Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 4 i Aston Martin Driver

I WAS lucky enough to attend the Belgian Grand Prix in late August 2022, my first since Aston Martin returned to Formula One as a constructor in 2021. Although, as you’ll read in Matt James’ motorsport feature on page 84, the results over the past two years haven’t been great, I was pleased to witness how many spectators still supported the team with the circuit’s safety fence lined with fluttering green flags. Yet it’s not just on the continent where the team receives this kind of reverence. Aston Martin might be reasonably new to the sport, but with its famous winged logo – first seen in 1927 – adorning some of the most famous and beautiful cars ever built, it has become one of the few genuinely iconic car brands.…

One of three special Aston Martin models included in the multi-million-pound charity auction, the replica DB5 donated by Aston Martin Lagonda was the star lot on the night, accelerating beyond the auctioneer’s estimate before being sold to a telephone bidder. This stunt car is one of eight exclusively built and engineered by Aston Martin for No Time To Die, with each car uniquely modified for their individual roles on screen. The replica stunt DB5 car, sold at Christie’s, features operational gadgets including a rotating digital numberplate, retractable headlights, pop-out machine guns and firing prop bomblets. In the film, the DB5 features in a thrilling opening chase sequence, driven by James Bond (Daniel Craig), with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) at his side, through Matera, Italy. The car demonstrates its incredible dynamic…

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LAGONDA MIGHT have made less cars during its 116-year history than Ford probably produces in a week, but it remains one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious car brands. Originally founded in 1906 but with its origins going back even further, the name has outlived most British marques. And although Lagonda hasn’t been independent since it was bought by (Sir) David Brown in 1947, starting a 75-year association with Aston Martin, it still has a reputation for developing some of the most interesting and unique cars ever made in this country. Yet the man behind this most British of car manufacturers was an American, Wilbur Adams Gunn. The second child of a Methodist minister, John W. Gunn, Wilbur was born in 1859 in Lexington, Kentucky, although in the mid-Sixties…

THERE MAY have been two men behind the foundation of Aston Martin, but only one is still recalled today on the badge. Lionel Walker Birch Martin was born on 15 March 1878 at Nansladron House near the small coastal village of Pentewan in Cornwall. His prosperous father, Edward Martin, owned both Martin Brothers China Clay Merchants and the Lee Moor porcelain factory, so the young Lionel found himself in a comfortable and affluent world where mechanisation played a vital role. Although the West Country was the family’s centre of business operations, the only child was soon moved to Knightsbridge in London, where he would spend his formative years until starting at Eton College in 1891. It was there that he developed an interest in the craze of the era; cycling.…

THROUGHOUT the Seventies, Aston Martin was more concerned about survival than a return to racing, yet that didn’t stop a British car dealer and marque enthusiast to do just that. Robin Hamilton’s 1977 Le Mans effort might have been on a meagre budget, but it was the first appearance of the marque at the famous race since 1964. Born in Bournemouth in May 1947, after leaving school Hamilton completed an engineering apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce while also selling used sports cars – including Astons – on the side. When Rolls-Royce went bust in 1971, he decided to concentrate on selling used cars, eventually becoming an official Aston Martin service dealer three years later and a distributor in 1977. To promote the business, Hamilton raced a DB4GT, moving to a 1970 DBS…

Awarded by jury members Anne Asensio (design experience vice president at Dassault Systems), Cyril Duval (Le Point Group counsellor) and Michael Bock (former head of Mercedes-Benz-classic), the blue riband Best of Show Concours d’Élégance title reflects the Aston Martin design concept’s immediate and significant impact on the luxury car world. The win is the first for Aston Martin since the inception of this Concours d’Élégance in 2014 and represents a major achievement for the historic British marque. Marek Reichman, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Aston Martin said, “Winning the Chantilly Concours d’Élégance for the first time with our DBR22 design concept is, without doubt, a special honour for Aston Martin. “What was important to us in the design of DBR22 was to express a future in the…

THAT’S VERY pretty,” said a random stranger as he walked past the green car seen here. “What is it?” These few words perfectly sum up how the majority view the Aston Martin Virage. Despite coming from one of the world’s most famous automobile manufacturers with a lineage that’s second to none, the car isn’t as widely recognised as other members of its immediate family. Yet in my opinion, the Virage is Aston’s most distinctive model from the last 40 years with a fascinating and unique history. By the mid-Eighties, Aston Martin was in desperate need of a new car. Although still pretty, the existing V8 range was simply a facelift of the DBS from 1967 and although it had received several updates throughout the Seventies – including the introduction of…

