1970 Aston Martin Dbs on 2040-cars

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Watch Top Gear lap the Aston Martin Vulcan at Yas Marina

Late last month, we reported on Top Gear – that's the magazine, not the TV show – getting its first crack at the new Aston Martin Vulcan. While impressions of the track star were limited to text, the famous British mag has now released video of its close encounter at the Yas Marina Circuit. You want to watch this video. Despite Top Gear not actually being on the air, it's pretty clear the video team on the magazine end has taken a lot of inspiration from the telly. Stylistically, this is a good thing. But it's also good because of the details we can see on the Vulcan. Every louver, scoop, and slat seems to get attention, and the footage where the entire car is featured is just gorgeous. If you don't have flashbacks of Clarkson, Hammond, and May within the first five seconds of the video – when the Vulcan executes a lovely slide on corner exit – then we suggest you watch more TG. Driving the car is Ollie Marriage, the same bloke that wrote last month's piece on the Vulcan, and his sentiments largely echo the text. Only, you know, there's a lot more engine noise. And gear whine. And flames. Like we said, you want to watch this video. And you can. It's embedded up top. Have a look. Related Video:

Race Recap: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans defines 'endurance'

Commenting on the rush of events that rocked beginning and end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Paul Truswell of Radio Le Mans said "the race is about the ability to endure, not just the ability of drivers to do what they do for a long time." The entire race machine, all the way down to the pit boards and radios, has to survive the stress and abuse of the entire day. This was the race to prove those words.
There were two Toyotas, two Porsches and three Audis, five of the seven led the race at some point, six of the seven ran in the top three. Toyota will be hugely disappointed that it didn't win when its car and drivers were so, so strong, but they gave Audi the kind of scare we haven't seen since the best of Peugeot's days, and Toyota did a better job of it even in the loss. Porsche blew away everyone's expectations, falling 3.5 hours short of a fairy tale ending that would have made Disney cry.
But Le Mans doesn't really do fairy tales. Well, not that fairy tale. Audi's Twitter handle during the event was #welcomechallenges. As usual, Le Mans answered for the entire field.

Aston Martin DB5 'No Time to Die' Edition takes 007 to the tikes

Last August, The Little Car Company introduced the Aston Martin DB5 Junior. It was a two-thirds-scale replica of the life-sized item, with an electric powertrain in place of the inline-six, made for kids whose leases were up on their Little Tikes Cars and wanted to get into something more mature. A year later, with the new James Bond film No Time to Die finally reaching theaters at the end of this month, The Little Car Company (TLC) has rolled out a DB5 Junior No Time to Die Edition in its sales garage. Working with Aston Martin, Eon Productions, and Bond film special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, the newest little Aston gets more power and a host of gadgets. The original DB5 Junior contained a 1.8-kWh battery pack powering a 6.7-horsepower motor, and could be driven in Novice or Expert modes. The Bond-themed version has been uprated to a 7.2-kWh pack turning a 21.5-hp motor, and can be piloted in Novice, Expert, Competition and Escape modes. It's the most powerful vehicle the company currently offers, and can go up to 80 miles on a charge. Fidelity to the original includes Silver Birch paint and Smiths instruments, although a couple of gauges have been swapped out to serve an EV powertrain instead of internal combustion. The Bilstein dampers and Brembo brakes with brake regeneration are subtle improvements. And true, Daniel Craig's Bond doesn't drive the droptop DB5, but TLC made a Q Branch executive decision so that parents could fit in the car beside their kids.   Gadgets are controlled by a hidden switch panel in the passenger's door, because agents-in-training should focus on driving. They goodies menu lists a digital license plate, fake Gatling guns behind the headlights, a real smokescreen generator emitted through exhaust tips, and a skid mode. Owners of the last year's DB5 Junior will get first right of refusal to purchase the No Time to Die Edition. Unlike the original, which TLC made 1,059 examples of, the DB5 Junior No Time to Die Edition will be limited to 125 units. The new version doubles the price of the original, costing GBP90,000 ($122,616 U.S.) plus tax to become a miniature agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Related Video: