Scott’s Wild 2011 V8 Vantage S
Scott has taken a completely unapologetic approach to building his 2011 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S. It draws upon some of Aston Martin’s own racing heritage while also adding in his own personal touches. It’s a divisive build to be sure but one that’s worth covering because, love it or hate it, it’s one of the most bold examples of these cars on the road. While many traditionalists may not like what he’s done, Scott’s V8 Vantage S is a great example of how to make a car your own.
The article below was written by Scott himself. Edited by Richard Seidlitz.
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The Basics
The Basics
2011 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S
4.7L V8 engine
7-speed Sportshift II transmission
Cobalt Blue paint
Obsidian Black and Spectral Blue Leather
Current Modifications
Redpants oil catch can
Redpants air box deletes
Redpants intake filters
Anti-gravity lithium ion battery
VS Forged VS-08 20” wheels
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tire (245/295)
Racing Brake two-piece front rotors
Lamborghini Gail Midas painted calipers
Porterfield R4-S front and rear brake pads
VelocityAP headers
Custom catless x-pipe
VelocityAP twin-plate clutch and lightweight flywheel
VelocityAP custom tune
BC Racing coilovers
Carbontastic forged carbon fiber steering wheel
Carbontastic forged carbon fiber extended paddle shifters
Carbontastic forged carbon fiber gauge cluster cover
Carbontastic forged carbon fiber ski slope
ECPS forged carbon fiber door scuff plates
ECPS forged carbon fiber door bars
ECPS forged carbon fiber side strakes
ECPS forged carbon fiber mirror covers
ECPS forged carbon fiber lower front bumper
ECPS forged carbon fiber lower rear diffuser
ECPS forged carbon fiber tail light inserts
Custom carbon fiber canards painted in Lamborghini Gailo Midas
TRG custom GT3 style carbon fiber hood
AeroCatch hood pins in all four corners
Aston Martin Racing GT3 carbon fiber wing with Lamborghini Gailo Midas end plates
Vinyl black roof
Vinyl blacked out window trim
Vinyl white lipstick
Vinyl white side skirt accents
Vinyl white AMR style stripe
USA flag emblems
Custom blacked out headlights with LED angel eyes
Custom GT style grille
Backup camera
20% window tint all around
60% window tint on front windshield
Scott's Story
I have been a fan of Aston Martin for years. I think it started when with my love for the James Bond movies. Despite this generation of Vantage not being in a Bond movie, once I saw the Vantage concept I was hooked! I knew I had to have one someday. I love that they are handmade, lower production numbers and are arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever made.
It took me a month of looking to find the one I wanted. I am a big fan of blue, and Aston Martin’s Cobalt Blue is stunning! It really pops in the sea of silver and grey Astons.
When I bought my car, it was bone stock except for aftermarket wheels. I knew right away it wouldn’t stay that way for long. I love making cars my own and despite the majority of the Aston community looking down on modifications, my journey began.
I am also a big fan of auto racing from GT cars to F1. The Aston Martin GTE, GT3 and GT4 cars always caught my eye! When I first bought my Vantage, I was living in Monterey Ca about 10 minutes from the world-famous Laguna Seca Raceway! I spent several weekends there watching races and fell in love with the look of the Aston Martin racecars. I knew I wanted to make my car as close to a street legal racecar as I could.
The first mod I did was to get rid of the unnecessary secondary cats. I installed a Fabspeed X-pipe. The pitch was now a bit higher and the sound a little louder. It sounded absolutely amazing! I didn’t think the sound of the Vantage could get any better. I was wrong.
Shortly after I added an AMR stripe, lipstick and a GT wing.
It wasn’t long before I started adding more carbon fiber bits to my car. All the OEM carbon fiber on my car was standard weave but I was again looking for something a bit different. I really liked the look of forged carbon fiber but no one really sold it for an Aston. Luckily, through our great Facebook group I contacted Michał, the owner of ECPS in Poland, and inquired about getting some parts made in forged carbon fiber. He was thrilled to do it. He made parts in forged carbon before but never for an Aston. By all accounts, I was the first person to add forged carbon fiber to a Vantage.
I started with just a few parts: side strakes, tail light inserts and mirror covers. Once I saw the quality of his work and how good the forged carbon looked on the Cobalt blue I wanted more. At the same time, I contacted a buddy of mine, Eric, the owner of Carbontastic. I asked him to make me a custom forged carbon fiber steering wheel. It too turned out fantastic. Soon after, I asked him to cover my gauge cluster cover and ski slope in forged carbon as well.
While living in Monterey there were several car events throughout the year. Different cars and coffee events every weekend, and that’s not even including Monterey Car week! As luck would have it I was attending a Cars and Coffee at Canepa. A gentleman showed up with a Vantage GT4 racecar. Of course, we arranged it to park side by side. While talking with the guy who brought it, Richard, I found out he was the Supply Manager for The Racers Group (TRG). At the time they sponsored several Aston Martin Race cars, and were the only west coast team. While chatting I told him how much I love the look of the GT3 hood but couldn’t find anyone who made them for the street car. He then told me TRG had five of them that they had made for their GT4 cars. He explained that because they weren’t supplied by Prodrive, they weren’t allowed to use them and they were just taking up space in their shop. He offered to sell me one and I drove up to Petaluma the next day to buy one. As they are made for racecars, they are ultralight but lack the ability to connect to a street car’s hood hinges. I had to use AeroCatches on all four corners to attach it to the car. That meant I had to panel bond the upper pins to the car and drill holes in the front to get it to work. But all said and done it was looking more racecar like, which was what I was after.
