Old Top Gear Aston Special - 1997
Discussion
not my upload and the VHS quality isn't great, but JC with a 90's haircut and a peek inside NP....
didn't make me pine after my old i6 though to be honest... mines the red Volante parked up at NP before it closed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kpTp3J5Kk
didn't make me pine after my old i6 though to be honest... mines the red Volante parked up at NP before it closed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kpTp3J5Kk
Edited by AHORSEY on Monday 31st March 12:34
Edited by AHORSEY on Tuesday 1st April 10:12
George29 said:
Wobbly said:
Interesting, in the video Jeremy says Aston Martin was formed in 1915, and I thought they had their Centenery last year !
The company was formed in 1913, but produced their first car in 1915........................
In 1913, the two founders of Aston Martin began their business, although at that time, it had a different company name.
13 January 1913 Bamford and Martin Ltd was founded.
Sales and repair of Singer motor cars. Address, 16 Henniker Mews, off Callow Street, Chelsea, London.
1914 saw the birth of the name Aston Martin.
By March 1915 the first Aston Martin race car was registered. Fitted with a Coventry Simplex side-valve engine and built to Lionel Martin's specifications, it became known as the 'Coal Scuttle'. The registration number was AM 4656, so personal number plates were popular even then.
Talking of old top gear, I was sent this recently which jezza wrote about 10 years ago..I've edited it down a little.
Today I loathe, with a furious passion, all car clubs. The notion that you’re going to get on with someone because he also has a Mini is preposterous. Clubs are for people who can’t get friends in the conventional way. They’re for bores and murderers.
The Ferrari Owners’ Club is particularly depressing because they all have carpet warehouses in Dewsbury and creaking £10,000 rust buckets from the Seventies and Eighties.
Mind you, I’d rather swap saliva with someone from the Ferrari Owners’ Club than go within 50,000 miles of someone who turns up to Aston Martin events. Because there are no cheap Astons in the classifieds — well, none that will actually get you to an owners’ club meeting, or even to the end of your road — the members are a lot more well-to-do than their oppos with Ferraris. There are few regional accents, and lots of green ink.
The worst thing about an Aston Martin Owners Club member, however, is not his politics, or his still burning flame of hatred for Harold Wilson. It isn’t even his shoes, or his trousers. No. It’s the way he refers to all previous Astons by their chassis numbers. And to the people who raced them by their nicknames.
“Do you remember when Pinky and Lofty drove xvr/ii-2? Course that was before bloody Wilson.” Sometimes, when they talk to me. I find myself wondering what they’d look like without a spine.
Some things don't change except the names
Today I loathe, with a furious passion, all car clubs. The notion that you’re going to get on with someone because he also has a Mini is preposterous. Clubs are for people who can’t get friends in the conventional way. They’re for bores and murderers.
The Ferrari Owners’ Club is particularly depressing because they all have carpet warehouses in Dewsbury and creaking £10,000 rust buckets from the Seventies and Eighties.
Mind you, I’d rather swap saliva with someone from the Ferrari Owners’ Club than go within 50,000 miles of someone who turns up to Aston Martin events. Because there are no cheap Astons in the classifieds — well, none that will actually get you to an owners’ club meeting, or even to the end of your road — the members are a lot more well-to-do than their oppos with Ferraris. There are few regional accents, and lots of green ink.
The worst thing about an Aston Martin Owners Club member, however, is not his politics, or his still burning flame of hatred for Harold Wilson. It isn’t even his shoes, or his trousers. No. It’s the way he refers to all previous Astons by their chassis numbers. And to the people who raced them by their nicknames.
“Do you remember when Pinky and Lofty drove xvr/ii-2? Course that was before bloody Wilson.” Sometimes, when they talk to me. I find myself wondering what they’d look like without a spine.
Some things don't change except the names
Jon1967x said:
Mind you, I’d rather swap saliva with someone from the Ferrari Owners’ Club than go within 50,000 miles of someone who turns up to Aston Martin events. Because there are no cheap Astons in the classifieds — well, none that will actually get you to an owners’ club meeting, or even to the end of your road — the members are a lot more well-to-do than their oppos with Ferraris. There are few regional accents, and lots of green ink.
The worst thing about an Aston Martin Owners Club member, however, is not his politics, or his still burning flame of hatred for Harold Wilson. It isn’t even his shoes, or his trousers. No. It’s the way he refers to all previous Astons by their chassis numbers. And to the people who raced them by their nicknames.
“Do you remember when Pinky and Lofty drove xvr/ii-2? Course that was before bloody Wilson.” Sometimes, when they talk to me. I find myself wondering what they’d look like without a spine.
