Blinded by the White - 2013 Aston V8 Vantage

[seefarr]

Today was work from home, last minute quick haircut, shuffle BBB into the car ("just one more email!!!") and hit the road with plenty of time to get the ferry to Spain. Last check in is 45 mins before departure and we're aiming for an extra 30 mins on top.

Was the plan. The haircut was done by a perfectionist, took an hour and was still st. Had anyone with a mullet ever driven an Aston Martin before, or am I the first? I'm the one running late and "just one more email". Pack the car, BBB locks the house and I realise I've left my shirt. Back in the house, grab shirt, unlock car. Car doesn't unlock. It seems the new buttons I've fitted are not working, even though they did to pack the car. "Where's the spare key" she sensibly asks....it's in the bag in the car in case the new buttons didn't work. Disappointed face.

Back in the house, pull the key apart, fiddle with buttons. Car unlocks! Pile into the car and turn it on. Tire warnings everywhere - front right isn't even showing and back right is 29psi compared to 36 on left rear. 29 is basically 30 which is OK so we're off. The front left registers after a mile and at 30psi the warning stops so we're "fine".

Coming through suburbia a little kid walking home from school stops opposite where we're waiting, points and says "Wow, that's an Aston Martin"! Big grin, thumbs up from me and my st haircut and a big blare of revs.

Traffic, traffic, traffic and we're running a fair bit behind schedule but feel like we've got enough in the bag to put some air in the low rear. Into a services, feed the cranky V8 some more dino-juice and no air to be seen. Whatever, onwards to the ferry!

We check in with 55 mins to departure at a suspiciously empty forecourt. We get stopped at security and have a nice chat with a lovely fellow. He asks to check under the bonnet and says it's not many cars you can see the engine on these days. He and his coworkers also seem to heartily approve of the very rude blare of revs as the car starts, thumbs up all round. On to the end of the queue coming up the ramp onto the ferry and we're the last car on!



We're rewarded with Champagne 15% off at the bar, which in BBB's mind is essentially free. I'm a bit sad because they've cut the Rhum Agricole from the bar because nobody but me ordered it, but I'm cheered up with beer.

[M11rph]

I'm not far from the factory at Gaydon, they have records of everything, so I'll nip down and ask if you're the first Aston driver avec Mullet.

A quick google search indicates you probably are.

Happy travels. Smooth seas and winding roads.

[seefarr]

M11rph said:

I'm not far from the factory at Gaydon, they have records of everything, so I'll nip down and ask if you're the first Aston driver avec Mullet.

A quick google search indicates you probably are.

Happy travels. Smooth seas and winding roads.

Thanks Murph!

So last on the ferry meant last off the ferry but we were out of the customs booth within 30 mins of landing so not so bad. We headed straight up into the hills on a route we'd taken on our last day in Spain last year.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wswxsn2njop475SW9

First up we stopped at a Repsol to add more air to the right rear. The friendly pump attendant came over and gave us a wet wipe which was nice.

Last time we got lost and ended up in a tiny track and also ran into a heard of 100s of motorcycles but this one came off without a hitch. Fabulous roads to stretch the V8 out on. This was the first time BBB had been driven quickly in it so I eased her into it... a bit.

Up to the top of a pass and we stopped to take the first of many dramatic Aston on a mountain photos.





And dramatic horse on a mountain photos? Ok. Sure



Large domestic animals had clearly been spending significant time on the roads for a good portion of the drive and I had no choice but to drive through some sections of cow poop which the Aston helpfully flung all along the doors. Classy. It started out greeny brown but has aged out to just brown so looks like mud now. I should find a jet wash but I'm on holidays!



The drive was even better than last year and I was hyped. Just as last year we ended up in Santoña for a lunch of the best anchovies in the world. With a small portion of meat and cheese.



2 hours from there along the coast to the last town in Spain before you get to France, Hondarribia. They have a huge selection of pintxos bars in the beautiful old town and the old fishing town. I don't know why I keep going to San Sebastian as this is way more my style. Don't tell anyone.



We parked up outside our flash hotel in the old town and checked out at all the people coming over to look at the car.



Walking, way too much amazing food and drinks then off to bed.

Edited by seefarr on Monday 21st October 17:10

[seefarr]

Other random stuff.

The Invery Airdual Bluetooth iPod dongle was continuously dropping and picking up on my phone so Android music was cutting out but regular Android Music app was fine. I spent part of the drive to Hondarribia arguing with it and figured out that I could go to the settings for the dongle and remove Voice Calls and it worked perfectly after that. Thank god, because that was properly getting on my tits!

