Magzter Gold (Sitewide Promotion)

Magzter Gold (Sitewide Promotion)

Digital Delivery

Vantage February 28th, 2019 Digital Back Issue Cover

Vantage Issue 25 (Digital)

(0)

Single Digital Issue

Issue 25

$6.23

Powered By Zinio

Zinio

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Instant Start

Also available on ZINIO Unlimited logo

Get unlimited access to Vantage (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines

1-month free trial

Renews at $8.99/month after trial.
Cancel anytime.

Get unlimited access to Vantage (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines. Renews at just $8.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Start Trial Learn more

58 Articles

The Valkyrie Effect IF THERE’S A QUINTESSENTIAL maker of big-hearted, front-engined GT cars, it is surely Aston Martin. My bond with the brand began as a young lad, when I first saw – and heard! – a late-70s V8 Vantage, but whether you’re more emotionally connected to the DB-era machines, the later Virage and Vanquish or, indeed, this issue’s spectacular Vantage V600, the strand of DNA is unbroken and undeniable. So what to make of this year’s Geneva show and the phalanx of mid-engined exotica that took centre stage? We knew it was CEO Andy Palmer’s plan for Aston to ‘do a Ferrari’, but Geneva was evidence that his Second Century Plan is less reinvention, more revolution. Since time immemorial, Astons have been, er, somewhat ‘big-boned‘ compared with their rivals. Again it’s…

Lagonda’s ‘land yacht’

THOSE OF US WITH moderately long memories might well recall the last time AML tried to revive the Lagonda name with a super-luxury SUV. The awkward-looking 2009 concept drew gasps of shock and a few snorts of laughter when it was revealed to the world’s media, though with hindsight Aston’s then CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, should be praised for his prescience of the coming trend for ultra-high-end SUVs. However, even Bez couldn’t have imagined the idea would be revisited ten years later with an all-electric concept of quite such audacity. Last year, you’ll remember, Lagonda was the surprise star of the Geneva show with the Vision Concept: an ultra-luxurious and fantastically futuristic four-seater that dropped the jaws of all who saw it. Of course it’s easy to do that with a…

Lagonda’s ‘land yacht’

100 YEARS OF MOTORSPORT On June 6, 1919, the first road-registered Aston-Martin, known as Coal Scuttle, set out on the inaugural London to Edinburgh Trial, an event demanding reliability and strict time-keeping. The Aston won a Gold Medal, and so the marque’s motorsport history began. This summer, the AMOC is reenacting the run with Astons of all ages, and organiser David Wright would love to hear from owners of early Bamford & Martin cars. Email david@73harleystreet.co.uk DRIVERS’ CLUB Aston Martin has launched a new trackday programme, offering the chance to drive some of the world’s greatest circuits. The AMR Drivers’ Club offers various packages and levels of tuition. Customers also have the opportunity to drive a selection of the latest Astons and – if they have racing ambitions – get coaching in a…

The Valkyrie Effect IF THERE’S A QUINTESSENTIAL maker of big-hearted, front-engined GT cars, it is surely Aston Martin. My bond with the brand began as a young lad, when I first saw – and heard! – a late-70s V8 Vantage, but whether you’re more emotionally connected to the DB-era machines, the later Virage and Vanquish or, indeed, this issue’s spectacular Vantage V600, the strand of DNA is unbroken and undeniable. So what to make of this year’s Geneva show and the phalanx of mid-engined exotica that took centre stage? We knew it was CEO Andy Palmer’s plan for Aston to ‘do a Ferrari’, but Geneva was evidence that his Second Century Plan is less reinvention, more revolution. Since time immemorial, Astons have been, er, somewhat ‘big-boned‘ compared with their rivals.…

Changing of the guard

WITH THE WORLD ENDURANCE Championship (WEC) 2018/19 Super Season taking a breather until the 1000 Miles of Sebring in mid-March, many of the world’s best endurance racers spent their winter travelling to warmer climes. Naturally, Aston Martin Racing customer teams have been in the thick of the action. Rounding out the 2018 season was the Gulf 12 Hours, held at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi in December. The event saw three all-new Vantage GT3s entered by three of Aston Martin Racing’s most valued partner teams: Oman Racing by TF Sport and R-Motorsport in the GT3 Pro category, plus Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Motorsport in GT3 Pro-Am, along with a solitary all-new Vantage GT4 entered by the factory AMR team in the GT4 class. Issues at the first pit stop of Race…

Changing of the guard

Lagonda’s ‘land yacht’

THOSE OF US WITH moderately long memories might well recall the last time AML tried to revive the Lagonda name with a super-luxury SUV. The awkward-looking 2009 concept drew gasps of shock and a few snorts of laughter when it was revealed to the world’s media, though with hindsight Aston’s then CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, should be praised for his prescience of the coming trend for ultra-high-end SUVs. However, even Bez couldn’t have imagined the idea would be revisited ten years later with an all-electric concept of quite such audacity. Last year, you’ll remember, Lagonda was the surprise star of the Geneva show with the Vision Concept: an ultra-luxurious and fantastically futuristic four-seater that dropped the jaws of all who saw it. Of course it’s easy to do that with…

Lagonda’s ‘land yacht’

