Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 7 i Aston Martin Driver

By pure coincidence, 2023 marks major anniversaries for both the Aston Martin DB range plus the James Bond character. It’s 75 years since the 2-Litre Sports – retrospectively known as the DB1 – made its debut and 70 years since Ian Fleming’s first novel to feature 007, Casino Royale, was published. With one adding to the image of the other, the two will be linked forever. Bond first drove an Aston, a DB Mk III, during Fleming’s seventh book, Goldfinger, in 1958 which was replaced with a DB5 for the film version five years later. These two appearances would be the beginning of a long connection between the two equally iconic brands that continues to today. To mark both of these anniversaries, to begin with we’re looking at the history…

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In September 1959 Aston introduced a competition version of the DB4 that was aimed at gentlemen racers. Not only was it lighter and shorter than the standard car, but thanks to three Weber carburettors and a raised compression ratio resulting in 300bhp, it was faster too. The GT was the first Aston to feature faired-in headlamps with domed covers, a design it would continue with until 1970 when production of the DB6 Mk2 came to an end. At the hands of some of the best drivers of the day, the GT variant was incredibly fast and therefore very successful. “All closed road-going Astons seemed muscular and strong and a little agricultural,” said Stirling Moss in his 1987 biography, My Cars, My Career, “but the DB4 GT was also quite well…

THE CUMBERLAND Grey AM V8 Saloon James Bond uses in the 1987 film, The Living Daylights, might have featured more weapons than the Wile E. Coyote uses to try and capture the Road Runner, but the many upgrades made by Aston Workshop to this similar-looking example make them look a bit pointless by comparison. Cumberland Grey might be the same colour as 007’s car but thanks to the increased capacity of its V8, plus the addition of fuel injection and sharper suspension, it’s a very different animal. Faster, sharper, and more driver-focused, Bond wouldn’t need a rocket to escape the KGB if MI6’s Q Branch had given him this example. “A deep chin spoiler from a Vantage results in the car having more of a strong, muscular appearance than a…

DRIVING PAST Stratton Motor Company’s showroom in the sleepy Norfolk village of Long Stratton, 12 miles south of Norwich, reveals only a fraction of the company’s many services. Behind the wide expanse of clean plate-glass windows and the row of beautifully prepared pre-owned and classic Aston Martins is one of the UK’s most experienced marque specialists that offers several highly specialised services. “We’re very unique because we repair carbon fibre, glass fibre and aluminium,” the company’s founder and managing director, Roger Bennington, tells me. “We also paint, trim and rewire; we do everything, all in-house. And we also look after our customers properly.” With his father owning several garages in the Greater London area, Roger has been around the motor trade all his life. Following an engineering apprenticeship with a…

Thanks to the 707’s significant engine, transmission, suspension, and brake upgrades, the drivers of the F1’s medical car will now be able to get the medics to where they are needed faster than before. Supplying the sport’s official cars has supported Aston Martin’s product development, with data gathered from the DBX being driven by a professional driver around the Grand Prix circuits helping its vehicle dynamics’ experts push boundaries while developing the high-performance DBX707. One of the key upgrades is the introduction of a new wet clutch transmission, providing noticeably faster gearchanges and an improved launch capability known as ‘Race Start’ that is ready and waiting for the call to action from Race Control. Also key to the dynamic feel of the car, Pirelli, Formula 1 Global Tyre Partner, provides…

In what is a world first amongst any automotive manufacturer, customers, fans, and dealer partners can now virtually specify any of Aston Martin’s range within the high-performance setting of an F1 pit garage. The new digital environment displays Aston Martin’s AMR23 challenger within the garage, allowing customers and fans to take inspiration from the pinnacle of motorsport engineering and design when bringing to life their bespoke interpretation of an Aston Martin. Following Fernando Alonso’s stunning podium finish at the season-opening Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the online configurator also proudly exhibits the third-placed trophy in exquisite 3D ultra-high definition detail, allowing users to enjoy the team’s first silverware of the season, while having the ability to zoom in to explore every fine detail of the car. Renato Bisignani, head of…

