Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Al Hilal Group's David Beckett relishes in 'la joie de vivre' as the impressive new DBS is launched Perhaps as an endorsement and homage to the entente cordiale and with concessionary respect to the verity that the French also know a thing or two about luxury living that Aston Martin selected France as the 'lifestyle' destination of choice to launch the 'nouveau modle supŽrieur' DBS.
Over a period of two weeks in October, GulfWeekly, alongside media representatives from across the globe, were treated to an entire luxury lifestyle experience ranging from a trip on a private jet, haute cuisine, wine tasting, rŽsidant dans de beaux ch‰teaux and, at the business end, driving over 400 kilometres in the new top performer from the house of Aston. But don't be confused, this is truly a British thoroughbred that has been progressively evolved from the former top marquŽ, the Vanquish and inspired by the DB9 road car and ultimately designed as an embodiment of the very powerful and successful DBR9 race car.
This certainly now is the most extreme road going Aston Martin available representing race tack technology and dynamics yet with all of the revered and world-renowned style and elegance that aficionados of Aston Martin have grown to adore offering power, beauty and soul.
Aston Martin design director, Martin Reichmann had previously described the new DBS as a good match for the latest Bond actor. "Daniel Craig brings a sort of masculine quality to the role, the new DBS has the same feel - it's a brutal and muscle-bound man in a fitted tuxedo!"
Dr Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin chairman and CEO, exuding his passion for the company's growth, enthused at the event: "This new model represents strength, power and agility and symbolises the future and design direction that Aston Martin is now heading in and with the backing and support of our new owners there will be some very exciting new models manifesting from the new design studio headquarters."
The senior execs' certainly provided us with an incredible driving experience over a 400km route through some of the most beautiful and diverse scenery.
An opportunity to "let rip" at will on the fast highways and "bubble" along with the signature acoustics of the Aston V12 heartbeat, with the occasional 'defiant' snarl, through picturesque villages and autumn-misted valleys around Toulouse.
The range of this six-geared and six-litre power pack is quite incredible, even cruising gently along in fifth or six gear there is still available torque on demand without having to fervently crash through the gears to accelerate, and this contributes to an over-all smoother driving experience.
The benefits of the up-rated braking and driving control systems are very apparent with six piston caliper ventilated carbon ceramic discs inherited from the racing version. Other features include dynamic stability control (with racetrack mode), ABS, electronic brake force distribution and traction control.
Combine this with extensive use of ultra-light carbon fibre body panels, a near perfect weight distribution and a hand built V12 power unit representing 510 brake horsepower, then no surprise that the 0-100kmh can be very pleasurably reached in 4.3 seconds.
The body-lines with aggressive side skirts and the essential, whilst attractively pronounced air intakes, actually inspire envy from all viewpoints and for those loyal motoring connoisseurs who have worshiped such aesthetic attributes and technically advanced engineering developments through the evolution of Aston Martin then this is an epiphanic moment in time.
Through the use of race derived materials and components and unsurpassed hand-built expertise, the DBS presents to the market the closest link possible between road and track providing incredible driving pleasure and capabilities.
Full credit must be given at this opportunity to the assisting organisers of the event, Blank Canvas, who played such a key role in the logistics and organisation of this event, in particular to the omnipresent Ray, (The grey fox) and the very charming Katherine.
The only problem currently facing Aston Martin is that demand is huge for their range of motors and with a fast-growing global elite client base the oversubscription for the 400 hand-built DBS models will certainly be a headache for the distributors and a disappointment for those aspirant purchasers ... but I feel certain that with the new ownership and investment that this is one of the issues currently being addressed and, for sure, Dr Bez has got plenty more tricks up his sleeve.
