Aston Martin treats its race cars to hand-made luxury badges

This year, Aston Martin will fit a set of bespoke hand-made badges to their line of V8 Vantage GTE race cars.

The iconic wings were revealed by the automaker on the eve of the 2016 World Endurance Championship at Silverstone raceway. With the series to commence with the 6 Hours of Silverstone, all three V8 Vantage GTE entries will be treated to a union flag inspired piece. Alternative designs of the logo will be displayed for the following eight rounds of the championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans; the FIA WEC’s centrepiece event.

The badges will be manufactured by the renowned jewellery experts Vaughtons, using a combination of advanced cad software along with jewellery making equipment dating back almost 120 years.

The manufacturing process starts from an initial pressing and annealing process to ensure the badge’s strength and durability, all wings are subjected to chipping; a sequence of removing any ridges in the metal.

The colours, which give this collection its unique finish, is applied by hand and finished using a fine grindstone to ensure a perfectly smooth surface.

The wings are then fired to glaze, polished to instil a lustrous shine and carefully plated for the finishing touch.

General Manager for Q by Aston Martin, Dr. Matthew Bennett said: “Our service endeavours to provide customers with a range of unique and personalised options for their road cars and I’m proud to be able to bring a bespoke touch of luxury to our Aston Martin Racing entries for the 2016 season. We look forward to seeing these iconic Aston Martin wings badges take to some of the world’s leading race circuits.”

Paul Howarth, Aston Martin Racing Team said, “This season really is a fresh start for us. With a re-balanced driver line-up and our new V8 Vantage GTE making its competitive debut this weekend, I’m confident that we can put in strong performances throughout the season and carry these wings to strong race results.”

Thanks to Aston Martin, you can watch the wings being manufactured below.