Heritage racing expansion

ASTON MARTIN HAS ANNOUNCED a serious increase in its commitment to the burgeoning historic racing scene with the creation of Aston Martin Heritage Racing (AMHR), a new over-arching brand that unites the marque’s assorted historic motorsport activities. Fans of Aston Martin’s modern competition heritage will be thrilled at the news that the triennial Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Festival events held as support races for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012, 2015 and 2018 have been developed into an annual AMHR Festival Series. This new ‘home’ for owners of eligible modern-era competition and special series Astons encompasses the majority of Aston Martin Racing’s back catalogue. All GT1, GT2, GT3, GT4 and GTE cars are eligible, with the exception of the Lola-Aston LMP1 prototypes and the latest-generation Vantage GTE, GT3 and GT4…

Heritage racing expansion

Crazy like a fox

STANLEY ‘WACKY’ ARNOLT was generally untroubled by self-doubt, as he demonstrated on September 26, 1938, when he crossed a treacherous Lake Michigan in a tiny boat to prove the reliability of his Sea-Mite marine engine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wacky was a man of faith; he kept an electric organ in his office and would belt out hymns for visitors to the Arnolt Corporation, a business so bewilderingly multifarious that he referred to it simply as a ‘job shop’. Too irrepressible, too Christian and too busy to have held a grudge, then, but Wacky would surely have allowed himself a chuckle at Aston’s expense had he been around to see this year’s Scottsdale auctions. Sixteen Astons were offered in the Arizona desert in January, but none attracted more attention than Wacky’s special-bodied 1954…

Crazy like a fox

100 YEARS OF MOTORSPORT On June 6, 1919, the first road-registered Aston-Martin, known as Coal Scuttle, set out on the inaugural London to Edinburgh Trial, an event demanding reliability and strict time-keeping. The Aston won a Gold Medal, and so the marque’s motorsport history began. This summer, the AMOC is reenacting the run with Astons of all ages, and organiser David Wright would love to hear from owners of early Bamford & Martin cars. Email david@73harleystreet.co.uk DRIVERS’ CLUB Aston Martin has launched a new trackday programme, offering the chance to drive some of the world’s greatest circuits. The AMR Drivers’ Club offers various packages and levels of tuition. Customers also have the opportunity to drive a selection of the latest Astons and – if they have racing ambitions – get…

Dassi Interceptor From £5995 dassi.com Surely the perfect companion to your Aston Martin Valkyrie, this bicycle presents a challenge to our limited vocabulary. To describe it as merely ‘high-tech’ or ‘innovative’ would be an insult, made as it is with a material only isolated in 2004, and which won its discoverers the Nobel Prize in Physics. That wonder-stuff is graphene, a carbon allotrope 200 times stronger than steel yet lighter than paper, and it has allowed British manufacturer Dassi to build a super-tough frame that weighs just 750g. Insert your own expletive here. Production History poster by Hive Posters From $22.50 hiveposters.storenvy.com A neat summation of the many marvellous machines that Aston has built since 1950, beginning with the DB2 and ending with the DBS Superleggera. It works as a piece of art and as…

email us eds@vantagemag.co.uk write to us Vantage Magazine Editorial, Dennis Publishing, 31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP Driving a bargain Lovely to see VMF 65, the ex-works DB2, in your last issue (Winter 2018), being driven by Darren Turner at the Goodwood Revival race meeting. I owned this car back in the early 1960s, albeit very briefly… The black-and-white photo was taken outside the officers’ mess at RAF Catterick on the night in 1963 when I bought VMF from one Flight Lt Bloomfield for the princely sum of £250. (PUM 6 was the ex-Arnold Burton rally car, which I had bought a few months earlier, also for £250!) I’d taken my boss’s son along to drive my new purchase home – which made it tricky the next day when the boss asked me to sell…

WE FIRST FEATURED THE WORK of the Rev Adam Gompertz back in the Autumn 2016 issue of Vantage. Since then the self-proclaimed ‘scribbling vicar‘ has carved himself an enviable niche in the crowded world of automotive art. Much to his – and our – delight, in the spring of 2018 he was given the role of Aston Martin’s artist-in-residence. Sensing the perfect excuse to feature more of his beautiful sketches, a little under a year after his appointment we caught up with him at Aston Martin’s Gaydon HQ. For those of you unfamiliar with Gompertz’s story, a quick recap. A lifelong car enthusiast, he enrolled on the renowned Coventry University transport design course at the ripe old age of 27. After his graduation, he joined the design team at MG Rover…

Hard to keep up, isn’t it? With Aston Martin’s ambition, that is. It was always part of the fabled Second Century Plan for Aston to become a true Ferrari rival with a mid-engined product portfolio to match, but the 2019 Geneva show was the first time we’ve actually been able to see quite what that Second Century vision looks like. As we know, the patriarch of Aston’s mid-engined family is the jaw-dropping Valkyrie, the first running prototype of which was also proudly on display in Geneva. Unsurprisingly, its influence could clearly be seen in seen in Project 003 and the Vanquish Vision Concept. Project 003, or ‘Son of Valkyrie’ as many have nicknamed it, is another limited-run all-carbon hypercar – 500 will be built – but it is being sold through the…

Changing of the guard

WITH THE WORLD ENDURANCE Championship (WEC) 2018/19 Super Season taking a breather until the 1000 Miles of Sebring in mid-March, many of the world’s best endurance racers spent their winter travelling to warmer climes. Naturally, Aston Martin Racing customer teams have been in the thick of the action. Rounding out the 2018 season was the Gulf 12 Hours, held at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi in December. The event saw three all-new Vantage GT3s entered by three of Aston Martin Racing’s most valued partner teams: Oman Racing by TF Sport and R-Motorsport in the GT3 Pro category, plus Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Motorsport in GT3 Pro-Am, along with a solitary all-new Vantage GT4 entered by the factory AMR team in the GT4 class. Issues at the first pit stop…

