Archive for July, 2011
The Aston Martin V12 Zagato Unveiled
Posted by in Aston Martin on July 16, 2011
The sublime new “Aston Martin V12 Zagato (2011)” was unveiled a few weeks ago on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Villa D’Este Concours. By the end of the weekend the new Aston Martin V12 Zagato walked away with the prestigious award for the “Concorso d’Eleganza” (concours d’elegance) Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes.
The new Aston Martin V12 Zagato was designed to mark the 50th anniversary of the legendary iconic “1961 DB4 GT Zagato” which set the benchmark for hand crafted design in luxury sports cars. It follows in the historical heritage of the collaboration of both Aston Martin and designers Zagato in the quest for designing and producing driving excellence. The Italian design house Zagato are well known for their “avant-garde” styling, together with their weight saving approaches using space age materials as well as sleek design line to improve aerodynamics.
Zagato as a design company have collaborated together with Aston Martin on many special models together over the years as well as other “Grand Marque” sports car company’s like; Bentley, Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar, and Lamborghini to name a few, so it is good to see them back together for their latest exotic sports car offering. After its unveiling at the Villa D’Este Concours, the Aston Martin Zagato will be heading for Germany to the formidable “Nürburgring Nordschleife” race circuit to compete in the annual “24-hour Nurburgring Endurance Race” which is set for the 25th June.
The 24-hour Nurburgring race will feature two AM V12 Zagato’s both driven by experienced racing drivers and supported by the Aston Martin Works team. The Nurburgring has always been a true testing ground for Aston Martin and this year’s race will be no different. The AM V12 Zagato will take on two forms, the road going luxury sports car and the stripped down race finish model purely for racing elite and money no object race teams. Read the rest of this entry »
The New Aston Martin Virage, a Performance GT
Posted by in Aston Martin on July 16, 2011
The Aston Martin grand marque has always held a certain mystique in the motoring world. Not only for its motor racing heritage over the last century and being raced by some big name racing drivers, but also classically immortalised in television and big screen films like the James Bond Franchise, which has made it an iconic sports car classic.
With race wins at world renowned circuits like the Le Mans 24 hour race, Aston Martin has come along way from its humble beginnings as a custom built hill climb race car. The company was founded by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford back in 1913. The name “Aston Martin” was introduced as a branded vehicle in 1913, but took the name “Aston” from a hill race circuit called “Aston Hill” close to the neighbouring village of Aston Clinton, where they both raced their race car specials. From then on Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford decided to make their own vehicles with a view to selling them to the general public.
Fast forward to the present day and the world of Aston Martin looks very different than it did nearly 100 years ago, with the 2011 launch on the new Aston Martin “Virage” to compliment the current range of cars. It has caused a bit of a stir in the motor industry with motor journalists and automotive sports car fans. The new Aston Martin Virage is being hailed as a true performance “Grand Tourer” and a great as an every day all round sports car for the price tag of around £150,000.
The Virage sits between the Aston Martin DB9 and the leading performance DBS within the current range in both pricing and power output. The power plant in the in the Virage is a 6.0-litre V12 engine, producing 490bhp, which is exactly 20bhp below that of the DB9 and 20bhp more than its bigger brother the DBS.
Styling-wise it looks similar to that of the DB9, but features a wider mouthed grill, newer looking “skirted” sills, a much cleaner front bumper and a single lower grille to move away from the DB9′s three-piece grille styling. Overall the appearance is vastly improved over the DB9 visually and brings a more elegant feel to the Virage, but brings a true feel of a GT 2+2 or a 2 seater option if weight is an issue. Inside the interior has a had a revamp from the DB9, there are newly styled & upgraded leather seats, a new Garmin branded Sat-Nav and the cockpit has been re-styled from that of the other 2 models to give a cleaner more comfortable feel. Overall it’s a very attractive car with great performance and bags of usability and it is sure to be in demand. Read the rest of this entry »