EVERY SINGLE millimetre was reduced, nothing is spare,” explains Marek Reichman, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Aston Martin Lagonda. That much is obvious peeking into the interior of the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro as it sits in the pit lane at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, USA. It looks incredibly tight in there, but Reichman’s tall, and he’s not designed a car he won’t fit in, so I’m assured I’ll be all right. I’ll be folding my frame into the passenger seat today, Aston Martin being justifiably cautious with its new track-only hypercar, so British racer, Andy Priaulx, will be taking care of the driving. If I’m being brutally honest, I’m completely okay with that. A spin-off from the Valkyrie road car, the AMR Pro was…

DECIDING ON which is the best road in the UK is a very subjective matter. Some say it’s the A272 that cuts across the South Downs while for others it’s the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. For a minority, it’s any road with a pub at the end. For me, it has to be the Buttertubs Pass in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. A seven-mile ribbon of tarmac that twists and turns its way through some of the most beautiful yet harshest scenery in the country, it’s a real test for any car. It therefore makes it the ideal place to put the magazine’s recently purchased 1997 DB7 3.2 coupe through its paces. Even getting there is an adventure. With the road connecting the isolated villages of Simonstone and Muker,…

ALTHOUGH THE Aston Advantage is still relatively new, since Rupert Keyzar has been passionate about the marque for longer than he can remember, it feels just as established as the well-known companies where he first learnt his trade during the Nineties. “I want us to be the continuation of those old-school Aston Martin firms, the same ones I started at 30 years ago,” explains Rupert. “I’m now in a position to carry on their traditions to the next generation.” Rupert’s association with the marque goes back a long way, before he was even born. “My father had already bought the original DB5 that appeared in the James Bond film, Goldfinger, when my mother was expecting me,” he explains. “He purchased the car directly from Aston during the summer of 1968…

The result marks the first time the British brand has won an overall championship in IMSA. Yet The Heart of Racing Team was made to fight hard for its first overall title; indeed the result wasn’t secured until the chequered flag fell on a spectacular season. The number 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, driven by De Angelis, Maxime Martin (BEL) and team principal Ian James (GBR) started the race with a slender 48-point lead over the Team Korthoff Mercedes with 350 points available; the 27 crew focusing on being in the mix come nightfall. But the tension ratcheted up when they encountered a small technical issue around half distance, which required a steering wheel change that dropped them o. the lead lap and down to the fringes…

THE 1948 Earls Court Motor Show is one of the most important in the history of the UK’s post-war car industry. Coming just three years after the end of the war, it was where three British automotive icons, the Land Rover, Jaguar XK 120 and Morris Minor, all made their public debuts. Yet away from the bright lights and razzmatazz of these motoring goliaths another homegrown marque, Lagonda, was revealing its own model, the 2.6. Powered by an all-new straight-six engine and the first car to come under David Brown’s ownership, it’s no exaggeration to say that the future of the company rested on the success of this handsome model. Incredibly, one of the cars displayed at Earls Court, a green drophead coupe, survives. Once used by Lagonda for a…

LIKE IT has throughout its long history, Aston Martin was facing some lean times in the mid-Sixties. A lack of growth in the British economy had started to hit the company hard and from double figures at the start of the decade, by 1966 sales had plummeted to three or four cars a week. It didn’t help that the existing DB6 appeared old-fashioned compared to stylish new models including the Jensen Interceptor, Maserati Ghibli and Mercedes-Benz SL. This meant Aston needed a new car and needed it fast. Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, which had been responsible for the DB4, DB5 and DB6, already revealed a potential replacement, the DBS, at the 1966 British Motor Show. But despite its handsome lines that were clearly influenced by the previous generation of cars,…

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/aston22 1. How many cars do you have in your household? ...................................................... 2. Please list all the car marques you own e.g. Ford, Aston Martin... ...................................................... ...................................................... ...................................................... ...................................................... 3. How did you purchase your last car? □ Bought new from main dealer □ Bought used from main dealer □ Bought via traditional auction house, e.g. BCA, Manheim □ Bought via specialist auction house, e.g. Silverstone Auctions, SWVA, Historics, WB & Sons, Brightwells □ Bought via online auction, e.g. carandclassic, collecting cars, The Market etc □ Bought from an online retailer, e.g. Carwow, Cinch, Cazoo □ Bought privately □ Other (please specify) ...................................................... 4. When was it obtained? □ Within the last 3 Months □ 4-6 Months ago □ 7-12 Months ago □ 1-2 Years ago □ 3-4 Years ago…