Changing of the guard

Heritage racing expansion

ASTON MARTIN HAS ANNOUNCED a serious increase in its commitment to the burgeoning historic racing scene with the creation of Aston Martin Heritage Racing (AMHR), a new over-arching brand that unites the marque’s assorted historic motorsport activities. Fans of Aston Martin’s modern competition heritage will be thrilled at the news that the triennial Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Festival events held as support races for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012, 2015 and 2018 have been developed into an annual AMHR Festival Series. This new ‘home’ for owners of eligible modern-era competition and special series Astons encompasses the majority of Aston Martin Racing’s back catalogue. All GT1, GT2, GT3, GT4 and GTE cars are eligible, with the exception of the Lola-Aston LMP1 prototypes and the latest-generation Vantage GTE, GT3…

Heritage racing expansion

Project 003: the rivals

IF THE 003 HAD APPEARED a few years ago, its natural rivals would have been the so-called ‘Holy Trinity’ of McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari. Of the trio it’s the LaFerrari (above left) that Aston most desires to be compared with, though environmental pressures and technological progress dictate that the 003 will be powered by a turbocharged V6, and not a wailing V12. The big question hangs on whether it will be hybrid. The smart money suggests it will, as the P1, 918 and LaFerrari all featured hybrid powertrains, as will their successors. Unless, of course, McLaren or Porsche makes its next hypercar an EV… McLaren is still a relative newcomer to the scene, but its prolific output has seen the Woking marque make a big impact across the…

Project 003: the rivals

Vanquish: the rivals

IF YOU’RE SERIOUS about building mid-engined supercars you have to tackle Ferrari head-on. That’s a truly formidable challenge, even for Ferrari’s age-old adversary Lamborghini, which enjoys a half-century of mid-engined heritage, prodigious VW Group resources and a pre-eminent position as the maker of poster cars for successive generations of pubescent car fans. That Aston Martin would position itself as a worthy rival to Ferrari was never in doubt. That it would do so with an aluminium-tubbed car is perhaps more of a surprise, given Valkyrie and 003 are both crafted from carbonfibre. Yet, as both the Ferrari 488 (above left) and Lamborghini Huracán (right) feature aluminium chassis, it remains the class norm. Indeed, of the main players only McLaren has committed to an all-carbon family of cars, a decision motivated by…

Vanquish: the rivals

1-7-2-8-3-9-6-12-5-11-4-10. No, this isn’t some kind of Enigma-like cypher. Nor is it next week’s winning Lotto numbers. However, if you happen to have a drop or two of petrol in your veins you’ll know it to be something far more exciting, for it represents the sinus rhythm of the Valkyrie’s beating heart. The firing order for what promises to be the greatest road-legal internal combustion engine ever made is one of the more arcane collections of numbers attached to this already legendary Cosworth-built V12. Dig into its vital stats and ever more extraordinary numbers tumble forth, each one more remarkable than the last. Displacing 6.5 litres, the 65-degree V12 sets exceptional new standards for maximum rpm and specific output, with a certified peak power output of 1000bhp (or 153.8bhp per litre) at…

Crazy like a fox

STANLEY ‘WACKY’ ARNOLT was generally untroubled by self-doubt, as he demonstrated on September 26, 1938, when he crossed a treacherous Lake Michigan in a tiny boat to prove the reliability of his Sea-Mite marine engine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wacky was a man of faith; he kept an electric organ in his office and would belt out hymns for visitors to the Arnolt Corporation, a business so bewilderingly multifarious that he referred to it simply as a ‘job shop’. Too irrepressible, too Christian and too busy to have held a grudge, then, but Wacky would surely have allowed himself a chuckle at Aston’s expense had he been around to see this year’s Scottsdale auctions. Sixteen Astons were offered in the Arizona desert in January, but none attracted more attention than Wacky’s special-bodied…

Crazy like a fox

History has a strange and, at times, frustrating ability to gloss over the truth, especially when it gets in the way of a conveniently simple narrative. Marie Antoinette never suggested anyone ate cake, Einstein did not flunk maths at school and the evidence for Hitler being uni-testicular is mixed at best. Likewise, the DB7 is not the car that saved Aston Martin. Hell of a thing to say, I know, but the truth is not so clear cut. Yes, the DB7’s role was crucial to the company’s survival because without it Ford would have shut the doors at once; but it was another car, the DB7 Vantage you see here, that did far more to convince Ford that Aston Martin was worthy of long term investment. Semantics? Not at all. Another fact…

The way it was – DB7 Vantage production at Bloxham

MY WIFE AND I WERE visiting London from the US in 1999 and walking in Mayfair we spotted an Aston Martin DB7 parked on the street. Astons were much rarer in 1999 than they are now and this was the first DB7 we had ever seen. We thought it was the most beautiful car, and when we returned to California we went to an Aston dealer, test drove a DB7 and placed an order. I was back in the UK on business in 2000, a few months before our car was due, and was able to arrange a visit to the factory in Bloxham. The cars were manually pushed from station to station. The engines were delivered fully assembled but the rest of the car was hand-assembled. I remember there was something…

