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At the moment you could place our news into two simple categories; cars and travelling, excluding of course the never ending need for gardening that's required around now, with the trees dripping with the lushness of new growth, the grass growing like mad, and the weeds seemingly with a mind of their own as they spread where nothing else will grow! Several hundred bedding plants have been put in, followed of course by a sharp frost to test their hardiness, and we've been making more improvements around the house adding large terracotta pots and filling them with exotic plants from around the world. Anyhow, gardening is classified more as a necessity rather than pleasure unlike cars and travelling, and as the former and subsequent newsletters are on nothing but our latest trips away, this month's news is going to be unashamedly about nothing but cars, so if you're not a 'petrol head', just click that red button on the top right of the screen and surf the net elsewhere!
The DB9 is coming up to being a year old now and is a really great sportscar. Dennis decided he wanted one too and so although the new V8 Vantage looks very similar to the '9', it is in fact a different type of car, and anyway the two will look nice together in the garage….which got us to thinking that a new Volante would fill the third space beautifully, but that's another story! Last week we were invited to the Gaydon factory to see the Vantage for the first time and 'spec' our order for the new model.We entered the high tech Aston works to find the canary yellow Vantage centre stage in the foyer. Though shorter than the DB9, it's just as wide and has an aggressive squat stance, with wider flared rear wheel arches and lower aerofoils, squared off at each corner. The biggest difference bodily is the very useful hatch back design, allowing for three luggage areas behind the two seats. The interior follows the styling of the '9' but takes a more contemporary or sporty appearance with colour coded stitching to the leather. The gearbox is strictly manual with clutch so that'll be interesting to compare to the semi auto paddle shift we have on the '9'. The engine is a compact V8 with dry sump, producing identical performance speeds to the V12 DB9 due to reduced size and weight, and we look forward to reading what the press say about it's handling once they get their hands on the car. In the meantime we'll just have to wait! Touring the production line of the plant we kept a lookout for appropriate colours for the new car as we were also due to 'spec' the Vantage. Being a car that will appeal to a younger clientele, and in direct competition with the Porche 911, colours are likely to follow a 'funky' trend, and with this in mind we were considering a metallic black with red and black leather interior, but have finalised the choice with an unusual Ferrari colour; grigio titanium exterior with the black leather interior and red stitching and inlay to the doors and seats. Going down the extras list we've opted for the full works. Here's a photo of the rear, with an interior shot of the new DB9 Volante convertible which is definitely more of an elegant Grand Tourer and future classic.
Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day as I won a competition, the prize being a day test driving an Aston over the various courses at Millbrook test ground. The challenges will include high speed driving around the banked circle, across country driving, trying out the skid pan, city driving course, and generally improve my skills and getting the most out of handling such a car. Dennis isn't sure it'll be such a good thing as he prefers a more sedate ride as he likes to sleep whilst I drive! It all came about because Stratstone of Mayfair invited us for a day to Silverstone where this weekend the FIA World Touring car championship is being staged. In fact right now as I type, the two Aston Martin DBR9's are running first and second in the race. On Friday the cars were all practicing and the the guests of Aston had to estimate the fastest practice lap time of the day. At 1 min 17.307 secs, I was within 200ths of a second, and as the nearest time, won the prize. We had a great day there, touring the pits, meeting other Aston customers and enjoying lunch together in the British Racing Drivers Club house.
The logistics involved in setting up a racing team, plus cost of course are immense. The technical regulations of the touring car championship ensure that the DBR9 retains the original shape and dimensions of the production '9', and that engine capacity remains the same, but in reality the racing car is just something else, shedding 700 kilos in weight, with body, clutch and brakes of carbon fibre, although as a customer you can still buy one! Twenty will be available to the World, but with a price tag in excess of £600K. Well, it'd be something different to go to the pub in!
Above illustrates the new Volante convertible in particularly attractive colours, plus on the right, if that's all you can afford, that's all you get! The cutaway profile of the DB9 well illustrates the chassis with the engines and transmission configuration ensuring a perfect 50/50 balance. That rounds up recent events. I hope it wasn't all too boring. Next week for the first time we're off to the Chelsea flower show which we're a little concerned will lead us into grandois ideas for making improvements to the garden. For the time being we're happy to keep it all as it is, mainly lawn, a few mature trees and colourful borders around the house. At least it's manageable and doesn't look too fussy as the rear garden merges straight into agricultural farmland. With a glorious day outside that's where I'm heading now to give the hanging baskets a watering, all except one where a wagtail has decided to make a nest! See you in July unless we've decided to relocate to the Tuscan countryside or something like that. Best regards, Colin & Dennis. |
