Archive for Aston Martin

I just caught the latest installment in the James Bond universe - the Quantum of Solace over the weekend. I’m abit disappointed that the sexy Aston Martin DBS did not get much screentime other than an initial heated car chase scene.

Instead, Bond goes on to drive a few SUVs from the Ford group of marques, though the makers did try to “balance” them out with a fuel efficient small car.

Let’s have a look at the cars of the Quantum Solace.

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While a select group of the world’s rich and famous are looking forward to delivery of their custom Aston Martin One-77, race teams can now look forward to purchasing the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 racecar, based on the new 4.7 liter V8 Vantage. This model succeeds the previous 4.3L Vantage N24 car.

The new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is built to FIA GT4 specs and can compete in the following races: the FIA GT4 European Cup; British GT4 Championship; Britcar Endurance Series; German GT4 Championship; Dutch Supercar Challenge; Dutch GT4 Championship; VLN Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring; Australian Endurance Championship; the American SCCA Championship; and the Aston Martin Owners Club Race Series.

Other than the obviously larger engine, the car also gets larger front brake discs with revised cooling design and modified front uprights to give increased camber. The larger 4.7 liter V8 engine has had its ECU tuned for race use, and gets a free-flow exhaust system to let the V8 breathe and exhale without restriction. As the standard engine already has a dry-sump lubrication system to prevent oil surge during sideways motions, that is retained. Either a 6-speed manual or a Sportshift transmission can be specified.

At 1,330kg, the GT4 car is about 300 kilos lighter than the standard car, thanks to a range of weight reduction procedures which include stripping the interior bare of trim except for the fascia mounting which is rewrapped with Alcantara. The door and console casings have been replaced with new lightweight mouldings. Further race preparation include a high-strength steel rollcage, a Sabelt 6-point safety harness with a push-button release, a Lifeline Zero 360 gas fire extinguisher, and Recaro competition seats.

Also, all active safety systems are carried over from the road car - dynamic stability control, traction control, ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution, so that should help to keep the car out of trouble though like the road car, you can switch some of them off.

More images of the car available after the jump.

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The leakage of unreleased photos of a car onto the internet way before the manufacturer does a public unveiling seems to be happening more and more these days, and this time we have the honour of drooling over badass-looking product shots of the ultra exclusive and expensive Aston Martin One-77 way before its launch.

From these photos we can see that the Aston Martin One-77 keeps the classic Aston Martin shape and most of its design cues as well - the gaping front grille and the sleek wrap-around tail lamp clusters. Unlike your classic sleek and understated Aston Martin, the car is littered all-over with aggressive design elements such as on the door and on the engine hood, which I’m not really sure I like. The headlamps look like they’ve been stopped abruptly before extending to the front of the recessed area where they sit by a gaping slit - presumably this is the air intake to cool the massive front brakes needed to stop the 700hp V12-powered car.

Only 77 units are available and after knocking on the doors of the rich and famous, Aston Martin managed to find over 100 people who were interested. Aston Martin is keeping to its promise of only making 77 though, and according to them, the customization list is so vast and detailed that its most likely no two Aston Martin One-77s will be alike.

Look after the jump for three more angles of the One-77.

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Two more photos of the upcoming ultra expensive Aston Martin One-77 have been released, depicting the car in a front 3/4 and rear 3/4 view.

It looks like an Aston Martin alright, but alot more aggressive thanks to the nice bodywork they’ve done on the side of the car. Like its namesake, if you manage to be one of the lucky buyers, you will own one of 77 units of the limited edition Aston Martin One-77.

Word is that the car’s V12 engine will be front mid-mounted and will have 7.3 liters of displacement, putting out a targeted 700 horsepower. This will be mated to a twin clutch transmission mounted at the rear for optimum weight distribution.

Look after the jump for the rear 3/4 view and a previously released side view.

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Aston Martin One-77: more details revealed

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Those who have been eyeing the Aston Martin DBS but didn’t really want to bother with the fuss of the sole 6-speed manual transmission option it has can now rejoice as Aston Martin has just added a ZF 6-speed automatic transmission to the DBS, mating it to the hand-built 517 PS 6.0 liter V12 engine.

Aston Martin calls its slushbox the “Touchtronic 2″, and the version in the DBS is based on the transaxle unit in the DB9 but re-engineered to accommodate the power and other characteristics of the DBS. You can either leave it in auto mode or shift via the leather-trimmed magnesium alloy paddles mounted on the steering column.

The Touchtronic 2 is a £3,000 option over the 6-speed manual.