The way it was – DB7 Vantage production at Bloxham

It’s over a quarter of a century since the idea of a V12 in a modern product of Aston Martin Lagonda was mooted, and 23 years since the first modern V12 was actually built. Yet that engine’s architecture has stayed recognisable right up to the present day, although currently it powers only the Rapide S saloon, having been ousted, for the DB11 and the new DBS, by a new twin-turbo V12. And even the new forced-induction motor retains the old one’s bore centres, and indeed the bore diameter itself. Clearly, the 5.9-litre V12’s days are numbered, but what a career the engine known as AE28 has had. It is popularly supposed to have started life in the prototype engineering department as two Ford Mondeo Duratec V6s welded together but, appealing as…

Dreadnought. Quite the codename, isn’t it? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dreadnought is ‘a type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century, larger and faster than its predecessors and equipped entirely with large-calibre guns’. It also describes ‘a fearless person’. Both interpretations of this codename are entirely apt, for not only is the V12 Vantage V600 the biggest of big guns, harking back to Aston’s greatest heavyweight of the late-20th century, it would never have come to be were it not for the singular vision of a brave and bold Aston Martin customer. For privacy reasons he shall remain nameless, but we – and the thirteen other V600 customers – have a lot to thank him for. Why? Well, for starters it’s highly unlikely that Aston Martin would have…

Dassi Interceptor From £5995 dassi.com Surely the perfect companion to your Aston Martin Valkyrie, this bicycle presents a challenge to our limited vocabulary. To describe it as merely ‘high-tech’ or ‘innovative’ would be an insult, made as it is with a material only isolated in 2004, and which won its discoverers the Nobel Prize in Physics. That wonder-stuff is graphene, a carbon allotrope 200 times stronger than steel yet lighter than paper, and it has allowed British manufacturer Dassi to build a super-tough frame that weighs just 750g. Insert your own expletive here. Production History poster by Hive Posters From $22.50 hiveposters.storenvy.com A neat summation of the many marvellous machines that Aston has built since 1950, beginning with the DB2 and ending with the DBS Superleggera. It works as a…

Where it all began

I CAME TO NORTH YORKSHIRE the very first time I drove the then-all-new V8 Vantage. It was an assignment for Vantage’s sister magazine, evo, and I can still recall the fizz of anticipation and excitement. Its tight, chiselled shape was so good. And then there was the novelty of a new ‘affordable’ Aston. With a starting price of £79,995, not only was it the hottest thing Aston had offered in a generation but it brought the brand within reach of those who previously could but dream. Naturally the evo test team wasted no time in putting the new baby Aston through its paces, with a 1000-mile, 36-hour, three-driver relay. Jethro Bovingdon collected the Vantage from Gaydon and drove it to Black Rock Sands in North Wales; then John Barker drove it through…

Where it all began

DESIGNS FOR LIFE

BRUSQUE MIGHT SOUND like a piece of toast floating in your soup, but it’s a fair description of John Heffernan, car designer’s car designer and the man who penned Aston Martin’s 1988 Virage and 1990s Vantage models. ‘I don’t like “penned”,’ he growls softly. ‘Journalists are always writing “this or that car was penned”, as if it was just a few drawings and it just happened. In fact the design process is all about following the project through, working with the engineers; it’s very involved.’ So not penned, then… Not that Heffernan is a rude man. Not a bit of it, he’s kind and welcoming, just slightly prickly, like a Jack Russell fished out of a tub of hair gel. His clipped diction is as precise as his trimmed beard and his steely…

DESIGNS FOR LIFE

AMBITION AND AGONY

THE AIM COULDN’T HAVE BEEN CLEARER. ‘I want us to build a racing car that can take on the big-engined Ferraris,’ said David Brown. At the time, Aston Martin had no real basis for such a car so this was a huge ambition, but then ambition was never something Brown lacked. What follows is a salutary tale, but also evidence of the immense skills and capability that would lead Aston Martin to its many successes – with other cars. Success rarely comes without heartache along the way and the V12-engined Lagonda provided plenty of that. Brown had bought Lagonda in 1947, chiefly to acquire the WO Bentley and Willie Watson-created LB6 (Lagonda Bentley) 6-cylinder engine that would later power the DB2. But there was more to the acquisition than the engine.…

AMBITION AND AGONY

LEARNING YOUR LINES

In front of us is a laptop: there’s a video on it, and telemetry, but for now racing driver Stuart Moseley and I are concentrating on a small whiteboard instead. It’s about the size of a place-mat, and on it is printed the layout of Donington Park National Circuit. I’m 45, yet today I’m back to school. The best kind of education, though, with Aston Martin’s new AMR Academy – part of a range of track activities now being offered to customers under the AMR Drivers’ Club banner. Over two days I’ll be repeating lines, not as punishment, but to find the fastest way around the circuit. Moseley is drawing what should be the perfect one around Turn 1, Redgate, the corner that is so far proving my nemesis… I’ve stood and…

LEARNING YOUR LINES

email us eds@vantagemag.co.uk write to us Vantage Magazine Editorial, Dennis Publishing, 31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP Driving a bargain Lovely to see VMF 65, the ex-works DB2, in your last issue (Winter 2018), being driven by Darren Turner at the Goodwood Revival race meeting. I owned this car back in the early 1960s, albeit very briefly… The black-and-white photo was taken outside the officers’ mess at RAF Catterick on the night in 1963 when I bought VMF from one Flight Lt Bloomfield for the princely sum of £250. (PUM 6 was the ex-Arnold Burton rally car, which I had bought a few months earlier, also for £250!) I’d taken my boss’s son along to drive my new purchase home – which made it tricky the next day when the…

