Took the car to the circuit a couple of evenings ago. I actually never took my old V12V manual on track, but I had tracked my original V8V a fair bit, so this was my baseline for comparison.

Car is stock, except for tires, which are PS Cup 2's instead of Corsas, and 295s on the rear instead of 285s. Ran the car in sport mode, track suspension setting, and Trac DSC.

Handling -

In a nutshell, the V8V is a better balanced car - in retrospect, it really was a beautifully neutral setup. The V12VS understeers more. But power oversteer is the name of the game! To some extent this can be used to negate the understeer, but I was a busy man driving this car, partly due to the higher speeds than those generated by the V8, but mainly due to the constant need to walk the fine line between push and drift. Exhilarating for sure, but considerably more challenging than the V8.

Steering -

Still one of the best points of current Astons, IMO. Great weighting/feel combination. Lighter on the S than on the V12V manual, but this was a big help on the circuit, given the amount of correction required. As an interesting point, I didn't time myself, but I felt my cornering speeds were not radically different from those in my usual track car, an Exige S240. However, the drive is much less physically demanding, a big factor being the presence of power steering LOL.

Brakes -

No serious complaints. No sign of significant fade, which I certainly can't say about the V8V brakes even after mods. Pedal a bit squishier than I'd like, but great stopping power even after 15 minutes of pushing hard.

Transmission -

Any questions about the suitability of the single clutch setup are totally erased on a circuit. Crisp, fast shifts at redline, and truly outstanding downshifts under heavy braking: perfect rev matching, multiple downshifts in a row no problem at all. For dummies like me, frees up a lot of brain bandwidth on corner approach/entry.

Power -

This is quite a fast car. However, the issue in a few of the slower corners was the tradeoff between low end torque and power oversteer. Stay in third gear to minimize power oversteer, but wish that the car had a but more grunt out of the corner. Go to second gear to find more oomph and find snap oversteer instead. To be fair, I never really had the option in the V8V - it didn't seem to have enough torque to power oversteer in second, and you were always wanting more urge out of the apex.

Durability -

Well, one track evening does not answer this question properly, but the limiting factor was the tires (not the brakes - hooray!) which would start to go off after about 15 minutes of pushing hard. I played around with pressures a bit, letting out some air, and found that anywhere between 36 and 40 psi hot seemed good.

 

Thanks for the great review! Was debating between V12S or going back to Lambo for a Super Trofeo (obviously a more focused track car). Price differential + streetable factor though leans me towards the V12 S just because its a much classier car for around town.

Do you think by doing a custom wheel/tire combo and running much wider rubber at the front you could dial out must of that understeer on turn in and oversteer on corner exit?Is that a flaw that is curable with much wider rubber or do you think it is an inherent flaw of the V12 design?

I drove the standard V12 and the is plowed because it was so nose heavy (never experieced that on the V8).

Option 3 would by getting a 4.7 V8VS and making significant power and wheel/brake/tire upgrades to set it up for the track. If I pushed the 4.3 to 440-450hp, I don't see why the 4.7 couldn't be pushed to 490-500 with the right mods. This would probably be a much more balanced platform and weighs significantly less so the power disadvantage would not be as bad and since the torque is lower, you could put all the power down at corner exit without going into snap oversteer.

Curious to hear your honest feedback....

 

Honestly don't know if wider front rubber would make a difference. If I had to guess, I would say no, these are pretty wide front tires (255) as it is. BTW, my initial post had an error - I am running 305 PS Cup 2's on the back, not 295s, although I doubt this has worsened the understeer significantly.

Don't get me wrong, the V8V understeered, too (almost all street cars will), and the difference in weight distribution between the cars is pretty subtle. I certainly wouldn't call it an "inherent flaw" in design of the V12. And certainly difficult to notice on the road. That being said, it would be interesting to see if the GT12 suspension limits the tendency to power oversteer.

I'm probably just not a competent enough driver to feel 100% comfortable with the power oversteer. It's not OMG the car is trying to kill me variety, more annoying, can't get the power down variety. Still, it's a bit of a consolation to watch Randy Pobst's analysis of the XKRS-GT vs. the XKR-S, and vs. the V12VS (Motor Trend video on Youtube).

Frankly I wouldn't use any Aston a regular track car. They are too heavy and expensive. But I think the V8 in OEM form is better balanced for circuit work, with the caveat that the awful RE050's are not used.