Swapping between Imperial and Metric (for KM/H) is as simple as pressing the Read button on the dash, with the trip computer button on the stalk for 3 seconds. Sadly both of these are on the left of the driver so no way you can do it driving and trying to coordinate with the passenger involved a lot of giggling, "no ON the count of three. Yes hold for three seconds" etc. and no change. This also changed PSI to KPA for the tyres which is confusing too!

[Dream355r]

Loving the write ups - I even spent a wee while reading the R8 and Cayman stories as they were on my list (and still are in a weird thinking of the future way) when I was looking last year for a high days and holidays car.

Anyway love the white especially with the carbon “extras” that are fitting with an S not a 2012 dot2.

I settled for a black 2014 vantage which previous owner had personalised or is that b***ardised with lowering springs and spacers but I like it most of the time…I would have had a serious talking to myself had I parked in the same car park as you …my splitter would have been no more.

Love the trips and the style of writing looking forward to much more 😉

[seefarr]

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you're enjoying yours!

Next day we were headed to Jaca via some more twisty roads.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8BidZPrK8hDC4qQW7

The first road N-121-A was a busy transit road down to Pamplona so whilst it was pretty, it wasn't so fun. One of the tunnels was shut so we got funneled off onto a side road called the NA-1210. If you're following along, you should do this diversion too because without traffic it would be fabulous.

Coming down the offramp I suddenly had a bright blue Ford Ranger 1 inch from my rear. I went round the roundabout at speed to lose him but this seems to further enrage him as he shot straight to the back of me in the straight bit. But the straight bit terminated in a hairpin which I braked a little for and went round smartly whilst laughing my ass off at the stupid Ranger under steering into the next lane. He stayed back then which was just as well as we ran into a truck struggling up a hill around the next corner. I was a bit sad but made an overtake on the next straight and had a few kilometres of deserted beautiful wide tarmac to myself....before we found the next truck.

We skirted Pamplona and headed up the N-135 which would probably be an amazing bit of road, except this was a weekend and the Lycra gang were out in massive force. This is a twisty A road equivalent, 90kph speed limit with onramps and coming round a corner to see a pack of them in the middle of the lane struggling at 10kph was fairly exciting.

After the top of the pass, they all seemed to turn around so it got a bit less frantic.



Traffic was getting heavier as we headed up to the French border but we turned off onto the NA-140 which was amazing. It was deserted, full of corners with lanes big enough to fit an Aston so we got some decent speed up and made beautiful V8 music!



We turned right down the NA-178 for more of the same, then headed for a particularly spectacular looking Mirador (viewpoint). The road up to the viewpoint was a series of perfect, wide hairpins so I made an ass of myself at full noise!



And the view was awesome - hard to get a photo in the direct sunlight but here we go.



Down the hill for a few delicious pintxos for lunch in a little bar in the fantasticly named town of Burgui-Burgi. I had a bottle of local beer which was so good I had another and the ever helpful BBB drove down into Jaca, via a narrow gorge.



Amazing pintxos from La Tasca de Ana for dinner and another great day!

[seefarr]

It's a Monday but this one is Ok because:

A) I'm in a V8 in the mountains in Spain and
B) It's my birthday.

I speak to the family in Aus for a bit in the morning whilst BBB goes out and hunts down birthday pastries for sustenance. These are consumed with the included ClooneyPod coffees before we head out on our drive.

It's the same drive we did from 2021 but in reverse so we hit the town of Echo for lunch because it has loads of bars that are supposed to be open...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GyeJpSnf2KV3TSKw6?g_st=aw

I remember / wrote that the drive up the NA-137 was great but it was way better than I remembered! It starts off through the gorge that BBB drove the day before but this time it was driven with quite a lot more gusto and noise. Lovely scenery to go with your deserted corners, echoing rockfaces and alpine creek.






Out of the gorge, through some towns and some more ace roads.



And finally up to what I accurately described last time as "switchback nirvana" to the high alpine.





And some cows trying to compete with the mullet. Still not as good as mine, cows!



Back down the way we came and this time we turn onto the NA-176. It's a great surface and just wide enough to stretch your legs in sections. Re-enactment of one of my favourite R8 pics, but needed to be heading the other direction and have the door open:



If you are following this route, be aware that as it passes the border into Aragon the road gets narrow and the surface gets horrendous - probably not GT3 territory but the Aston was ok. The narrowest section was steep downhill through the little town at the end. I came up to a grandma in her beaten up old SEAT who refused to reverse. I couldn't get past so had to reverse back up a steep hill - super easy with the lightweight flywheel and mega tall reverse gear.