THE POLISH CONNECTION

THE CONTRIBUTION OF POLISH PILOTS to the defence of Britain during the Second World War is widely appreciated. But how many car enthusiasts know that without several gentlemen of Polish descent there would be no Aston Martin brand as we know it today? Surprising, but absolutely true. As a Pole based in Britain, I’ve long been fascinated by their stories, which is why I’m setting out on a journey that will celebrate the part each of them has played in the Aston story. Our transport: a DB11 AMR, and our first stop Brooklands, the spiritual home of British motorsport. Among the ghosts that circle the vast banking, one Count Louis Zborowski, and a more colourful character you couldn’t hope to meet… Louis Vorow Zborowski, Count de Mountsaulvain, was a vastly wealthy landowner,…

THE POLISH CONNECTION

WE FIRST FEATURED THE WORK of the Rev Adam Gompertz back in the Autumn 2016 issue of Vantage. Since then the self-proclaimed ‘scribbling vicar‘ has carved himself an enviable niche in the crowded world of automotive art. Much to his – and our – delight, in the spring of 2018 he was given the role of Aston Martin’s artist-in-residence. Sensing the perfect excuse to feature more of his beautiful sketches, a little under a year after his appointment we caught up with him at Aston Martin’s Gaydon HQ. For those of you unfamiliar with Gompertz’s story, a quick recap. A lifelong car enthusiast, he enrolled on the renowned Coventry University transport design course at the ripe old age of 27. After his graduation, he joined the design team at MG…

Aston Martin first kicked around the idea of a Vantage version of its V8 as far back as 1969, just after the DBS V8 was introduced. A prototype was built with what was virtually a race-spec engine and reportedly hit 170mph in testing, but the financial climate wasn’t propitious, and then David Brown sold the company and the idea was quietly shelved. Tricky times followed, culminating in the closure of the factory for the best part of a year. When it reopened in 1975, Aston badly needed something special to get itself noticed again. The management soon seized on William Towns’s audacious Lagonda saloon; meanwhile a small team of engineers resurrected the idea of a go-faster Aston. And so the Vantage was born. The name had been around since the ’50s…

What the road testers said at the time

‘A NEW PERFORMANCE STANDARD has been set amongst so-called “super-cars”. And it originates not in Modena or Stuttgart, but in urban Newport Pagnell… A furious, throaty roar from the Webers and twin exhausts greets modest pressure of the right foot, rising to an ecstatic howl when the power starts to come in above 2000rpm. By no stretch of the imagination could this be called a quiet car, yet the nature of the noise and its level is not painful – to the enthusiasts who are likely to buy the Vantage, it will be joyous music, as it was to me. Its performance is simply stupendous and relentless. While Boxers, Countachs and Porsche Turbos habitually eat their clutches if full-power standing starts are attempted, this Aston simply lays a trail of rubber as…

What the road testers said at the time

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Did you know you could save money and get every issue delivered to your door for free? Better yet, if you continue your subscription after your trial issue you can get the whole year (4 issues) for just £22, which is an additional 8% saving on the shop price! For our digital editions visit zinio.com and search ‘Vantage’ ORDER ONLINE AT dennismags.co.uk/vantage OR CALL 0330 333 9491 AND QUOTE OFFER CODE: D1903 Calls to 03 numbers will be charged at your standard local rate. Live outside the UK? For our best overseas subscription offers visit dennismags.co.uk/vantage or call +44 (0)330 333 9491 for our Rest of World subscriptions. For USA call 1-800-428-3003 or visit www.imsnews.com/vantage…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Hard to keep up, isn’t it? With Aston Martin’s ambition, that is. It was always part of the fabled Second Century Plan for Aston to become a true Ferrari rival with a mid-engined product portfolio to match, but the 2019 Geneva show was the first time we’ve actually been able to see quite what that Second Century vision looks like. As we know, the patriarch of Aston’s mid-engined family is the jaw-dropping Valkyrie, the first running prototype of which was also proudly on display in Geneva. Unsurprisingly, its influence could clearly be seen in seen in Project 003 and the Vanquish Vision Concept. Project 003, or ‘Son of Valkyrie’ as many have nicknamed it, is another limited-run all-carbon hypercar – 500 will be built – but it is being sold…

Jean Moss has had her 1959 Aston Martin DB MkIII drophead coupé since 1975. That’s 44 years. It goes better now than it did when new, and a lot better than it did when she first saw it, neglected and immobile with a suspected head gasket failure, in Wiltshire. ‘A customer had found it,’ Jean relates, ‘and my late husband Michael and he went to look at it. The customer then said he couldn’t justify the cost of all the work it needed, so that was that. Not long afterwards, the seller called Michael. “The head gasket has gone,” he said. “Would you buy it?” How much? “£1100?” No. “£850, then?” Still no. ‘Michael called him back a few weeks later. Was the deal still on the table? It was, and we…

Project 003: the rivals

IF THE 003 HAD APPEARED a few years ago, its natural rivals would have been the so-called ‘Holy Trinity’ of McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari. Of the trio it’s the LaFerrari (above left) that Aston most desires to be compared with, though environmental pressures and technological progress dictate that the 003 will be powered by a turbocharged V6, and not a wailing V12. The big question hangs on whether it will be hybrid. The smart money suggests it will, as the P1, 918 and LaFerrari all featured hybrid powertrains, as will their successors. Unless, of course, McLaren or Porsche makes its next hypercar an EV… McLaren is still a relative newcomer to the scene, but its prolific output has seen the Woking marque make a big impact across…

