A one hundred and tenth birthday pressie to Aston Martin, and the answer to a thorny drawback of Aston’s personal making. The Valour’s existence owes a lot to a earlier one-off Aston for re-igniting the guide fuse: the magnificent Victor.
A bespoke fee from a mysterious Belgian purchaser again in 2021, the Victor draped a Seventies Vantage-inspired physique over the all-carbon skeleton and Cosworth-fettled important organs of the One-77 supercar.
Commercial – Web page continues beneath
That stunner was all the time hamstrung by its criminally laggy automated guide gearbox, so for Victor, Aston mercifully binned the actuators and paddles and equipped a six-speed guide centrepiece. We drove it. We adored it and thirsted for extra. And we weren’t alone, which gave Aston Martin a first-world drawback.
What to do when there’s an unruly queue of black card-waving shoppers rattling the manufacturing unit gates, however you’ve solemnly promised Victor’s proprietor their automotive will stay distinctive? And apart from, One-77 chassis hardly develop on timber. Neither do Cos-ified 836bhp V12s.
So, what’s the answer?
To rebody the limited-edition Aston Martin V12 Vantage from a few years in the past – 333 models, all bought – in a Victor-like go well with, and crucially swap in an equally dramatic guide gearbox.
The Valour sees the 5.2-litre biturbo V12 tuned to ship 705bhp and 555lb ft: greater than a Vantage or Speedster, lower than a DBS. Aston doesn’t make any 0-62mph or high velocity claims, as a result of this isn’t a automotive about numbers. There’s no downforce ‘this’ or Nürburgring ‘that’ connected to the automotive. It’s a celebration of a uncommon recipe: large engine, guide gearbox.
Commercial – Web page continues beneath
Actually appears to be like punchy…
You’ll be able to see the Valour’s household resemblance to Victor from each, um, vantage level. The hooded, leering headlamps bookending a gargantuan whalefish grille. The upswept ducktail adorned with intricate multi-fin tail lights. The spiderweb wheels.
It’s not a classically elegant Aston Martin. It’s brutish and unusual form to hint your eyes throughout, with heavy-handed aspect skirts and a bizarrely lofty floor clearance. We love the conflict of its slicked-back roof with the unapologetically butch particulars like the burned extractor vent behind the entrance wheel. It’s like one thing David Attenborough would warn you about treading on within the Outback. “Beware the wrath of the red-lipped ridgeback white-spotted poison-frog of loss of life.”
How a lot is it?
Over £1 million, we’re instructed. And naturally, every of the 110 can be specced otherwise, in order that value will solely develop. For one as seen in our gallery, with daring lipstick, roundels on the doorways, a lot shiny carbon and tweed seats, you’re unlikely to obtain change from £1.5 mill.
That’s quite a bit for a rebodied Vantage.
It hasn’t put anybody off. Aston Martin says all examples had been snapped up inside two weeks of the automotive’s reveal, and it’s now engaged on 38 examples of a fair lighter, extra highly effective, aero-honed model referred to as the Valiant, which was apparently a fee from skilled meme fanatic and part-time F1 ace Fernando Alonso.
As ever, in the event you attempt to rationalise the value requested for a restricted version… it ain’t aimed toward you. That is costly as a result of it’s uncommon. As a result of it’s the primary time a twin-turbo V12 Aston has sported three pedals and a stick.
What is the verdict?
“It appears like a worthy successor to the Vantage V600 of the Nineteen Nineties: one other heavyweight bruiser with extra poke than was strictly advisable”
Unattainable to make a smart case for, however laudable all the identical only for present, the Valour’s a really ‘Aston’ form of Aston. In spite of everything, the DBX is important for the underside line and the Valkyrie is a technical showcase, however in the event you requested most people on the road what’s ‘an Aston’ likelihood is they’d say one thing with an enormous Spitfire engine within the entrance, a swoopy coupe roofline, two seats, extensive haunches and suave GT credentials.
The Valour’s in that wheelhouse. In reality, it appears like a worthy successor to the Vantage V600 of the Nineteen Nineties: one other twin-charged heavyweight bruiser with extra poke than was strictly advisable, made in tiny numbers for collectors who prized its shortage and the sense they had been shopping for the final of a breed.
Hopefully, after the Valour and Valiant, Aston will proceed to seek out area in its line-up for a automotive like this. As a result of whilst expertise advances and tastes change, it’ll by no means exit of trend.