The A-176 was a lovely little pass and we got down into the cute town of Echo. We walked around the town stopping at all the bars that were closed the Google swore we're open. We ended up basically back where we parked out of town. We just wanted bar food for lunch because we were booked into a grill restaurant for a nice dinner. We walk in, order a beer and ask for a menu as there's no food on the bar. The girl points is upstairs so up we go. We are sat down and it was explained it was a set menu of 3 choices, it wasn't written down and nobody speaks English. OKaaay, let's give it a go - BBB gets Carbonara (pretty universal) followed by fish and I go with a mountain rice dish with Squid (mountain squid?!) followed by deer pig cheek. Everything was delicious but as filling as all alpine cuisine!



We sit outside after lunch, I drink a couple of beers and we stare at the stunning mountains and watch the locals come and go. BBB drives home again, we have a few more beers and eat an enormous amount of food for dinner. Wonderful!

Edited by seefarr on Tuesday 22 October 16:30

Edited by seefarr on Friday 25th October 08:54

[M11rph]

Sounds awful.

Great update, lovin' the maps as ever.
Finishing the last of my sherry from Jerez, I'll raise a glass in your direction, Happy birthday.

[seefarr]

M11rph said:

Sounds awful.

Great update, lovin' the maps as ever.
Finishing the last of my sherry from Jerez, I'll raise a glass in your direction, Happy birthday.

Cheers mate!

Next day we left Java and headed to Vielha.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8jnEb21wfbpakgkG6

We are pretty sure we hit most of these roads on our last trip and that they were good then. We turned up into the N-260a (as distinct to the N-260) - the section heading North was good but the East-West one is where it's at! It's pretty tight, constant corners so if you run up behind someone slower, essentially your only option is to stop and wait but luckily we had the entire run with no traffic. I think we only saw a few cars coming in the other direction too.




We were climbing higher and higher and started to get into the low cloud which slowed proceedings down a bit. We entered a long, descending tunnel made extra spooky with the cloud inside. We exited the cloud level in the tunnel and popped out into the next valley with clear visibility.



Through some switchbacks, some cute towns on rivers ("we had lunch in there last time") and there was still some cloud hanging around, but it just made it even prettier.

Imagine we come out of town and see this, BBB pulls out her phone to take a picture and I slow down to walking pace. Picture taken, BBB seated correctly, rip the big V8 through first with a little wiggle of the hips, into 2nd making all the noise at the local cows all the way up to three shift lights. Back off and run it back down, savouring all the little genuine pops and crackles. Change into third for then next corner. Giggle like a small child.

This is BBB's life for this trip.



We turned back to the next section of N-260 proper which was beautiful but fast enough so you could sit at or about the speed limit the whole time. We turned off that to the A-1605 which was cool! It was wide enough to get a hussle on but had no central lane marking. It started out fast but with some sections of gravel on the road that you had to watch out for - running over them made me feel like I was sandblasting the arches! The road then ended up at the pass with some tight sections and cute mini tunnels through some rock formations.



The trees had gone from the gold from the rest of the trip way into full autumn colours. It's a beautiful time of year to visit.



We turned out and headed up towards Vielha and BBB spotted a jet wash with enough time to stop so we set about hosing off the cow-mud. I've NEVER cleaned a car whilst on holidays and barely clean it at home but apparently the liberal spackling of bovine detritus was starting to get to BBB. To be fair, washing off the road grime was very satisfying as well and it will be nice not to get mucky fingers opening the boot.




Shiny. Less bugs and cow poo.



We pushed on into Vielha and stopped for lunch. We were umming and ahing about carrying on and BBB was tempting me with "we could just sit here and drink beer all afternoon?" but the next bit of the drive was the Col du Portillon. This was shut in 2021 which we only realised once we'd done a massive trip to specifically get there, so today we cut off the last bit of the drive up to the French ski resort and just did the pass and came back.

And, in a shock move for Spanish mountain roads, it was great! Loads of hairpins at the start, lovely views amd trees and no other traffic. But it did have cows, so we re-pooed the sides of the car!



Up the top was cloudy so speeds were restrained. The French side didn't bother with barriers and seemed a bit narrower but still pretty good fun so we turned round at the bottom and drove back to our slightly dodgy hotel in Vielha.