Project 003: the rivals

Some garages are too good to be true. Squeaky-clean, no sign of real renovation being done, lacking in metal-bashing, rust-banishing, oil-infused realism. They keep the dirty, really physical stuff hidden away while parading the clinical cleanliness that makes customers feel better about the cheques they’ll be writing. Four Ashes Garage is not like that. Four Ashes Garage, at Pathlow on the old A34 between Stratford-on-Avon and Birmingham, is a proper garage. It looks as if it should have a showroom, but the space is filled with boxes and parts in what looks to me like chaotic disarray. ‘I know where everything is,’ says co-proprietor Jean Moss. ‘Now, come with me to the workshop and mind you don’t trip over anything.’ Business partner and husband Chris Adams is aware that stock control could…

Vanquish: the rivals

IF YOU’RE SERIOUS about building mid-engined supercars you have to tackle Ferrari head-on. That’s a truly formidable challenge, even for Ferrari’s age-old adversary Lamborghini, which enjoys a half-century of mid-engined heritage, prodigious VW Group resources and a pre-eminent position as the maker of poster cars for successive generations of pubescent car fans. That Aston Martin would position itself as a worthy rival to Ferrari was never in doubt. That it would do so with an aluminium-tubbed car is perhaps more of a surprise, given Valkyrie and 003 are both crafted from carbonfibre. Yet, as both the Ferrari 488 (above left) and Lamborghini Huracán (right) feature aluminium chassis, it remains the class norm. Indeed, of the main players only McLaren has committed to an all-carbon family of cars, a decision motivated…

Vanquish: the rivals

ALL THE ROAD CARS

1920s-1930s Sports/Super Sports 1920-1925 SPECIFICATION Engine 1.5-litre in-line 4 Power 55bhp Torque n/a 0-60mph n/a Top speed 90mph Although the first ‘Aston Martin’ had been created in 1915, the Great War meant production didn’t actually start until 1920. And because the early years were all about motorsport, it wasn’t until 1923 that cars went on sale to the general public. The Sports was advanced for its time, with four-wheel brakes and a fully floating rear axle, and in Super Sports form it got a twin-cam, 16-valve four with a lusty 55bhp. Business was tough, though, and after around 60 cars had been sold, the company went into receivership in 1925. Second Series/New International/Le Mans 1932-1934 SPECIFICATION Engine 1495cc, in-line 4 Power 70bhp Torque n/a 0-60mph n/a Top speed 85mph Price reductions, made possible by out-sourcing more components, and continuing motorsport success at Le Mans and elsewhere…

ALL THE ROAD CARS

1-7-2-8-3-9-6-12-5-11-4-10. No, this isn’t some kind of Enigma-like cypher. Nor is it next week’s winning Lotto numbers. However, if you happen to have a drop or two of petrol in your veins you’ll know it to be something far more exciting, for it represents the sinus rhythm of the Valkyrie’s beating heart. The firing order for what promises to be the greatest road-legal internal combustion engine ever made is one of the more arcane collections of numbers attached to this already legendary Cosworth-built V12. Dig into its vital stats and ever more extraordinary numbers tumble forth, each one more remarkable than the last. Displacing 6.5 litres, the 65-degree V12 sets exceptional new standards for maximum rpm and specific output, with a certified peak power output of 1000bhp (or 153.8bhp per…

HEROES: WALTER HAYES

Walter Hayes appears on this back page because he became Aston Martin’s chairman when the company was rescued by Ford, and it was Hayes who made the idea of a ‘small’ or ‘affordable’ Aston, talked about for years, into DB7 reality and thus made the company viable again. Without Walter Hayes’ vision, Aston Martin might not exist today. The seed for this was sown in 1987 when publicity genius Hayes, back at Ford of Europe as vice-chairman after a stint at Dearborn, convinced dynasty head Henry Ford II to buy troubled Aston Martin. Ever the car enthusiast with a keen sense both of history and of opportunity, Hayes spotted potential in Aston’s fading splendour. He happened to meet Aston Martin’s then chairman Victor Gauntlett during the 1987 historic Mille Miglia, both…

HEROES: WALTER HAYES

History has a strange and, at times, frustrating ability to gloss over the truth, especially when it gets in the way of a conveniently simple narrative. Marie Antoinette never suggested anyone ate cake, Einstein did not flunk maths at school and the evidence for Hitler being uni-testicular is mixed at best. Likewise, the DB7 is not the car that saved Aston Martin. Hell of a thing to say, I know, but the truth is not so clear cut. Yes, the DB7’s role was crucial to the company’s survival because without it Ford would have shut the doors at once; but it was another car, the DB7 Vantage you see here, that did far more to convince Ford that Aston Martin was worthy of long term investment. Semantics? Not at all.…

The way it was – DB7 Vantage production at Bloxham

MY WIFE AND I WERE visiting London from the US in 1999 and walking in Mayfair we spotted an Aston Martin DB7 parked on the street. Astons were much rarer in 1999 than they are now and this was the first DB7 we had ever seen. We thought it was the most beautiful car, and when we returned to California we went to an Aston dealer, test drove a DB7 and placed an order. I was back in the UK on business in 2000, a few months before our car was due, and was able to arrange a visit to the factory in Bloxham. The cars were manually pushed from station to station. The engines were delivered fully assembled but the rest of the car was hand-assembled. I remember there…

