2021 Aston Martin V12 Speedster review UK Car News

Ultimately, there’s a guy called Max Hoffman who’s to blame for this.

This is the man who brought Porsches to America in the 1950s and informed the factory that what was needed there was a stripped-down, scaled-down version of the 356, as sleek as it gets. . At that time, the name and cult of the Speedster was born. And there have been many since, whether they were called or not.

The roofless speedster supercar concept is more recent, dating back I guess to the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, but this is Aston Martin’s first unless, of course, you count the 2013 CC100 concept including a much of his style is clearly derived. This Speedster costs £ 765,000, only 88 will be built and a ‘handful’ will remain available for well over a year after its announcement. A sign of the times I guess.

I wish you could see it for real because even the best pictures don’t do justice to the car’s visual impact. But the Speedster isn’t just about presence: it’s also beautiful.

The set is beautiful but it’s the details that you really learn: the carbon fender vents, the beautiful embroidered headrests, the interior door skins which are a work of art in themselves, those transparent panels. in the double bubble rear deck … I could go over it, probably for the rest of this story, but you get the picture.

But what exactly is the Speedster? In mechanical terms, this is what you get after a DBS and Vantage emerge from the back of the bike shelters, looking slightly smug, a touch of red in their cheek, and rearranging their outer clothing. About a year of development later, the Speedster comes out. Genetically, it owes most of its structure to the rear of the A-pillar in the Vantage, while at the front of this point is pure DBS, including its 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 engine.

The DBS is also donating its carbon-ceramic suspension and brakes, but not its gearbox, as it is back in the Vantage section. This is important because the Vantage’s box is not strong enough to cope with the monster torque of the DBS, so although it does have most of the power (690hp vs. 715hp for the DBS), its torque is. more than 100 lb-ft less than that of the outlet DBS engine. .