We went to a craft beer place for a drink and it was so nice we stayed for a burger and a ribwich. If you're in town, make sure you go to REFU Birreria.

[seefarr]

Next day we started the turn around to come home.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/3Xuoitp5ev6vGkcs8

The holiday was essentially planned with the idea that we could make it this far so we could do the C28 as I remember it being awesome. It was the first road out of town, and they hadn't improved the road surface of the first section. It wasn't bad enough to slow us down - the Aston mostly deals very well with lumps.



The top was just as good as I remember. Lovely wide lanes (which were appreciated by the lovely wife) great surface and good sight lines. Yummy.



From there we were down the hill through endless switchbacks, into the town of Sort. Sort was much more happening than when we visited and hated it in 2021, so hopefully it's had a good post COVID bounce.

We turned onto the next stretch of the good old N-260, down a pretty valley with a nice river.



We turned off the N-260 onto the N-260 (sure Spain, whatever) and head for the town of Perves . The map looked great with some hairpin turns coming up so I was exercising the V8....but at the first one we hit the end of a long line of stationary traffic for some roadworks. We sat there at the tail end, behind 2 big trucks for ages, we crawled up the hill at walking pace through the roadworks for ages, we stopped at the end for some Spaniards to have a chat for ages. Frustration. But the trucks turned off, angry Dad in his VW SUV ahead got the hint and pulled off and we had a rollicking road to ourselves!



We turned back up the same section of A-1605 from yesterday (just as fun) then it was kind of a boring schlep on the .... N-260. We pulled in at our hotel at Canfranc Estacio. There were piles of school kids across the roads and they started pointing at the car - a big rev in neutral had them all jumping up and shouting! We parked like an Aston, right out the front.



And it's a cool hotel - it was the largest station in Europe when it was finished, then they stopped bringing trains through so it's been renovated as a luxury hotel, complete with fancy restaurants in Pullman cars out the back.

We went to the bar before dinner which overlooked the car park and it was great seeing more passing tourists taking pictures of it! We've had way more attention this trip, even compared to the R8.

Edited by seefarr on Saturday 26th October 12:34

[M11rph]

Great update.

The Aston looks to be in its natural environment outside the Canfranc Estacion, very smart. Hope you layed some 11's on departure.

[seefarr]

I've been meaning to finish this one for ages! From Canfranc we headed back down past Jaca for what felt like the 100th time and pointed ourselves at the old San Juan Monastery.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/A1HEchnShvrpurq77

The road up was a narrowish but quiet little mountain road. We briefly discussed if arriving at a monastery with a shouty V8s was sacrilegious or not. I decided that it wasn't, switched it to noisy and we had a fun little drive!



We parked up at the top new monastery to buy tickets and do the information part. It was really well done so it's worth stopping in. For some reason I love sports cars parked in a muddy forest.



We headed back down the hill a little way to do the old bit and if you're in the area, you should too. It's 1000 years old, built under a cliff and has some amazingly beautiful spaces and carving.



From there we had a quick stop to eat lunch looking at a nice castle in Javier, then pushed onto our overnight in Pamplona.

We were originally booked into a business hotel just on the edge of the old town that seemed to have large, decent parking but the day before they emailed us and said "sorry we have a massive water leak but we've booked you into a nicer hotel in the old town". This filled me with some trepidation as old town hotels are normally horrid for parking and the parking in the area looked spectacularly small and expensive. The hotel advertised "valet parking" but nothing to do but push on and see what was what.

The Pamplona Catedral Hotel where we ended up was accessible from some very narrow cobbled streets but we did the Aston thing and pulled up right out the front. We checked in and they found the manager / valet who seemed confused that I was asking lots of questions until I took him out to see the car. "Ah, I see why you want to park your own car now!". He showed us the ramp at the rear of the hotel to the parking which although steep had a gradual incline so shouldn't be a danger to the splitter. To get round to it though we had to traverse a series of even more narrow one way streets ("are we even going to fit through that? really? fckit, let's do it" ) and drive down a pedestrian mall:



Everything worked out fine in the end - he allocated us a nice wide space and it was hardly terrifying at all. We rewarded ourselves with beer to calm down. Pamplona has seemingly 100s of pintxos bars and a fun student population so we ate very well for approximately nothing.

