Db9 Volante - 6,000 Miles From New - Superb In Every Respect... on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Autoblog's adventures at the Nurburgring 24-Hour race [spoilers]

The brand-new Audi R8 LMS, said to share 50 percent of its components with the street-legal R8 shown off at Geneva, has won its very first race at the 2015 Nurburgring 24-Hours. The No. 28 car driven by Christopher Mies, Edward Sandstrom, Nico Muller, and Laurens Vanthoor for the Audi Sport WRT team out of Belgium finished only 40.279 seconds ahead of the No. 25 BMW Sport Team Marc VDS Z4 GT3 in second place, for the smallest winning gap since the race began in 1970. Those two cars traded the lead throughout Sunday morning and were less than a minute away from one another for the last two hours. They were part of a total 35 lead changes during the entire race – a record for the event – and both did 156 laps. Third place went to the No. 44 Falken Tire Porsche 997 GT3, one lap down. The Audis did what they always do: lurked close to the front, stayed out of trouble, then pounced when everyone else faltered. For the opening stretches the BMW Z4 teams owned it, running 1-2-3 for a while, but all of them hit trouble. When morning came and the race got over its yellow-flag fever, the No. 28 Audi was in front and stayed there. It was the third Nurburgring 24-Hour win for Audi in four years, the brand's first win only coming in 2012. Last year's winner, the Phoenix Audi team that set a race record by doing 159 laps, had both of its cars retire. One hit an oil patch about 12 hours in, spun and was hit by another car behind, taking on too much damage to continue. The other retired with engine issues. Other Notes Three cars crashed out of the race while leading, after the rains that weren't supposed to happen, happened about 90 minutes in. The No. 20 Schubert BMW Z4 led the first 50 minutes of the race, hopped a crest at Pflanzgarten, landed in a pool of water, and hit the wall on the 30th lap. Then the No. 30 Frikadelli Porsche, with a driver team that included ex-'Ring Taxi driver Sabine Schmitz, hit the No. 31 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 on the approach to Carrousel and crashed out. Then the No. 1 Phoenix Audi, last year's winning car, took the lead but hit the wall after that oil patch near Pflanzgarten and was out of the race. Aston Martin celebrated a class win in the SP8 category with the No. 49 Vantage GT4 N430. This being the tenth anniversary of the Vantage running the Nurburgring-24, this year's car was painted in the same colors as the racecar from ten years ago.

Aston celebrates Spectre with DB9 GT Bond edition

Sorry friends, but as of right now, you can't buy the Aston Martin DB10 that James Bond will be driving in the upcoming film Spectre. That's a bummer, as 007's preferred GT is offering a fresh update on Aston's traditional looks. What you can do, though, is snag the new DB9 GT Bond Edition. According to Aston Martin, this is the most powerful DB9 the company has ever built, with the 6.0-liter V12 pumping out 540 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque. Sixty miles per hour arrives in just 4.5 seconds, while the 007 DB9 will run all the way up to 183 mph. Those are some impressive figures – the top speed and torque output mirror the range-topping Vanquish – but you might still be wondering why not choose the king of the Aston range over this, which still gets to 60 mph 0.3 seconds faster, has an extra 25 horsepower at its disposal, and is arguably the better-looking vehicle. Well, the Bond Edition DB9 comes with a number of unique items. Outside, there's a set of handsome, 10-spoke, gloss-black, 20-inch alloys, a carbon-fiber splitter and diffuser, gray brake calipers, and bright finishes on the hood vents, grille, and side gills. If the little bits aren't enough for you, the entire car is finished in 007-spec Spectre Silver paint. Naturally, "007" badges are included. In the cabin, new sill plates and embroidered headrests call out this DB9's inspiration, while an Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel makes the actual act of driving just a bit more pleasant. Sadly, machine guns and ejector seats are not part of the upgrades. Unlike so many special editions, though, there's even more to the Bond Edition DB9 than special trim bits. All 150 DB9s will come with a 21-inch Globe-Trotter wheeled suitcase, while horology geeks will likely gravitate towards the included time piece. Provided by Omega, 007's preferred watchmaker since 1995's Goldeneye, the Seamaster Aqua Terra comes with a unique, Aston Martin-branded strap. The suitcase costs around $2,000 while the watch generally goes for around $3,500 to $4,000. Their inclusion in this limited-edition DB9 might soften the blow of the price, which starts at $237,007. Still, if you're a fan of Britain's most famous secret agent and are in the market for a handsome GT, you could do far worse than this unique Aston Martin. Read on for the official press release.

Roger Moore's 1970 Aston Martin DBS sells for $900k [w/video]

Think of Roger Moore zipping around Europe in an Aston Martin thwarting evil plans, and you'll probably think James Bond, right? Wrong. Because though 007 has driven a variety of Astons in the various films over the years, none of those were in the Moore era. He drove a Chevy Impala in Live and Let Die, a Mercedes in The Man With The Golden Gun, a Lotus Esprit in both The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only, a Range Rover in Octopussy and a Ford LTD in A View to a Kill. But that wasn't the only jet-setting do-gooder Moore played. He drove a Volvo as Simon Templar in The Saint, but after that and before his Bond days, he got his turn behind the wheel of an Aston in a television series called The Persuaders! The show starred Moore as Lord Brett Sinclair and Tony Curtis as American playboy Danny Wilde in a TV series that ran on both ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. It sadly only ran for one 24-episode season, but remains a cult classic. The series was as much about the cars as it was the stars, with Curtis speeding around Europe in a Ferrari 246 GT Dino and Moore in this yellow 1970 Aston Martin DBS. And it just sold at auction. As Octane pointed out when it drove the car for its September 2013 issue, the car was loaned to the show's producers and, though it packs the 4.0-liter inline-six of the DBS, was fitted with the wheels and badges of the Aston Martin V8 that followed – just without the eight-cylinder engine. It was sold to a private owner after the show finished filming and then bounced around different owners before collector and enthusiast Mike Sanders bought it and subsequently sold it to one Ed Stratton. Ed brought it back to show spec, took it to Villa d'Este, had Moore and Curtis sign the inside of the trunk lid, and now put it up for auction. The star of Bonhams' 15th annual sale at the Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell this past weekend, the DBS sold for a record GBP533,500 – equivalent to almost $900k at today's rates – contributing to GBP8.7 million ($14.6m) in total sales that day. Find the press release below, along with a video of a pretty great scene from The Persuaders! with both Moore and Curtis. ROGER MOORE'S 'THE PERSUADERS!' ASTON MARTIN SETS WORLD RECORD FOR A DBS SOLD AT AUCTION 17 May 2014, The Aston Martin Works Sale In its 15th year Bonhams Aston Martin Works sale totals at GBP8.7 million Roger Moore's 'The Persuaders!' Aston Martin DBS sets world record for DBS sold at auction, selling for GBP533,500.