Motoring in Spain - Aston Martin DB5 - Comments

Aston Martin DB5

Poster: Charlie Flindt 01/01/2007

IT WAS A DANGEROUS MISSION, BUT OUR MAN IN GAYDON, MOTORING CORRESPONDENT CHARLIE FLINDT, WAS WILLING TO RISK HIS LIFE TRYING TO GET THE LOWDOWN ON THE TOP-SECRET DBS.

We finally got round to seeing Casino Royale the other day. I wasn’t sure what to expect; some people had raved about it, some said it was hardly a Bond film – it was simply a thriller. I only realised what a good film it was when the end credits rolled, and there, wedged firmly between my sweaty thighs, was my tub of popcorn − almost untouched.

Gone was a lot of Bond nonsense. No more statuesque ladies called Fondleme Lovebuttocks – the new girls are human and credible. Out go the cheap "witty" one-liners, but listen out for the answer to the barman who asks Bond how he wants his vodka Martini. Farewell to excess gadgets (although I confess I missed Q), unbelievable villains, underwater chases complete with spear guns and sharks – all that unnecessary stuff.

This new Bond film is stripped to basics (as is the new Bond himself), but with enough of those crucial 007-related goings-on to let you know you’re watching a Bond film.

And, best of all, there are the cars. James Bond has driven many different cars over the years: everything from Lotus Esprits to Sunbeam Alpines, from a selection of BMWs to T-55 battle tanks. But I reckon there’s no doubt that Her Majesty’s finest secret agent looks most at home at the wheel of an Aston Martin.

In Casino Royale, Bond drives two Aston Martins: the iconic DB5 and the all-new DBS. Is there a single fortysomething who didn’t have a DB5 Dinky toy as a child? I can remember as if it were yesterday all the clever gadgets it had – even at 1:48 scale. Press the exhaust pipe, and up came the bullet-proof screen. I lost the little man whose unfortunate task it was to be ejected at regular intervals – I blame my mum for Hoovering him up one day.

The real-life DB5 was produced from 1963 to 1965, and was, for its day, a seriously fast car. Powered by a four-litre, straight-six engine, it was capable of reaching 98 kph in less than eight seconds, and had a top speed of about 230 kph. And for when "Bond Cars" comes up as a topic at the next Quiz Nite, remember that the DB5 appeared in Goldfinger, Thunderball, Goldeneye, very briefly in Tomorrow Never Dies, and Casino Royale.

I was going to list the gadgets for the next trivia question, but there wouldn’t be room. All I know is that, as a youngster, I puzzled for hours how two Browning .303-inch machine guns could possible fit behind the front indicator lights. I was a sad and lonely child.

And as for the all-new DBS… well, details are kind of hard to come by. The nice man at Aston Martin said that specific details were still top secret. Sure, he could tell me a couple of things about this amazing new supercar – but then he’d have to kill me. I think he was joking. All he would say, in a style not untypical of PR types, was, "This car encapsulates a link between our elegant DB9 road car and the powerful DBR9 race car. It signals an evolutionary development of Aston Martin’s world-renowned style and elegance."

The DB9 is one of the most significant Aston Martins ever. It was first one to be produced at the new plant in Warwickshire, and at its launch in 2003 represented the first of a new wave of fresh designs for Aston Martin. It is rumoured that, so keen were Aston to emphasise the break from the past (in the form of the DB7), that they skipped DB8 and went straight to DB9. It is counter-rumoured that the "DB8" name was skipped to avoid confusing the not-very-bright, who might assume that there was an eight-cylinder engine somewhere.

In fact, it has a magnificent six-litre V12, thumping out 335kW, and letting the DB9 hurtle to 97 kph in under five seconds, and on to a maximum of 300 kph – and all the time letting out a noise that the Aston Martin boys spent a lot of time perfecting.

This beast of an engine is mounted far back and low in the chassis, or "bonded aluminium body frame" as AM prefer to call it. Amazingly light and fantastically strong, this frame is mainly glued together – which sounds a bit cheap’n’cheerful, but don’t say that within earshot of Aston Martin. The glue is applied by robot in computer-controlled conditions, resulting in a strength and durability far beyond that of ordinary welding. There is a bit of welding, but it’s done by ultrasound, achieving molecular bonding using frequencies of 20 kHz. The rest of the DB9 is pure sports car: all-round double-wishbones, huge brakes, and all wrapped in the cleanest, most elegant car body imaginable.

The DBR9, however, has lost a touch of that elegance. Mind you, it is a race version of the DB9, not meant to be particularly easy on the eye: massive tyres, spoilers, fish-mouth grill, and a body mainly of carbon-fibre composite. But I doubt that "looking pretty" was high on the list of priorities for the boys at Aston Martin Racing.

In a rather neat way, it mirrors Casino Royale itself. Gritty, purposeful realism has taken over from pure fantasy; but, if anything, the new Bond film is all the better for it. Go along and see it at once. Enjoy the cars, enjoy the shower scene, wince at the bottomless chair, and relish the very last line in the film – one of the best finishes ever. Just don’t bother buying any popcorn.

Aston Martin DB5

Engine: straight 6-cylinder, 3995 cc

Power: 210 kW @ 5,500 rpm

Max speed: 228 kph

Performance, 0 to 97 kph: 7.1 seconds

SUMMARY: The original and iconic Bond car.

Aston Martin DB9

Engine: V12, 5935 cc, quad overhead cam

Power: 335kW @ 6,000 rpm

Max speed: 300 kph

Performance, 0 to 97 kph: 4.9 seconds

SUMMARY: Bond shouldn’t be seen in anything else.

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