Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 10 i Aston Martin Driver

SOMEONE COMMENTED to me the other day that they don’t know how we keep coming up with fresh ideas for a magazine that covers just one marque, especially when its product range has been as narrow as Aston Martin’s. It’s not like it has an affordable saloon, a two-seater sports car or a production estate in its back catalogue. Yet although the types of cars it has produced in the post-war period have been largely the same, their designs certainly haven’t been. Take our cover car, for example, William Towns’ glorious Lagonda. Forty-five years after the car reached production, its wedge shape still looks like nothing else that Aston Martin – or anyone else for that matter – has produced in its 110-year history. Together with rare models (including the…

The only one of the 15 2-Litre Sports (colloquially called the ‘DB1) to have been sold as a running chassis has been recently unearthed by British auctioneers H&H Classics. Built in 1947, after initially being fitted with a saloon type of body this was swapped in the late Fifties for a handsome, two-seater style by Swallow Coachbuilding Company that was inspired by its own short-lived Dorretti sports car. The DB1 was later owned and raced by renowned Aston Martin engineer Shaun Magee who made the radiator grille more Aston Martin like and swapped the original 2.0-litre engine for Aston’s later 2.6 straight-six. The DB1 has been with the same owner since 1994 who had unfulfilled plans to restore the car, getting as far as removing and dismantling the engine.…

Former Formula W racer and current Aston Martin F1 Driver Ambassador Jessica Hawkins has become the first woman in five years to drive a Formula One car when, in September, she completed 26 laps in a two-year-old AMR21 at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest. “It’s taken me every bit of blood, sweat and tears to get here,” said Hawkins afterwards. “I’ve had to keep it secret for months now, which was pretty hard. It’s been absolutely worth it and it’s given me really valuable insight.” Previous to Hawkins, the last woman to test an F1 car was in October 2018 when Colombia’s Tatiana Calderón drove a Sauber at the Hermanos Rodriguez track in Mexico City. Susie Wolff is the last woman to have participated in an actual practice session, testing…

ON FIRST glance, the Aston Martin Rapide and Bentley Flying Spur have so much in common that they could be twins. Both are luxurious four-seat saloons produced by established British car manufacturers, powered by huge 6.0-litre V12s and based on chassis used by earlier sports cars. And with them now worth between £25k and £35k, even their values are the same. But with one putting luxury first and the other being arguably more about performance, they’re actually as different as haute cuisine is from fast food. So which of these two very different cars do we prefer? “Luxury must be comfortable,” said the French fashion designer Coco Chanel once, “otherwise it is not luxury.” If this is true – and she would know – it makes the Flying Spur one…

NO DOUBT everyone who attended the 1951 Earls Court Motor Show stopped to admire the pair of DB2s on Aston Martin’s stand, marvelling at their beautiful and voluptuous lines. The model might have been two years old, but due to slow production at the company’s Feltham facility, the DB2 still wouldn’t have been a common sight on UK roads. Few, though, would have noticed that the engine of the metallic blue saloon on Aston’s stand was uprated to Aston Martin’s new Vantage spec that had only become available earlier in the year. Yet this was an important moment in the company’s post-war history since not only did it make the DB2 even more of a sports car, putting it on a par with those from Maranello and Modena, but it…

IF THE DB5 is a finished painting by a famous grand master, then this DB4 is the equivalent of some early preliminary sketches. Although not quite the finished article, it’s a close and important representation of what was to come. As an early prototype, it not only played a significant role in the DB4’s development but helped to lay down the groundwork for what’s still considered to be Aston Martin’s most famous and iconic car, the DB5. First registered as 4 SMU on 17 October 1958 to David Brown Industries Ltd, the Wedgewood Blue DB4 with chassis number 107/R was the seventh of 15 prototypes built in the late Fifties to develop Aston’s all-new model. As well as the many non-standard parts fitted to the chassis that were found when…

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FROM DAVID Brown to Victor Gauntlett, Aston Martin has had some distinguished leaders in its 110-year history. Yet arguably none made an impact as large as Dr Ulrich Bez did during his 13 years at the helm. Thanks to his clear vision of the brand’s untapped potential plus his vast expertise in performance models, he helped to reinvent the company, transforming it from a manufacturer of fast but ultimately niche cars to something close to the mainstream. “We have restored the Aston Martin brand to where many passionate people always thought it should be,” he said 11 years after he took over. “We have evolved from a low volume, small-scale operation to a profitable independent luxury sports car manufacturer with worldwide acclaim.” Bez was born in Bad Cannstatt on the…