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More details have been unveiled of the upcoming Aston Martin One-77, though there are no new photos of the car. Aston Martin says the One-77 project started 15 months ago and is just a codename and is not the final name of the car. Each of the One-77 will be completely tailored to the individual who bought it.

Once you’ve booked one, you will have access to the company’s top engineers and designers in Aston Martin’s Gaydon plant, who will work with you to develop the car to your exact specifications. No further details have been unveiled as to how far your specifications can go. You’ll likely not be able to touch things like the shape of the car as well as the engine, but likely you will be able to customise things like the interior trim, exterior colour, seats, and wheel design.

Imagine, if Aston Martin decides to take the individuality (and 1.2 million pound price) even further you could be able to pick your own exhaust note and design cues, since the car’s aluminium body panels will be hand-knocked!

The 354km/h top speed and 3.5 second 0 to 100km/h acceleration time is thanks to a 7.0 liter V12 producing 650 horsepower and a lightweight carbon fiber chassis covered in aluminium panels.

Aston Martin has identified over 500 potential customers and will bring a demo car personally to their homes to gauge interest and pitch the sale.

Money can’t buy you happiness, or at least not for British businessman Gerald Mellin, who killed himself with the help of his Aston Martin DB7 roadster.

Mellin, who had been talking about suicide for sometime now, tied one end of a long rope to a tree in a parking lot and the other end of the rope around his neck. He then got into his open top DB7 and drove away. You can probably guess what happened next.

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Aston Martin has jumped onto the ultra exclusive supercar bandwagon, and this Aston Martin One-77 you see above like its namesake is one of 77 that will be built. I trust that Aston Martin will have no problems making it look extremely sexy as with all of their existing products, so let’s have a look at its other features.

The One-77 will have a body hand-made with aluminium, and a carbon fiber chassis underneath it. This means it will likely be very light and nimble, and propelling it to 100km/h in roughly 3.5 seconds will be a monstrous 7.0 liter V12 engine.

Now if any premium car manufacturer wants to create a supercar I highly recommend they take this path instead of the overweight giant that is the Bugatti Veyron, no matter how many turbochargers that thing has. Something like the One-77 feels so much more special. Aston Martin’s press release did not state a price but with only 77 units available, some are quoting prices of about 1 million pounds.

Aston Martin has updated its Aston Martin V8 Vantage that was unveiled back in 2005 for the new model year. The facelifted V8 Vantage features numerous improvements, with the most noticable being the increased engine displacement up to 4.7 liters, while retaining the V8 cylinder configuration. Peak power is now at 420 horses at 7,000rpm, an 11% increase over the 4.3 liter unit, and peak torque is now 470Nm at 5,750rpm, up by 15% over the previous engine. 0 to 100km/h takes 4.7 seconds, and the car goes on to a top speed of 288km/h.

The increased displacement is achieved by an increase of bore from 89mm to 91mm, and stroke from 86mm to 91mm. The result is a “square” cylinder. The new longer stroke is achieved via a new forged steel crank with new holes in the counterweights for reduced rotating mass. Conrods are also forged steel, and pistons are cast aluminium. Intake valves are now larger - 35.9mm versus 34.9mm on the previous engine. The dry sump has also been improved with a new sump casting featuring oil pick-up points moved from the front and rear to the sides.

The car’s optional Sportshift 6-speed automated manual transmission with LSD differential has revised shifting intelligence, and mechanically it, together with the pure manual gearbox has a modified clutch and flywheel resulting in less effort required to operate the clutch. These improvements also save 0.5kg over the previous gearbox. Throttle inputs now have two modes - a Comfort mode with a more progressive and smooth operation and a Sport mode that is more snappy and aggressive.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage gets an updated interior featuring a new center console design and a revised switchgear. The navigation system has been updated to use a Hard Disk Drive for faster map loading and route processing. More space also allows better graphics to be stored. The exterior remains largely unchanged except for new standard 20-spoke 19 inch wheels, finished in either silver or graphite. The Sports pack uses a lighter 5-spoke aluminium wheel.

Aston Martin has unveiled the first photos of its Aston Martin Vantage GT2 racer, which finally completes Aston Martin’s portfolio of GT race cars in each of the four GT categories - GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4.

GT2 is the Series Grand Touring Cars category. GT2 cars are generally much closer to a production car than GT1 cars which typically use exotic materials in their construction, but GT2 cars are still generally significantly upgraded compared to a GT3 car.

Not much specifications have been revealed on the Vantage GT except that its engine can be run on both normal gasoline and E85.

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