Spyker C8 Aileron GT (2011) first pictures

Spyker is readying a new endurance racer, the C8 Aileron GT. and it's unveiled the car on the eve of the 2011 Geneva motor show. It's more good news for the fans of the obscure Dutch brand: last week the company that builds the cars in the UK bought the brand from holding company Spyker Cars N.V, there's a waiting list that stretches into early 2012, and now Spyker is committing to endurance racing for the next few years. 

Based on Spyker’s new flagship C8 Aileron, the new GT racer is being designed and developed to meet the GTE regulations set by the ACO, the governing body of the Le Mans 24hrs. The C8 Aileron GT is being readied for the 2012 season, and will replace the Laviolette GT2R racer. No technical details have been released yet, but the road-going C8 Aileron has a rear-wheel drive aluminium chassis and an Audi-derived 4.2-litre V8.

This time around, the Spyker Squadron will also prepare and sell its new C8 Aileron GT car to customer teams, and claims it is already in discussion with a number of interested teams. After developing the C8 Aileron GT to the ACO’s GTE specifications, Spyker will assess whether there is demand to develop a variant based on the FIA’s GT3 rules and regs. Although Spyker production now takes place in Coventry, the engineering and development of the C8 Aileron GT will be carried out at the Spyker Squadron’s HQ in Zeewolde in the Netherlands.

'We are taking a racing sabbatical this year to concentrate our resources on developing a new GT racer based on Spyker’s new C8 Aileron supercar, instead of continuing to spend money on a car at the end of its development cycle,' explained Spyker Squadron’s MD Peter Van Erp. 'For the long term future of Spyker Squadron, and for its role in the promotion and technical development of Spyker road cars, it’s a positive and strategically important step.'

By Ben Pulman