Author Archives: Alwin

More photos: Red V12 at the GP Strecke

Last week, on Tuesday, I participated in the Aston Martin on Track day on the Nürburgring GP Strecke. Since I was driving on the track most of the day, the only photos I was able to make (and included in my report of the day) were rather static pit-lane photos. Luckily, Aston Martin had several professional photographers document the entire day and I have just received a large batch of nearly 300 photos. I am going through them now, making a selection for an upcoming “Astons on the track” post. But for now, here’s some photos of my Fire Red V12 Vantage on the track (these were easy to spot as it was the only red Aston present 🙂 ):

This weekend: Aston Martin at the Nürburgring 24 hours race

Only a few days to go… This weekend, from Sunday 17:00 to Monday 17:00, the 24 hours race of the Nürburgring will be held, on the infamous Nordschleife track. Aston Martin Racing will compete in the 24 hours race with 3 cars: The Bilstein-liveried V12 Vantage GT3 (shown above). Another V12 Vantage in close-to-production specification. The first hydrogen-powered race-car, a Rapide S. Next to that, 4 other Aston Martins, non-factory teams, will enter the race.

The Aston Martins at Cars & Coffee in Wassenaar, the Netherlands

This year’s second Cars & Coffee meeting of the Dutch Cars & Business club was held on Sunday May 5. The weather was amazing, so this time over 50 members (and their cars) gathered in Wassenaar, at the “de Wittenburg” castle. Many exotic cars were present, including six Aston Martins: a DBS, a DBS Volante, three different V8 Vantages and one V8 Vantage Roadster. What? No red V12 Vantage in Fire Red or blue V12 Roadster? Nope, not this time. For this meeting I decided to bring my Black and Yellow italian beauty, front left in this photo:

Two classic Astons at the Kroymans “Licensed to Thrill” event

The original DB5 that featured in Skyfall, plus the A3 (the oldest Aston Martin still in existence), together in one place. That was the main attraction of the Kroymans “Licensed to Thrill” event, held in Hilversum the Netherlands in the past two days. I really enjoyed taking pictures of these classic beauties (and of all the visiting modern Aston Martins in the parking lot). Here’s some of the photos I took of the 2 classic Astons.

Taking Agent #002 to Monaco and back

I have just returned from a great trip in “Agent #002”, my Cobalt Blue V12 Roadster. Six days of driving, from Amsterdam to Monaco and back, 3,000 kilometers in total! The trip was organized by Cars and Business, a Dutch car club for owners of sports cars and super cars of all brands, not only Aston Martins. 2 Astons (my V12 Roadster and a DBS Volante), 3 Ferraris, 3 Mercs, 3 Porsches, 1 Audi and 1 Rolls, driving from the Netherlands to Luxembourg, through France, through Switzerland, then Italy, back to France, to finally arrive in Monaco. So please excuse the occasional german or italian cars appearing the pictures below 🙂

The Astons at Top Marques Monaco

Last weekend, as part of a 6 day road trip, I was in Monaco and had the chance to do a quick visit at the Top Marques show. I wasn’t too impressed with the show. It’s quite small and sadly the emphasis seemed to be on tuning (I can’t believe how many full-carbon-body cars I saw there…). Anyway, the local Aston Martin dealer, British Motors, had a stand at the show too, displaying 4 Aston Martins, a Vanquish, a V12 Vantage Roadster, a new DB9 and a Cygnet. (I don’t have any pics of the Cygnet, sorry!).

An attempt at drifting in my V12 Vantage

At last Saturday’s Spring Event, a nice piece of tarmac had been prepared for drifting. So I took the Fire Red monster and tried my best. I have some experience with drifting, in several different cars (Porsches, several different Astons, my BMW 1M, etc…) and have become moderately good at it. I had never tried in a V12 Vantage though, so this was an excellent opportunity. However, it turned out that this certainly isn’t the easiest car to do a controlled drift in. The short wheelbase, the enormous amount of torque from the V12 on the rear wheels… Even my drift-instructor had trouble getting this beast under control on the wet tarmac. Anyway, here’s a video of my attempts, shot by TwinCharched, using two GoPro camera’s attached to the car, combined with some external footage.