OTHER THAN a pair of ‘Ms’, can any two letters sound as exciting when joined together than ‘D’ and ‘B’? Representing some of the finest performance cars ever made in this country, ‘DB’ has become as famous as the models themselves and one of the few car names that’s become part of our mainstream culture. This is partly due to its longevity. Although officially first used in 1950, an even older car can claim to be the first. To explain this history, we’re looking at the original model to be unofficially given the name, the 2-Litre Sports, plus its current descendent, the DB11 Volante. When northern industrialist, David Brown, bought Aston Martin in 1947, what he got was a car company that wasn’t actually producing any cars. What it had,…

ONE OF the cheapest routes into Aston Martin ownership has got to be to buy a DB7, especially one with a 3.2-litre Jaguar AJ6 (Advanced Jaguar Six) derived engine that was commonly found in the XJ40. In fact, most of the car is derived from Jaguar, sharing a close resemblance to the first generation of the XK8 and XKR, but also utilising a number of its parts from Ford. Can such a parts bin sports car make it cheaper to run and repair? Read on to find out. The DB7 was unveiled at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show, and production commenced the following year. A coupe was only available until 1996, when the Volante (convertible) was introduced alongside. Three years later, in 1999, a six-litre V12-powered DB7 Vantage was launched,…

AFTER CLIMBING for what seems like thousands of feet, the road finally flattens to reveal the full barrenness of the Peaks. With nothing ahead of me but empty tarmac, I pull the left-hand paddle mounted on the steering column, feel the six-speed ‘box clunk down a gear before flooring the throttle. The moorland immediately becomes a blur of green and yellow as I do so, the hardness of the V12 coupe’s acceleration matching that of the view around me. Thanks to the isolated location and the car’s performance, I can’t help but feel like I’m in a Bond film. But while there’s no doubting that I’m more Norman Wisdom than Pierce Brosnan, with the Vanquish appearing in Die Another Day, it’s an understandable daydream. Yet the car is more than…

TICKFORD MINI Tickford’s origins go back to 1830 when Joseph Salmons opened a coachbuilding business on Newport Pagnell’s Tickford Street. Originally called Salmons & Sons, it initially concentrated on horse drawn carriages but by the end of the decade had moved into the burgeoning automotive industry. By the Twenties, Salmons & Sons was producing drophead coupe bodies for several British marques including MG, Rover, Standard, Triumph and Wolseley. In 1925 it patented a winding hood called the Tickford that could be raised or lowered by a cranked handle. When the company changed hands in 1943, its name was changed to suit. In December 1954 Tickford was bought by Aston Martin and Lagonda owner, David Brown, and although it started producing bodies for the DB2/4 followed by DB Mk III, the…

Reigning GTD class champions, Heart of Racing, saw the successful duo of Roman De Angelis and Marco Sørensen finish second on Saturday. The Aston Martin proved to be the perfect machine to tackle the bayside circuit with three-time FIA World Endurance GTE champion Sørensen storming to pole position in a time 0.2 seconds under the previous lap record. Sørensen led the opening stint and handed over to De Angelis as he reached his minimum mandatory drive time after 37 of the 100 minutes. Running side by side with another car, the 2022 GTD champion ran in close contention for the rest of the race and finished second. The result put the duo second in the GTD points standings with Heart of Racing second in the Teams’ standings and Aston Martin…

After leaving the RAC on London’s Pall Mall on 26 February 2023, the pair drove to the port of Liverpool ready for the car to be shipped to New York. After flying to America a week later, Phil and Will have since driven across the States, visiting Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Houston before crossing the border into Mexico. Their 2023 challenge is to drive from Pall Mall to Panama, and so after leaving the car safely in Cancun, they will return in October, to tour South America. They aim to raise at least £24,901 (£1 for every mile of the Earth’s equator) for suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), who last year had over three million minutes of potentially lifesaving calls via their helpline and webchat services. Phil…

BEING THE first of something isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be remembered. Take Frenchman, Louis Blériot, for example. He might have been the first to fly across the English Channel on 25 July 1909, yet compared to the more famous Charles Lindberg who crossed the Atlantic 18 years later, he’s a mere footnote in aviation history. Or Martin Cooper, a former Motorola employee, who on 3 April 1973 was the first person to make a call using a mobile phone. Hardly a well-known name today, he was no doubt also the first to get a sales call on one as well. And then there’s the DB4. Although it was the first Aston Martin to be designed by Touring using its Superleggera style of construction, plus the first road car to…