The Vantage is a quick car, but in the world of modern supercars they aren’t. I wanted to add some go to the show. VelocityAP is renowned for their work, from parts to tuning. Through Redpants, I ordered the Velocity AP tune. I also ordered Redpants oil catch can, air box deletes, and dry intake filters. All I can say is wow. It was night and day how good Chris at Velocity AP is at tuning the Vantage.
Soon after, a friend contacted me about doing an article about my car for Street Muscle Magazine. She did an amazing job. They took some great photos and made a wonderful video as well. We filmed it at Laguna Seca. Such a fun day.
Eric at Carbontastic let me know he was working on new extended paddle shifters for the Vantage. I told him if he could make me a set in forged carbon fiber that I was in. He came through again. I love them. Not only do they look great but it’s much more convenient to shift.
A couple weeks before Monterey Car Week I decided to give my car a makeover. Wanting to make the car look even more like a racecar. I couldn’t think of a better livery than the iconic Gulf Racing livery. This meant wrapping the entire car and repainting the calipers. It took me and a buddy about a week but it turned out great!
The next thing that needed to be done was to lower the car. It sat far too high for my taste. The problem was that the 21” wheels that came on the car didn’t have an offset the allowed to me lower the car. I found a set of VS Forged VS-08 wheels for sale that were only 3 months and 300 miles old. It was too good of a deal to pass on. I never used to be a fan of bronze wheels, but like my car, my taste had apparently changed. I loved the bronze on the Gulf Livery! Then came the BC Racing coilovers that Redpants developed. The look was exactly what I was looking for. She looked drastically more aggressive!
It was time to change the clutch on my car and that meant a massive upgrade, VelocityAP lightweight flywheel and twin-plate clutch. Besides the tune, this was by far the best upgrade. She felt like a whole different car. The shifting was smoother, slow speeds no longer had the occasional jerkiness, and under wide open throttle the car was just out-of-this-world good.
I kept the Gulf look for almost 2 years. I loved it! But then it was time for another change. First, I decided to order more forged carbon fiber from Michał at ECPS.
I wanted to get rid of the cats that were in the OEM headers so I went back to VelocityAP and bought a set of equal length headers. These were originally designed to fit the 4.3L engine and as such my x-pipe would no longer mate up. Not wanting to lose that spectacular high-pitched sound I had a custom x-pipe made that would mate up to the headers.
Over the course of a week, myself and a couple buddies took the wrap off the car, installed the new headers, x-pipe, and all the new forged carbon fiber parts. Once again, I thought there was no way the sound could improve and once again I was mistaken. This car just never ceases to amaze me. The sound is perfect! Still has that high-pitched sound but is even louder now. What I love is that she is rather tame at idle. You’d never expect her to sound the way she does at redline. But once you hit 4k+ RPM’s she screams.
The bronze wheels look even better against the Cobalt Blue than it did on the Gulf Livery.
I was really missing the stripe and lipstick so I decided to do them again but in white this time. The white accents really make the forged carbon fiber pop.
I got back in touch with my buddy Richard at TRG and asked if they had any spare GT3 wings lying around. Sure enough they did! It was gorgeous but wouldn’t work on my car as it was. I had to modify the wing attachments, and design custom uprights to make it fit, but it was well worth the effort. Only problem remaining was it was standard weave carbon fiber. But that was nothing white vinyl wrap couldn’t fix. Plus it looked great in white.
My calipers, canards and windshield banner were still orange but that didn’t last long. I made a new banner and had my calipers and wing end plates painted in Lamborghini Giallo Midas, which is a beautiful pearl yellow and really pops in the sun!
Around this time, my battery was acting up and I saw it as an opportunity for another upgrade. The standard OEM battery is around 60 lbs (Editor’s note: It’s 53.6 lbs. - Rich). I figured, “Why not get a better battery and shed some weight at the same time?” The Antigravity lithium-ion battery is around 15 lbs and will never leave you stranded. It has come in handy already.
There is only one addition I have yet to pull the trigger on… Lightweight forged carbon fiber seats from Michał at ECPS. I have a feeling I’ll be adding those in the near future.
I am in love with the look of the car now. She runs like a dream, looks gorgeous, and sounds even better. She has been turning heads for the last 4.5 years and 40k miles. She has been my daily driver since I bought her and I see no reason to stop now.
About the Owner
Scott is originally from Michigan and has lived in several states around the country, mainly due to being active duty in the Navy. He enlisted in 2003 and five years later was accepted into an officer program. After graduating from the University of Arizona, he went on earn his Wings of Gold and became a helicopter pilot. He has been flying the MH-60R since 2013, although he’s been out of the cockpit since 2017, and is currently the Air Operations Officer for Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI).
He’s is an active member of the San Diego chapter of the AMOC, an active group that gets together quite often. He’s also an avid hockey fan and plays in two roller hockey leagues in the area.