Aston Martin V12 Speedster Produces Smiles at Any Speed
Roofless, uncompromising two-seater V12 Speedster delivers a satisfying driving experience before it even hits the road.
Aston Martin has made a lot of eye-popping, extreme vehicles over the past 108 years. Off and on since “Goldfinger” in 1964, its vehicles, modified with gadgets and weapons, have been one of the most defining visual elements of James Bond movies. The limited-production One-77’s massive 7.3-liter V12 gave it a top speed of 220 mph and made it the fastest-ever Aston Martin ever produced at the time. The British automaker has released a stead stream of other automotive exotica, including the wildly styled Valkyrie hybrid and the Victor, a bespoke creation that looks like the ultimate ’80s Aston. Now we can add the V12 Speedster to that list.
Aston Martin is only going to produce 88 of the unapologetically impractical V12 Speedsters. Popular YouTuber James Walker, aka Mr JWW, recently got the chance to drive one of the prototypes.
Calling the V12 Speedster’s two-seat passenger compartment a cockpit is not an exaggeration. The craftspeople at Q by Aston Martin collaborated with Boeing to produce a sort of F/A-18 for the road. Instead of jet engines, as its name implies, the V12 Speedster is powered by a 12-cylinder engine. Like the DB11 AMR, it’s a 5.2-liter unit with twin turbos. Output is up to a nice, round 700 horsepower and 555 lb-ft of torque. Routed through a ZF 8-speed auto, that enables the V12 Speedster to fly to 62 mph in 3.5 seconds and top out at 186, according to Aston Martin.
Oddly enough, the only sort of canopy the V12 Speedster has is a beautifully curved double-bubble lid behind the cockpit, but it covers two dedicated spots for helmets. Aside from technical seating fabric, there’s no protection for the cockpit itself, though. It doesn’t have anything resembling a roof. Two thin slivers of transparent material form its “windshields” – and we use that term loosely.
Walker decides to just wear a heavy coat and a pair of sunglasses for his drive. He soon discovers that wet roads, drivers ahead of him and an open-top car don’t combine to create the most comfortable driving experience. Fortunately, he learns some other, more positive lessons. Despite all of the shock and awe under the V12 Speedster’s hood, on the road, it’s lost on Walker because he can only hear wind noise. When he hustles the “incredibly unique niche proposition” down an English backroad, he quickly gets an idea of what kind of hardware he’s handling. “You can feel the lack of inertia in this thing – the way it turns in, the way it handles, the way it stops under braking.”
Given how trimmed down and devoid of extraneous parts the V12 Speedster is, that’s not all that surprising. It’s something else Walker says that’s shocking: “I get more enjoyment out of this car at slower speeds than higher speeds.” He goes on to add, “There’s something quite nice about the way this thing gracefully wafts down a road.” But Walker didn’t even have to go that far. He started grinning doing 11 mph on his way out of the industrial park where he did the walkaround of one of Aston Martin’s most unique and memorable modern cars.
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