Aston Martin is taking inspiration from the eighties for its latest bespoke one-off, that's not only an homage to a classic Aston, but it's also taking its name from a former CEO.
Named after Victor Gauntlett
The Victor name does, in part, follow on from Aston's usual V-badge naming strategy and, like the Vulcan track-day special, also namechecks a famous 'V-Bomber' aircraft from the 1960s (the Handley-Page Victor). It's actually named after Victor Gauntlett, who was Aston Martin's boss (and part-owner) from 1981 to 1991, seeing the company through some fallow sales years, and eventually engineering the sale to Ford that effectively saved Aston. He's a major part of the Aston Martin story, and one who doesn't often get the credit he deserves.
The car named after him, the new Victor, is the creation of Aston Martin's bespoke 'Q Department' and is a one-off, built for a presumably staggeringly wealthy customer. Underneath, it uses a mixture of parts and mechanicals from the Aston Martin One-77 and Vulcan hypercars, but up-top, it's incredibly eighties.
Styling taken from the eighties
If, like me, you're a child of the eighties then the 'correct' shape for an Aston Martin is that of the V8 Vantage from the mid-eighties. A development of the gorgeous 1968 DBS, the V8 Vantage was part-muscle car, part-luxury car, with thunderous sounds from its 5.3-litre V8 engine. If you're struggling to think of what it's looks like, it's the car driven by Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights (Gauntlett's personal car, in fact) or by Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English Strikes Again (actually Rowan Atkinson's own car...).
Or you could just look at the new Victor, which is bristling with styling cues taken from those wonderful eighties Astons. Although the grille is clearly lifted from the modern Vantage coupe, the deeply recessed lights, the massive 'duck-tail' spoiler and the general sense of glowering menace recall both the road-going Vantage and the staggeringly muscular DBS V8 that ran at the Le Mans 24 hours in the seventies. The rear lights are actually modern units, lifted from the upcoming Valkyrie hypercar, and the body is of course made of carbon-fibre, painted in a classic shade called 'Pentland Green.'
Inside, the cabin is cloaked in high-grade Forest Green and Conker Bridge of Weir leathers, while the finest tailor's cashmere covers the upper surfaces. Those gorgeous, soft materials are juxtaposed with hard, shiny carbon fibre, which is left exposed across the rest of the interior. In spite of the car's race-track origins, there's still a slab of wood inside - Crown cut solid walnut across the dashboard, and a solid chunk of walnut that tops the shifter for the six-speed manual gearbox, supplied by Graziano in Italy. The cut-off steering wheel, which appears to have come from the Batmobile, is actually lifted from the Aston Vulcan.
836hp, 7.3-litre V12 engine
All that brutal bodywork on the outside isn't just for show, either. It's been thoroughly aero-tested, and actually produces more downforce than a Vantage GT4 race car.
Just as well, as there's something of an explosive powerplant under the hood. It's a 7.3-litre V12 engine, taken from the old One-77, but extensively rebuilt by Cosworth Engineering. Power? Oh, you'd better believe it - 836hp, backed up by 821Nm of torque.
The suspension is basically the same inboard springs and dampers as the track-only Vulcan. Available with six-stage adjustment, the setup has been honed to meet the demands of imperfect road driving conditions. Fitted with centre-lock wheels, the car's 380mm front and 360mm rear Brembo CMM-R Carbon Ceramic brakes are set to deliver up GT3 race car levels of braking capability as each calliper's six pistons engage.
The Victor's a total one-off, and therefore stratospherically expensive, so let's just assume that it costs as much as a decent EuroMillions win, eh?