The One-77 may look superficially like other Aston Martins but you don’t need more than a glance at the numbers to know otherwise. It has a gargantuan 7.3-litre engine generating more than 700bhp, more than any roadgoing Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche has produced.
Accelerate hard and in the first 3.5sec you’ll be past 60mph, while the next will see you into three figures. As if that were not sufficient, it has just smashed the 191mph speed record for an Aston. Shortly before Christmas, on the Nardo test track in southern Italy, a One-77 accelerated smoothly through 200mph and on to a top speed of 220mph. According to Aston insiders, there is more to come.
Performance like this comes at a price, of course. Aston Martin quotes £1.05m but has confirmed that once you have added tax and put the car on the road, the final bill will be a Bugatti-busting £1.3m.
What is your money buying, save the ability to travel from one place to another faster than a light aircraft? Exclusivity for one: as the name suggests, just 77 will be built, of which Aston Martin has already sold more than 50 before anyone outside the company has driven it. Mechanically, while the engine can trace its origins to the 6-litre V12 used in other Astons, the timing chain is the only component in common, so it can be considered as new.
And although the One-77 is emphatically a road car, its configuration appears to owe more to lessons learnt on the track. It has pushrod suspension like all top racing cars,
dry-sump lubrication to lower the engine in the car and prevent oil surge and, perhaps most importantly, a full carbon-fibre monocoque, a first for Aston Martin. Indeed, the only concession to Aston tradition is the bodywork, which, like almost all Aston Martins, is crafted from aluminium.
The One-77 is more than the ultimate Aston: it is the company’s claim to a place at the supercar top table alongside Bugatti, Ferrari and McLaren. And if Daniel Craig is not behind the wheel of one come next year’s 23rd Bond outing we will all feel rightly robbed.
As produced in The Times January 10, 2010
Tags: aston martin, One-77
