Aston Martin DBS: the lowdown
CAR Online today brings you undisguised pictures of Aston Martin’s flagship DB9, which stars in the latest Bond movie Casino Royale. Eagle-eyed reader Richard Sellers spied the 530bhp supercoupe at Silverstone last Sunday [5 November], and bagged these images with his cameraphone. Richard’s close up gives us the best look yet at the DBS’s rear end. Check out the detailed aerodynamics, with an F1-style diffuser and subtle boot spoiler to sucker the coupe to the road. Those tarnished exhausts aren’t the beautifully milled, finished article but otherwise the flagship DB9’s rear end is complete. The new, deeper side sills, which add real muscularity to the design, are also clearly visible.
James Bond’s new wheels
The DBS is supposedly top secret, but it’s more high profile than new 007 Daniel Craig himself. We’ve spied a development car tackling the Nurburgring circuit, and the DBS will take a bow in Casino Royale, which opens nationwide on 17 November. Punters will be able to see the uprated V12 coupe at either the 2007 Geneva or Frankfurt motor show; a Detroit unveiling in January is no longer on the cards. Deliveries are now set for the autumn, with a likely price tag around £160,000.
DBS details
The DBS spotted by Richard Sellers was parked in the British Racing Drivers Club’s car park, at Silverstone. ‘It was a left hooker with Aston Martin plates, with blanked off bonnet air scoops and unfinished tail pipes,’ said Richard. Under the new bonnet lurks the DB9’s V12, but fettled to produce around 530bhp, an extra 80 horses. It’s fed by a bespoke bumper with an enlarged air scoop to feed the new radiator, underscored by a chin spoiler.
What’s in a name?
Aston sources vow the production car will be called DBS, despite this prototype wearing the DBRS9 badges of Aston Martin’s GT3 race car. Like the racer, the DBS has a wider track to handle the extra power. And it rides on 20inch alloy wheels, too.