel the Passion sometimes feels like a full-time job. But it’s also exactly the kind of work I wanted FTP to become: not just a YouTube channel, and not just a blog, but a growing Aston Martin resource built around stories, cars, people and proper enthusiasm.
So this weekend, the focus moves from the laptop to the road. The FTP Vantage will be heading north, and hopefully Alnwick gives us another opportunity to capture the Aston Martin community at its best.
Closing Reflection
This has been one of those weeks that shows just how wide the Aston Martin world really is.
At one end, we have Valhalla earning serious praise, Valkyrie building belief towards Le Mans, and a DB4 GT reminding us that Aston Martin’s road-and-race identity has very deep roots. At the other, we have the difficult reality of the AMR26, the patience required in Formula 1, and the ongoing business and ownership context that sits quietly behind the cars we love.
Image © Blackthorn Racing. Used for editorial purposes.
But perhaps the strongest theme this week is people.
The mechanics rebuilding Valkyries, the drivers learning through setbacks, the owners preparing for Alnwick, the Heritage Trust sharing the Vanquish story, Blackthorn turning a chaotic Monza race into a podium and preparing hard for their next racing weekend, and the wider AMOC community still competing, driving and preserving these cars properly.
That’s the part of Aston Martin I keep coming back to. The cars are the reason we gather, but the stories around them are what give them meaning.
That’s also why I’m so pleased that the latest Fuel the Passion film, Aston Magic in Yorkshire, is now live. A group of Aston Martins crossing Aldwark Toll Bridge, heading over the North York Moors and arriving in Whitby might not be a headline motorsport result or a million-pound collector car, but it captures something just as important: owners using these cars, sharing the road and creating memories together.
By the time this roundup goes live, Monaco and Misano may have added more to the picture. For now, we’ll keep watching the AMR26, the Valkyrie programme, Blackthorn’s next steps, Good Speed Racing at Misano, and the build-up to a very busy June for Vanquish.
For me, the next stop is Alnwick Castle, camera packed, FTP Vantage ready, and hopefully another Aston Martin story waiting to be told. As always, thank ever so much for reading. Have a great week, see you on the next one! 👆
With Aston Martin in the spotlight through Valhalla, Valkyrie, Vanquish heritage and the AMOC Concours weekend, what part of the Aston Martin world interests you most — the road cars, the racing, the history, the design, or the owner community? I would love to hear your comments below 👇.
