Aston on track with road-legal special

The Vantage developed to mix with the Formula One pack is coming to the showroom.

TURNS out the two safety cars Aston Martin has developed to shepherd this year’s Formula One field can be enjoyed by the brand’s fanbase. 

A week after revealing its track specials, the British marque has unveiled the Vantage F1 Edition, which is basically the same car as that joining the grid for official duty, but without lightbars and so on.

New Zealand has been confirmed as a target market for the F1 Edition, with first examples wet to be available later this year. The car will likely raise big interest with local brand fans it is touted as being fastest and most focused of the whole Vantage breed.

As a celebration of Aston's return to F1 – yes, they were briefly in that mix six decades ago (see the video) - the Vantage F1 Edition has had direct input from Tobias Moers, who was recently appointed the company’s chief executive. In case you've forgotten, before that, he was the boss of Mercedes-AMG. If any bloke knows how to make a taut, thrilling, track-focused special or two, it has to be Moers, right? 

What’s the go here? Essentially, the formula is as you’d expect: More power, a new aerodynamics package and an uprated chassis. 

This edition adopts a retuned version of the ‘standard’ Vantage’s Mercedes AMG-sourced 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8, now developing 393kW and 685Nm – so, exact-matching the race-bound safety car, but up 18kW over the regular road car, and with its peak torque figure offered across a wider portion of the rev range, so as to improve tractability and in-gear response.

To cope with this upswing in muscle, the eight-speed automatic transmission now features an optimised torque-cut during upshifts that reduces the time taken to swap cogs. This also helps on downshifts, allowing for 'finer control when the driver is balancing the car at its limit of traction'. That's all about making the Aston better to steer on track. 

And faster? Seems so. Aston claims 0-100kmh sprint times of 3.6 and 3.7 seconds for the coupe and roadster respectively.

The type also achieves had serious chassis and aerodynamic upgrades enacted upon it by the engineering team of Aston Martin.

Moers asked his team to deliver a Vantage with faster lap times than any model yet seen, but with caveat that the on-road capabilities could not be compromised in the process.

The aero tweaks are more than meets the eye. Detailed underbody modifications are enabled to increase front structural stiffness for finer steering feel and response.

Moving to the suspension, the dampers' internals have been reworked to increase their effective force range, which means the vertical body control should be improved, so the car is less bothered by high-speed compressions or monstering its way over crests.

The rear spring rates have been jacked up, as has lateral stiffness at the back of the Aston. This sharpens turn-in and increases traction, meaning the trailing axle of the car shouldn't be dynamically 'left behind' by the more-eager front end.

To make the most of all this kinematic acuity, the alloy wheels have gone up a size, from 20s on the other Vantage models to a set of 21-inch rims here. These are wrapped in tyres developed specifically for the F1 Edition by Pirelli, and it's the first time any model of Vantage has had such sizeable rubber at all four corners.

The aero kit comprises a full-width front splitter, front dive planes, underbody turning vanes and a big rear wing. Aston hasn't changed the design of the rear diffuser on the F1 Edition, but claims significant positive front and rear downforce; optimally 200kg more than the regular Vantage can summon up at maximum speed.

Other distinguishing features of the F1 Edition include a vaned grille, 2x2-twill carbon-fibre exterior detailing, unique body graphics, quad exhausts and the Satin Black Diamond-Turned 21-inch wheels.

Aston will allow buyers access to a limited but distinctive array of body colours and interior finishing, obviously with a strong motorsport theme. That means the Aston Martin Racing Green colour is available, seen on both Aston's F1 contender for 2021 and also the Safety Car, but there's also Jet Black and Lunar White (Satin or Gloss finish), all of which have a Solid Matte Dark Grey racing graphic to contrast their main hue.

Inside, the Vantage F1 Edition features Obsidian Black leather teamed to Phantom Grey Alcantara, with contrast stripe colours of Lime Green, Obsidian Black, Wolf Grey or Spicy Red available. Choose any of these and the stitching is finished in the same shade, too.

Moers is excited about the car, commenting: “Performance is at the heart of every Aston Martin, but when it wears an F1 badge it has to be a truly exceptional car.

“Vantage was already the most focused sports car in our range but in the development of our Official Safety Car of Formula 1, it had to be a true athlete: more powerful; more agile; more immediate and more exciting to drive. And - of course - quicker and more capable in a race-track environment.

"I set the engineering team a tough target, as I was insistent that gains in performance came via genuine improvements in the car's dynamics, and not by fitting track-optimised tyres. The results speak for themselves.”

Aston builds a booze bus

DBX by Bowmore is fuelled by the maker’s association with the well-known maker of single malt whiskey.

DRINK drive sensitives are potentially never higher than at this time of the year, so perhaps announcement of an Aston Martin that earns ‘limited edition’ status through a tie-up with a high-end whiskey is bound to raise … well, eyebrows as much as any cheer. 

Aston has explained the impetus for the Bowmore Edition of its DBX sports utility all about capturing the essence of two luxury British brands. 

Bowmore is a known single malt whiskey distillery, sited in Islay, Scotland.

This version of the $330,000 DBX, Aston’s first SUV and considered vital to its maker, was created by the in-house bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, and only 18 will be made. 

Although Bowmore Edition models are globally available, part of the buy-in is that an owner achieves delivery during a private lifestyle experience at the distillery.

“Aston Martin DBX has provided the perfect canvas for the highest level of Q by Aston Martin customisation,” Aston Martin boss Marek Reichman is quoted in an overnight release.

“The Aston Martin and Bowmore brands share the same vision of creating timeless beauty and a lasting legacy, loyal to their heritage but also embracing new methods and this is reflected in the DBX Bowmore edition.”

A car fuelled by whiskey isn’t to be taken literally – the DBX’s V8 drop of choice is s high octane petrol – but there are plenty of cues.

For instance, Bowmore-branded strips from the copper whiskey stills are inlayed into the side strakes and Bowmore Tweed accents the interior.

Inside, there are polished copper cup holders, while the sill plaques are made from recycled copper from the Bowmore still.

There’s also hand-laid copper foil detailing on the gloss black centre console trim inlay, and each car features a selection of specially designed Q by Aston Martin accessories such as the Bowmore tweed picnic blanket and leather holdall.

One of the bespoke paint colours is called Bowmore Blue, while the other is Xenon Grey.

“We cannot wait to welcome each of the owners of this beautiful car to our distillery on Islay and show them all that Bowmore and our island home have to offer,” says Francois Bazini, global managing director of Scotch at Beam Suntory, owners of Bowmore.

“Although we make entirely different products, our shared values and passion are very much aligned so you can expect more exciting announcements in the future.”

Customer deliveries are planned to take place in the final quarter of next year.