LAUNCHED AT the Birmingham Motor Show in October 1988, the Aston Martin Virage was a new sleek-looking four-seater GT, despite that under the hand-formed aluminium skin, there was a shortened version (by 306mm in its wheelbase) of the four-door Lagonda’s chassis platform that dated back to 1974. And the headlights were from the Audi 100 (some sources state the Audi 200), whereas the rear lights were shared with Volkswagen’s Scirocco. Under the bonnet, there was a 330bhp version of the familiar 5.3-litre quad-cam V8 engine, with a pair of 32-valve cylinder heads designed by Reeves Callaway in the US and equipped with a Weber/Marelli fuel injection and engine management system. The suspension was also new, comprising double wishbones at the front and a De Dion rear axle located by triangulated…

ISSUE 9 COVER STORY DB12 first drive INSIDE V8 Vantage X-Pack, Prodrive V8 Vantage, Zagato Vanquish Speedster ISSUE 8 COVER STORY DB5 at 60 INSIDE DB5 V8, DB5 vs Bristol 408, V8 Vantage buying guide, Vantage V600 ISSUE 7 COVER STORY 75 years of DB INSIDE DB4 at 65, Vanquish, DB7 buying guide, Ian Callum biog, V8 Evolution ISSUE 6 COVER STORY DB7 at 30 INSIDE V8 Oscar India, DB2/4 by Vignale, DB6 drive story, DBS buying guide ISSUE 5 COVER STORY Vantage & DB9 INSIDE Victor, DB MkIII, DB7 vs BMW 840Ci, V8 Volante Prince of Wales ISSUE 4 COVER STORY Virage 5.3 INSIDE Lagonda 2.6 show car, DB7 drive story, DBS convertible ISSUE 3 COVER STORY V8 Vantage prototype INSIDE DB9 buying guide, DB4 Series V Vantage, V12…

PREVIOUSLY LOCATED in South London and now based in a leafy corner of a Surrey suburb is a genuine Aston Martin institution. Founded in 1968 and based in its current location since 1989, R.S. Williams’ unrivalled history and experience has seen it become one of the world’s most established specialists in the British marque. Look through the history of Aston Martin’s most famous individual cars and many – if not all – will have passed through Williams’ workshop at some point. The company was founded by Richard Stewart Williams who started his career in 1960 when he completed an apprenticeship at Aston Martin when it was still based in Feltham. Yet it could have been another British marque he chose since he was just as interested in AC Cars located…

Aston Martin has confirmed the Valkyrie is to be entered into the top Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championships from 2025. This means the car will participate in three of sports car racing’s most prestigious events including Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin’s executive chairman, said, “Performance is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Aston Martin, and motorsport is the ultimate expression of this pursuit of excellence. “We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavours we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years. Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs…

JUDGING BY the 1980 brochure for the Lagonda, it’s clear Aston Martin’s marketing team didn’t know how to describe the car. “Its shape is as functional as it is eye-catching,” says the sales blurb, “a pleasing blend of elegance and sportiness. It is a car which commands attention with its air of sophisticated breeding.” Translation – we’re not sure what to call it so we’re calling it everything. Yet I don’t blame them for this confusion. With its famously razor-edged lines, low nose plus unique proportions, the Lagonda has always pushed the boundaries of car design. What’s even more amazing about the Lagonda isn’t what it looks like or the groundbreaking electronics on board, but how this large, unusual and avant-garde saloon helped secure the company that made it. “What…

THE THREAT posed by the XK8 to the DB7 when it went on sale in 1996 was a sizeable one. Whereas the Aston Martin was now three years old and its Jaguar-sourced chassis and running gear were older still, the V8 sports car was largely all new. Add in that the new car was also considerably cheaper and it’s surprising the DB7 found any buyers at all. Aston’s dealers understood this but while the majority were helpless to defend the DB7 against this new home-grown enemy, one commissioned a series of simple yet effective aftermarket modifications that would help maintain the car’s desirability. They were the idea of Derek Campbell from Aston Martin Sales of Mayfair (now Stratstone). With seven dealerships across the country (including the prestigious Berkeley Street in…

There is no question that the World Endurance Championship – which is crowned by the Le Mans 24 Hours – is experiencing a boom time and Aston Martin has now confirmed its intention to return to La Sarthe and battle for outright honours. The recent announcement of a new programme with the Valkyrie sportscar has created a fervour of excitement and has added yet another top-flight brand to the grid. Aston will take on the likes of Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota as it aims for what is arguably the biggest prize in motorsport. There is a very good reason why sportscar racing is flourishing right now. The two governing bodies of the globe’s premier sportscar classes – the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in Europe and…

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