2008 Aston Martin Vantage Vantage on 2040-cars

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DBX goes black tie with Q by Aston Martin

Aston Martin won't begin delivering its new DBX to customers in North America until the latter half of this year. Perhaps as a favor to DBX intenders that haven't placed orders yet, Q by Aston Martin has prepared a bespoke DBX for the Geneva Motor Show that presents a sliver of the creative possibilities unlocked by working with Q. The near infinite menu of choices has been broken down into two groups, Q by Aston Martin Commission and Q by Aston Martin Collection. Collection fits a range of predesigned accessories like carbon fiber paddle shifters or hood vent louvers for the DBS Superleggera. The Commission range encompasses all the imagination that a customer's bank account can fund. The Geneva show car wears Satin Xenon Grey paint from the Collection, as well as carbon fiber pieces around the lower exterior, black anodized tread plates and plaques on the sill. The 22-inch gloss black painted wheels come from the Commission department. The grand showcase comes inside the DBX vault. Yards of Obsidian Black Leather come from the SUV's standard options list. Commission stewards designed the satin chrome aluminum trim and jewelry as an entree, all milled from a solid ingot of the shiny stuff and finished with a special diamond pattern. They followed that up with a custom technique for the carbon fiber floating center console, door trim, and luggage floor. Craftsmen laid up 280 layers of carbon fiber, cured it for 12 hours, then put five-axis milling machines to work for 90 hours to create the necessary shapes. The finish on the cabin pieces reflects the strata of the hand-laid layers, while the span protecting the luggage floor comes from a single sheet of herringbone-pattered carbon fiber. Raised metal and rubber welts help protect the load floor finish and prevent cargo sliding to and fro.  The standard DBX starts at $192,986 after destination. A Q by Aston Martin DBX will, naturally, cost a touch more. Related Video:    

Episode 2 of The Grand Tour will feature knives, explosions, guns, and also cars

Following an immensely successful debut, The Grand Tour will follow up its first episode with exciting, dangerous things. Based on the trailer above, the episode will start peacefully enough with the trio driving up to the tent in South Africa with a convoy of off-road trucks. However, it seems each segment will be much more exciting. Right at the start of the trailer, there are clips of the Aston Martin Vulcan, a 7.0-liter, 820-horsepower V12 supercar, which will likely be the car tested at the "Ebola-drome" this week. Of course the car is communist because it doesn't have a V8. Then things get steadily more dangerous through the trailer. James May is shown as a somewhat unwilling participant at some sort of drifting exhibition. He apparently doesn't like tire smoke in the evenings. We also see that the trio went to Jordan for another segment. This is when we get a glimpse of Richard Hammond playing with large knives. Immediately following are clips of some sort of car chase challenge with large SUVs and luxury sedans, during which James May shoots an assault rifle out the back of an Audi S8. The shooting results in big explosions. It's worth a look yourself, to get in the mood for the next episode which hits Amazon on Friday. Related Video:

Aston Martin reveals new AMB 001 motorcycle, its first

Aston Martin has taken the wraps off a limited-edition lightweight racing bike called the AMB 001, its first-ever motorcycle, at EICMA in Milan, revealing a sculpted, vaguely retrofuturistic melding of form and function that is the first offering from a new partnership with English bike maker Brough Superior Motorcycles. Featuring a double wishbone front fork, the track-only bike represents a marriage of Aston’s design and Brough SuperiorÂ’s engineering. ItÂ’s inspired by AstonÂ’s current crop of mid-engine sports cars, presented in the brandÂ’s racing colors of Stirling green and lime essence with matte black wheels, forks and brake assemblies mixed in with unadorned carbon fiber. The latter material features on the signature fin, which derives its design from the side strake on Aston cars and which runs atop the bike along the length of the gas tank, under the saddle and out back. Another carryover is the same stainless-steel ultra-light wings that feature on the Valkyrie sitting under the lacquer of the bodywork on the nose and tank. There are also aerodynamic wings attached to the cowl on the front of the bike that harken to the S-curve on the front of an Aston Martin to apply downforce. Carbon fiber figures in the body structure, and titanium and billet aluminum feature elsewhere. The hand-stritched saddle is made of Oxford tan leather. The bike is powered by a V-twin turbocharged engine that makes its first appearance on a Brough Superior bike. It makes 180 horsepower, although thereÂ’s no information offered on top speed. The bikeÂ’s dry weight is just under 397 pounds. Just 100 examples will be built at the Brough Superior plant in Toulouse, France. Starting price is 108,000 euros (about $119,809 at current exchange rates), including a 20% VAT, with first deliveries expected in the fourth quarter of 2020.