Aston Martin Rapide doing double duty at Nurburgring and Nevada
It looks like the V12 Zagato Racer won’t be the only Aston Martin model participating in the Nürburgring 24-hour race in Europe and the Spring Mountain 24 hours in Nevada. The Rapide will also be making its presence known at the race, first to demonstrate the durability of Aston Martin’s four door sports coupe, then to help raise money for charity. Surely this has something to do with the fact that the company has been experiencing slow demand for the luxury sports sedan and has since chopped production for the Rapide from 2,000 units all the way down to 1,250 per year. Since they took care of cutting costs - Step One - we’ll do our part in helping them out with Step Two: Marketing.
Julian Jenkins from Aston Martin the Americas, said: "Since its launch, the Rapide has been popular with customers looking for an exclusive sports car with a combination of exhilarating performance, handcrafted style, and added four-door practicality. As well as raising money for Heart for Japan, this 24-hour initiative will give us an opportunity to showcase the endurance capabilities of the Rapide which in turn demonstrates its everyday usability and durability."
"We’re truly excited to participate in this challenge. Since the Rapide made its racing debut at last year’s 24-hour race at the Nurburgring, we wondered how a street version would compare if driven continuously for a day over a closed circuit. Seeing how close we can get to the race distance covered last year will be an excellent measure of the car’s real-world performance."
The Rapide is going to need all of the publicity it can get in order to jumpstart the vehicle’s reputation once again. It shouldn’t be too difficult, though. We are talking about an Aston Martin after all.
