I was in LA last week for a medical conference and took the opportunity to contact Ali Afshar at esxmotorsports.com. He was a real gentleman and spent the day showing me his cars, shop and fabrication plant. Thank you Ali Afshar!
Now to the car:
What a huge difference! The kit transforms the car into a real beast. The car was a 2008 roadster with sportshift. I must say I was not impressed with the sportshift driven in auto mode. There were huge "pregnant pauses" between shifts. Compared to the 2006 E-gear Gallardo I drove, the Aston Martin's transmission was inferior. The new power and torque released by the supercharger improved performance of the car dramatically. Seat of the pants acceleration felt similar to my unmodified 996 GT2. It also felt similar to the 2006 E-gear Gallardo. Around town it purred like a kitten or perhaps a young tiger. I saw no CEL or low-speed drivability problems. The kit has over a hundred pieces, many custom-made. I am certainly a novice in such things but the fit and finish looked fantastic and befitting an Aston Martin. I have nothing but praise for the kit. We did take a crappy night video which I have uploaded to [media]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaa4XLC9tQ8[/media]

 

How did you like the car in manual? I agree, the auto mode is not the best. However, in sportshift, I would put the Vantage right with the E-gear on a Gallardo. How did it sound at low speeds?

 

I never tried it in manual. My first experience with sportshift and I really just wanted to nail it a bit without angering the BH police. Sounded louder than stock but probably had fuse 22 pulled. It was running stock exhaust but 200 cell cats.

 

BUMMER! When I bought mine I wanted a 6-speed but my friend had just bought a Gallardo with E-gear and I decided that I wanted the experience of a sequential gear box. I really like the sport shift now that I am getting better at it. I have drive my car in full auto twice in 5 months. So the roughness of the Full auto doesn't mean that much to me. Would you consider this mod? I'm not sure of the price. I'm looking forward to RSC'S supercharger. I'm told that it's half the price and I have had great luck with them so far.

 

Pretty impressive. Which is the power gain of this sc kit?

 

The sportshift, when driven on the open roads, is pretty nice. I am coming out of a CS so its not as sharp but not too far off either. Above 5k it quickens its shift speed automatically.

 

I'd buy it tomorrow if I could but I'm having trouble convincing my wife that it is worth the $. After 25 years of marriage I've learnt that life is a team game, even for this clearly selfish reason.

 

They have a dyno on their website that seems to be "seat of the pants" correct.

 

Nice video! Cant wait to get our first kit from Ali, should be interesting!

Edit: ESX does have an exhaust available for the car, I believe thats what was on the car.

 

No. they took off the Larini exhaust for my test. Stock muffler. It did have racing cats though. Very sporting of Ali to go to all the trouble he did to set the car up as I would like it!

 

does ESX have info on the kit on their site? I am curious to read about the parts and specs. I didn't know that Ali was messing with Astons now.....long way from Subarus!

 

470RWHP? nice

 

esx does some great work with Subarus. How much will this kit be?

 

You would have to call Ali at ESXMotorsport to find out.

 

~$25k, depending on options you choose.