If you were curious to know what it took for Aston Martin to build a road car and a race car at the same time, the British automaker has just put it on film for you.

This specially-commissioned video documents the birth of the Vantage GTE, Aston Martin’s track focused weapon aimed at the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“We decided to replace the current Vantage road car and – since it’s really necessary to take race technology from the track to the road and from the road to the track – it’s really important that we design both simultaneously,” said company boss, Dr Andy Palmer.

The video will take you through the 18 months it took in order to turn a concept into a racer able to challenge the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Corvette and BMW at Le Mans next summer.

Thus far, the Aston Martin GTE has completed over 14,000 km (8,700 miles) of testing, in the UK, Spain (at Navarra) and at Sebring in the U.S.

VIDEO