Some things don't change except the names
Think I remember you mentioning this Jon. Good old Clarkson. Wonder what he thinks of Pistonheads? The worst thing about an Aston Martin Owners Club member, however, is not his politics, or his still burning flame of hatred for Harold Wilson. It isn’t even his shoes, or his trousers. No. It’s the way he refers to all previous Astons by their chassis numbers. And to the people who raced them by their nicknames.
“Do you remember when Pinky and Lofty drove xvr/ii-2? Course that was before bloody Wilson.” Sometimes, when they talk to me. I find myself wondering what they’d look like without a spine.
Some things don't change except the names
or, more likely 
V8LM said:
DB9VolanteDriver said:
What V12 is in the DB7 at the end? Is it the same one that was in the XJ220 mule? Must be derived from the Jag SOHC V12, but it is stated as being a 4-valver. If so, then mightily modified by TWR.
It was TW's. 
h. Regarding the V12 in the modified DB7 Aston at the end - if you compare the brief view you get of it to say a XJS V12, you will see a preponderance of wires and tubes and various other nasty things that Jaguar leave open to view - you don't get that with an Aston - NO SIREE! So it's probably Jaguar V12 - unless someone knows better......?
This must be the same engine as used in the DB7 concept by TWR...
"Jaguar and engine designer Walter Hassan had previously created a 48-valve variant of their V12 engine specifically for motorsport use. It featured a double overhead camshaft layout with four valves per cylinder, compared with the single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder of the production engine, which was used in the Jaguar XJ and Jaguar XJS models at the time.
TWR and Cosworth had manufactured a number of these racing V12 engines during the 1980s and they had been raced competitively, with a 7-litre version of this engine featuring in the Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9. Five of these engines still existed, all of which were fitted with dry sump lubrication. These engines were chosen and considered to be especially useful as the dry sump would lower the vehicle's centre of gravity. The displacement of the V12 was set at 6.2 litres (6222 cc) for the XJ220. The engine fitted to the XJ220 concept had titanium connecting rods."
"Jaguar and engine designer Walter Hassan had previously created a 48-valve variant of their V12 engine specifically for motorsport use. It featured a double overhead camshaft layout with four valves per cylinder, compared with the single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder of the production engine, which was used in the Jaguar XJ and Jaguar XJS models at the time.
TWR and Cosworth had manufactured a number of these racing V12 engines during the 1980s and they had been raced competitively, with a 7-litre version of this engine featuring in the Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9. Five of these engines still existed, all of which were fitted with dry sump lubrication. These engines were chosen and considered to be especially useful as the dry sump would lower the vehicle's centre of gravity. The displacement of the V12 was set at 6.2 litres (6222 cc) for the XJ220. The engine fitted to the XJ220 concept had titanium connecting rods."
DB9VolanteDriver said:
This must be the same engine as used in the DB7 concept by TWR...
"Jaguar and engine designer Walter Hassan had previously created a 48-valve variant of their V12 engine specifically for motorsport use. It featured a double overhead camshaft layout with four valves per cylinder, compared with the single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder of the production engine, which was used in the Jaguar XJ and Jaguar XJS models at the time.
TWR and Cosworth had manufactured a number of these racing V12 engines during the 1980s and they had been raced competitively, with a 7-litre version of this engine featuring in the Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9. Five of these engines still existed, all of which were fitted with dry sump lubrication. These engines were chosen and considered to be especially useful as the dry sump would lower the vehicle's centre of gravity. The displacement of the V12 was set at 6.2 litres (6222 cc) for the XJ220. The engine fitted to the XJ220 concept had titanium connecting rods."
As said above, and according to Andrew Noakes' book, it a four-valve Jaguar V12 derived from the racing engine developed for TWR. This was enlarged from the road version to around 6.4 litres."Jaguar and engine designer Walter Hassan had previously created a 48-valve variant of their V12 engine specifically for motorsport use. It featured a double overhead camshaft layout with four valves per cylinder, compared with the single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder of the production engine, which was used in the Jaguar XJ and Jaguar XJS models at the time.
TWR and Cosworth had manufactured a number of these racing V12 engines during the 1980s and they had been raced competitively, with a 7-litre version of this engine featuring in the Le Mans winning Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9. Five of these engines still existed, all of which were fitted with dry sump lubrication. These engines were chosen and considered to be especially useful as the dry sump would lower the vehicle's centre of gravity. The displacement of the V12 was set at 6.2 litres (6222 cc) for the XJ220. The engine fitted to the XJ220 concept had titanium connecting rods."
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