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Conquering The Aston Martin Vanquish is back and ready to take on all comers. Just don’t go looking for the invisibility button.
Sound the trumpets, bang the drum! The car with the coolest name ever to grace a boot lid is back. And, no, we don’t mean the Daihatsu Naked, or even the Isuzu GIGA 20 Light Dump – although that comes a close second. We refer, of course, to the mighty Aston Martin Vanquish, originally launched in 2001 and last seen sliding around a melting ice palace in the James Bond flick, Die Another Day. Bond’s car was notable for its ability to turn invisible, and sadly in 2007 the real Vanquish did just that, disappearing from Aston’s model range to be replaced by the more prosaically monikered – but still stonkingly good – DBS. Fast forward to the present day and the Vanquish is on the warpath once more, with its maker touting the two-door, 2+2 seater grand tourer as the first in a new breed of future Astons timed to mark the brand’s 100th anniversary next year. And sure enough, while the name will bring a cosy glow of recognition from Aston Martin fans, in engineering terms Vanquish mk2 represents something of a leap forward for the venerable British marque. At first glance the new Vanquish doesn’t appear to be a huge break from tradition (no bad thing in an Aston Martin) so you might be wondering why those taut edges and flowing curves are
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leaving you just a little more breathless than usual. The answer is carbon fibre. And lots of it. Every single one of the Vanquish’s panels is made from the stuff, from the sculpted roof to the tarmacskimming side skirts, splitter and rear diffuser. As well as providing increased strength and reduced weight, building with carbon enabled the designers to create seamless, complex panel forms that would otherwise have been impossible (the ‘Aero Duct’ spoiler integrated into the rear section is a good example). The result is a car that appears to have leapt straight from the pages of a designer’s sketchpad, with nothing lost in translation. Perhaps that’s why we get the feeling we could lose six demerit points just by looking at it. The new Vanquish is also the first Aston Martin to be built on the company’s fourth generation ‘VH’ (Vertical/Horizontal) platform. Where previous iterations were constructed from solidcast aluminium, the new structure uses hollowcast technology, and boasts yet more carbon fibre components. The front chassis section is now 13 per cent lighter than its DBS equivalent, and Aston Martin claim a 25 per cent increase in overall rigidity.
WORDS Sam Tinson PHOTOGRAPHY Courtesy Aston Martin
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As well as new skin and bones, the 2012 Vanquish also gets a new heart. Aston Martin’s iconic 6.0-litre all-alloy V12 has been given a major revamp, including a revised block, new head, uprated fuel pump, larger throttle bodies and fully machined combustion chambers. The unit delivers a new maximum power output of 565bhp available at 6750rpm, resulting in a power-to-weight ratio of 354bhp/ton – 48bhp/ton up on the previous model. Assisted by an F1-style launch control system that automatically balances throttle, gearbox and traction to deliver the best standing start possible, the Vanquish can achieve 100km/h from standstill in just 4.1 seconds. Keep your right foot planted and 295km/h is yours for the taking. The innovations continue inside the cockpit, a leather-clad cocoon dominated by a cascading centre console derived from the One-77, Aston Martin’s $1.8m Veyron-challenging supercar. The switchgear features illuminated glass buttons that respond to the touch with haptic feedback similar to that used on mobile phones, while the Driver Information Module (also sourced from the One-77) includes iPod and iPhone integration, Garmin sat nav, Bluetooth and even a WiFi hub. Other goodies include a full-grain leather interior, powered memory seats and a 15-speaker B&O audio system. The only thing missing from the new Vanquish seems to be the 007 gizmo that makes it turn invisible. But with a car this good looking, who in their right mind would want to hide it?
BOX BRIEF IGNITION With the exception of the limited edition One-77 and V12 Zagato models, the new Vanquish is the most powerful Aston Martin road car ever built INTERIORS It takes over 70 man-hours, seven cow hides and around one million stitches to create a Vanquish quilted leather interior INSPIRATION Design Director Marek Reichman and his team used the classic Aston Martin GT cars of the 1960s, such as the DB4 Zagato, as a starting point for the new Vanquish
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