The way it was – DB7 Vantage production at Bloxham

It’s over a quarter of a century since the idea of a V12 in a modern product of Aston Martin Lagonda was mooted, and 23 years since the first modern V12 was actually built. Yet that engine’s architecture has stayed recognisable right up to the present day, although currently it powers only the Rapide S saloon, having been ousted, for the DB11 and the new DBS, by a new twin-turbo V12. And even the new forced-induction motor retains the old one’s bore centres, and indeed the bore diameter itself. Clearly, the 5.9-litre V12’s days are numbered, but what a career the engine known as AE28 has had. It is popularly supposed to have started life in the prototype engineering department as two Ford Mondeo Duratec V6s welded together but, appealing…

Dreadnought. Quite the codename, isn’t it? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dreadnought is ‘a type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century, larger and faster than its predecessors and equipped entirely with large-calibre guns’. It also describes ‘a fearless person’. Both interpretations of this codename are entirely apt, for not only is the V12 Vantage V600 the biggest of big guns, harking back to Aston’s greatest heavyweight of the late-20th century, it would never have come to be were it not for the singular vision of a brave and bold Aston Martin customer. For privacy reasons he shall remain nameless, but we – and the thirteen other V600 customers – have a lot to thank him for. Why? Well, for starters it’s highly unlikely that Aston Martin…

Where it all began

I CAME TO NORTH YORKSHIRE the very first time I drove the then-all-new V8 Vantage. It was an assignment for Vantage’s sister magazine, evo, and I can still recall the fizz of anticipation and excitement. Its tight, chiselled shape was so good. And then there was the novelty of a new ‘affordable’ Aston. With a starting price of £79,995, not only was it the hottest thing Aston had offered in a generation but it brought the brand within reach of those who previously could but dream. Naturally the evo test team wasted no time in putting the new baby Aston through its paces, with a 1000-mile, 36-hour, three-driver relay. Jethro Bovingdon collected the Vantage from Gaydon and drove it to Black Rock Sands in North Wales; then John Barker drove…

Where it all began

DESIGNS FOR LIFE

BRUSQUE MIGHT SOUND like a piece of toast floating in your soup, but it’s a fair description of John Heffernan, car designer’s car designer and the man who penned Aston Martin’s 1988 Virage and 1990s Vantage models. ‘I don’t like “penned”,’ he growls softly. ‘Journalists are always writing “this or that car was penned”, as if it was just a few drawings and it just happened. In fact the design process is all about following the project through, working with the engineers; it’s very involved.’ So not penned, then… Not that Heffernan is a rude man. Not a bit of it, he’s kind and welcoming, just slightly prickly, like a Jack Russell fished out of a tub of hair gel. His clipped diction is as precise as his trimmed beard…

DESIGNS FOR LIFE

AMBITION AND AGONY

THE AIM COULDN’T HAVE BEEN CLEARER. ‘I want us to build a racing car that can take on the big-engined Ferraris,’ said David Brown. At the time, Aston Martin had no real basis for such a car so this was a huge ambition, but then ambition was never something Brown lacked. What follows is a salutary tale, but also evidence of the immense skills and capability that would lead Aston Martin to its many successes – with other cars. Success rarely comes without heartache along the way and the V12-engined Lagonda provided plenty of that. Brown had bought Lagonda in 1947, chiefly to acquire the WO Bentley and Willie Watson-created LB6 (Lagonda Bentley) 6-cylinder engine that would later power the DB2. But there was more to the acquisition than the…

AMBITION AND AGONY

LEARNING YOUR LINES

In front of us is a laptop: there’s a video on it, and telemetry, but for now racing driver Stuart Moseley and I are concentrating on a small whiteboard instead. It’s about the size of a place-mat, and on it is printed the layout of Donington Park National Circuit. I’m 45, yet today I’m back to school. The best kind of education, though, with Aston Martin’s new AMR Academy – part of a range of track activities now being offered to customers under the AMR Drivers’ Club banner. Over two days I’ll be repeating lines, not as punishment, but to find the fastest way around the circuit. Moseley is drawing what should be the perfect one around Turn 1, Redgate, the corner that is so far proving my nemesis… I’ve…

LEARNING YOUR LINES

THE POLISH CONNECTION

THE CONTRIBUTION OF POLISH PILOTS to the defence of Britain during the Second World War is widely appreciated. But how many car enthusiasts know that without several gentlemen of Polish descent there would be no Aston Martin brand as we know it today? Surprising, but absolutely true. As a Pole based in Britain, I’ve long been fascinated by their stories, which is why I’m setting out on a journey that will celebrate the part each of them has played in the Aston story. Our transport: a DB11 AMR, and our first stop Brooklands, the spiritual home of British motorsport. Among the ghosts that circle the vast banking, one Count Louis Zborowski, and a more colourful character you couldn’t hope to meet… Louis Vorow Zborowski, Count de Mountsaulvain, was a vastly…

THE POLISH CONNECTION

Aston Martin first kicked around the idea of a Vantage version of its V8 as far back as 1969, just after the DBS V8 was introduced. A prototype was built with what was virtually a race-spec engine and reportedly hit 170mph in testing, but the financial climate wasn’t propitious, and then David Brown sold the company and the idea was quietly shelved. Tricky times followed, culminating in the closure of the factory for the best part of a year. When it reopened in 1975, Aston badly needed something special to get itself noticed again. The management soon seized on William Towns’s audacious Lagonda saloon; meanwhile a small team of engineers resurrected the idea of a go-faster Aston. And so the Vantage was born. The name had been around since the…

