A L U M I N I U M
I S S U E
•
n° 3 0 •
ALU MIN IUM
2 0 2 2
ISS UE - n° 30 - 202 2 - € 10
[ The CAR ]
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LUXURY “BARCHETTA” The British marque celebrates its triumphant mid-1950s with an evocative twoseater. Designed to deliver a tantalising taste of the driving style and exhilaration of that decade, it revives the era of Aston Martin’s unparalleled racers - on the road by Diego Tamone
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W
hen it was first presented just a few months
Gaydon, Warwickshire, the cars are always designed, built and
back, Aston Martin dubbed it a ‘living show car’.
assembled with the sole aim of taking to the road or track. This
For a very simple reason: it was too beautiful to
is as true today as when the marque was founded back in 1913.
be real ye also too real to be so beautiful. It seemed almost
It never even remotely occurred to anyone there to break this
impossible that one day that dream machine would ever actually
century-old tradition for the V12 Speedster, the latest blistering
be sold. Normally speaking cars of this ilk are an ephemeral
sports car to purr through the gates at Gaydon. After unveiling
representation of stylistic exercises that will mostly remain just
the Speedster to the world as part of a strictly limited series of
that. Virtuoso examples of extreme creativity designed to last
just 88 examples offered to a select group of clients at a starting
only the length of an international show. Glittering meteors
price tag of just over 900,00 euro, Aston Martin have now done
quickly obscured by the next round of new equally high-falutin’
the near-impossible and made it even more desirable and out-of-
concept cars. However, at the Aston Martin headquarters in
reach with the DBR1 Specification. The new iteration is an ultra-
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[ The CAR ] The Aston Martin V12 Speedster DBR1 unusually has two separate seats, a layout that harks back to the barchetta racing models of the 1950s. Facing page, this front-on view of the sports car reveals that it has neither windscreen nor roof
exclusive designer car configured by the marque’s customisation
driven in helmet and half-finger gloves, just like its inspiration.
division, Q by Aston Martin, as a tribute to the track. The V12
Sculpted and moulded in aluminium around a carbon-fibre chassis
Speedster DBR1 moniker celebrates the stunning barchetta that
by Miles Nurnberger and his design division, the V12 Speedster
swept the boards in the mid-1950s winning everything from the
sports an evocative Racing Green livery that takes over 50 man
Spa Sportscar Race to the Goodwood Tourist Trophy, 1000 km
hours to complete. Racing Green is very much an Aston Martin
of the Nürburgring to and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands
colour as are the car’s performance figures: 0/100 km/h in 3.4
of the legendary likes of Tony Brooks, Carroll Shelby and Stirling
flat and a redline speed of 318 km/h. Courtesy, of course, of a
Moss. A pure-bred racing model, the DBR1 has been cleverly
5.2-litre Twin Turbo that punches out a massive 700 bhp and 753
distilled into contemporary form in the V12 Speedster DBR1,
Nm of torque.
an open-top car with neither posts or windshield that needs to be
www.astonmartin.com
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[ The CAR ]
Clockwise from left, the sporty carbon-fibre separate seats, Conker leather, Viridian Green technical fabric and Caithness leather; the cockpit is designed around the driver who is separated from the passenger cell by the central tunnel and the central spine running front to back. The rear view highlights the open-top model’s further features, notably 21” forged centre lock alloy wheels with a Diamond Turned finish
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