What the road testers said at the time

‘A NEW PERFORMANCE STANDARD has been set amongst so-called “super-cars”. And it originates not in Modena or Stuttgart, but in urban Newport Pagnell… A furious, throaty roar from the Webers and twin exhausts greets modest pressure of the right foot, rising to an ecstatic howl when the power starts to come in above 2000rpm. By no stretch of the imagination could this be called a quiet car, yet the nature of the noise and its level is not painful – to the enthusiasts who are likely to buy the Vantage, it will be joyous music, as it was to me. Its performance is simply stupendous and relentless. While Boxers, Countachs and Porsche Turbos habitually eat their clutches if full-power standing starts are attempted, this Aston simply lays a trail of…

What the road testers said at the time

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Did you know you could save money and get every issue delivered to your door for free? Better yet, if you continue your subscription after your trial issue you can get the whole year (4 issues) for just £22, which is an additional 8% saving on the shop price! For our digital editions visit zinio.com and search ‘Vantage’ ORDER ONLINE AT dennismags.co.uk/vantage OR CALL 0330 333 9491 AND QUOTE OFFER CODE: D1903 Calls to 03 numbers will be charged at your standard local rate. Live outside the UK? For our best overseas subscription offers visit dennismags.co.uk/vantage or call +44 (0)330 333 9491 for our Rest of World subscriptions. For USA call 1-800-428-3003 or visit www.imsnews.com/vantage…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY

Jean Moss has had her 1959 Aston Martin DB MkIII drophead coupé since 1975. That’s 44 years. It goes better now than it did when new, and a lot better than it did when she first saw it, neglected and immobile with a suspected head gasket failure, in Wiltshire. ‘A customer had found it,’ Jean relates, ‘and my late husband Michael and he went to look at it. The customer then said he couldn’t justify the cost of all the work it needed, so that was that. Not long afterwards, the seller called Michael. “The head gasket has gone,” he said. “Would you buy it?” How much? “£1100?” No. “£850, then?” Still no. ‘Michael called him back a few weeks later. Was the deal still on the table? It was,…

Some garages are too good to be true. Squeaky-clean, no sign of real renovation being done, lacking in metal-bashing, rust-banishing, oil-infused realism. They keep the dirty, really physical stuff hidden away while parading the clinical cleanliness that makes customers feel better about the cheques they’ll be writing. Four Ashes Garage is not like that. Four Ashes Garage, at Pathlow on the old A34 between Stratford-on-Avon and Birmingham, is a proper garage. It looks as if it should have a showroom, but the space is filled with boxes and parts in what looks to me like chaotic disarray. ‘I know where everything is,’ says co-proprietor Jean Moss. ‘Now, come with me to the workshop and mind you don’t trip over anything.’ Business partner and husband Chris Adams is aware that stock…

ALL THE ROAD CARS

1920s-1930s Sports/Super Sports 1920-1925 SPECIFICATION Engine 1.5-litre in-line 4 Power 55bhp Torque n/a 0-60mph n/a Top speed 90mph Although the first ‘Aston Martin’ had been created in 1915, the Great War meant production didn’t actually start until 1920. And because the early years were all about motorsport, it wasn’t until 1923 that cars went on sale to the general public. The Sports was advanced for its time, with four-wheel brakes and a fully floating rear axle, and in Super Sports form it got a twin-cam, 16-valve four with a lusty 55bhp. Business was tough, though, and after around 60 cars had been sold, the company went into receivership in 1925. Second Series/New International/Le Mans 1932-1934 SPECIFICATION Engine 1495cc, in-line 4 Power 70bhp Torque n/a 0-60mph n/a Top speed 85mph Price…

ALL THE ROAD CARS

HEROES: WALTER HAYES

Walter Hayes appears on this back page because he became Aston Martin’s chairman when the company was rescued by Ford, and it was Hayes who made the idea of a ‘small’ or ‘affordable’ Aston, talked about for years, into DB7 reality and thus made the company viable again. Without Walter Hayes’ vision, Aston Martin might not exist today. The seed for this was sown in 1987 when publicity genius Hayes, back at Ford of Europe as vice-chairman after a stint at Dearborn, convinced dynasty head Henry Ford II to buy troubled Aston Martin. Ever the car enthusiast with a keen sense both of history and of opportunity, Hayes spotted potential in Aston’s fading splendour. He happened to meet Aston Martin’s then chairman Victor Gauntlett during the 1987 historic Mille Miglia,…

HEROES: WALTER HAYES

In This Issue

Description

Details

Reviews

Recent Digital Issues Browse all

Recent Vantage Digital Issues Browse all back issues

Vantage (Digital) Subscription December 5th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 28: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription August 30th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 27: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription May 22nd, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 26: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription February 28th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 25: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription May 26th, 2021 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 34: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription February 25th, 2021 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 33: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription December 3rd, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 32: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription August 26th, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 31: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription May 28th, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 30: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription February 27th, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 29: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription December 5th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 28: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription August 30th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 27: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription May 22nd, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 26: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription February 28th, 2019 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 25: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription May 26th, 2021 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 34: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription February 25th, 2021 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 33: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription December 3rd, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 32: $6.23

Vantage (Digital) Subscription August 26th, 2020 Issue

Vantage (Digital) Issue 31: $6.23

Customers Also Viewed

iPad: The Complete Manual Magazine (Digital) Subscription February 1st, 2017 Issue

iPad: The Complete Manual Magazine (Digital)

15th Edition: $8.99

Reviews