Next day we checked out the cathedral then drove straight down to Laguardia in La Rioja region:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/A886c4GdhKmboC7H7

We had a booking on a wine tour at 1300 so just hustled down. We parked in a public park outside the old town and it was raining quite heavily. We decided to leave our stuff in the car and ran up to the nearest thing that was open for a quick bite, which was...an Irish bar? OK, sure, whatever, we'll do the tourist thing and have a st pie or something. But no, it's Spain so the Irish bar did amazing pintxos and didn't even have Guinness on!



Laguardia is yet another stunning medieval hilltop town but because this one is in La Rioja everything is built over wine cellars. The only house that still entirely makes wine in town is Fabulista so we went and did the tour there which was ace. Photo stolen from Google:



The rest of the day was taken up with wine related activities. And then we were back on the ferry and home the next day. Yet another dream trip - thanks again Spain!

[M11rph]

I was wondering where you'd got to! Glad it all went well. Car looks fantastic.

Our Spanish roadtrip tracks have crossed a couple of times. Laguardia is a great spot to stay before the ferry, and if you think that looks like a "pedestrian" area wait until I get around to writing up my September trip. You got off lightly.

Happy Christmas and many smiling inducing Aston miles in the new Year.

[seefarr]

M11rph said:

I was wondering where you'd got to! Glad it all went well. Car looks fantastic.

Our Spanish roadtrip tracks have crossed a couple of times. Laguardia is a great spot to stay before the ferry, and if you think that looks like a "pedestrian" area wait until I get around to writing up my September trip. You got off lightly.

Happy Christmas and many smiling inducing Aston miles in the new Year.

Thanks mate. Yes, about that write up?

I got the joy of another detached retina, had the op in December and have only got new contact lenses for the changed vision last week so not much driving has been happening for me. But we have had some thoughts.

The engine is proper. It makes a ludicrous noise and we love it. The last time BBB was driving, she was driving in a much lower gear than was technically required and giving it beans through tunnels just to giggle - she's not done that with either of the other silly cars we've had. Besides the noise, it's got plenty of poke from low down so mooching around in a higher gear is no hardship. And the top end of 2nd is still a little scary as a driver, let alone a passenger (sorry BBB! ).

The gearbox is as expected. Not that fast and the stick is in a slightly odd position with the centre console getting in the way. I found I can mitigate this by sitting a little further away from the wheel than I would normally. BBB has been having issues with the 1st-2nd shift when it's stone cold. Apparently it's a known "thing" and seems to be worse if you shift slowly. The extended throttle is helping me with heel and toe shifts but the engine is still lazy at the top of the throttle travel so you need to give it a bigger stab than you'd think.

The rattling clutch / gearset is stupid and slightly embarrassing, especially as the car generates a lot more interest. But the feel is great, it's quite light and should be pretty stout. The light flywheel + super tall reverse is irritating but just make more noise and use more revs and I've stopped stalling it now - BBB followed this approach from day 1 and never really stalled it.

The interior feels super classy, as long as you overlook the phone holder. One of the windscreen wipers has developed quite a loud squeak sometimes which is INSANELY IRRITATING! The seats continue to be slightly uncomfortable for me but the heating keeps me limber. We went away for a week with family for Christmas to Wales and we managed to fit a frankly ludicrous amount of stuff in - way more than I thought.



The rear tyres are leaking - in 2 weeks they'll drop down from 36psi to 30psi which is pretty annoying. I guess it's the valve stems as they look pretty crusty. I'd just go ahead and replace the tyres with MPS4S like I've done with all my other cars but the size that came on it aren't all available in PS4s and aren't yet available in PS5s.

The black wheels are black wheels and as such must die. I'm planning on getting them done in the Aston anthracite colour and hopefully they can do something about the leaking at the same time.

White is a st colour for a car you actually drive and the Vantage seems specifically designed to throw cow faeces, mud or whatever else all the way up the side of the car. We picked up some tar spots all down the sides in Spain that had me worried as they weren't shifting by with a wash, but some attention from the car wash guys sorted them out. (*splutter* "One merely took one's Aston to the corner car wash gentlemen?! But...But...they're foreign!" )







What with 3 ski trips and a week working from Cadiz (!) we're not going to be at home to enjoy it for a while but hopefully that gives me some time to sort the wheels! And maybe take it to someone to look at the handling.....

[M11rph]

Glad the thread title wasn't prophetic and you can see straight again. I've been in the detached retina Club too, less fun than it sounds.

Good to hear the car is still delivering plenty of smiles and your chauffeur is enjoying it fully.

I imagined you had a team of detailers swoop in every time you came to a halt. (If not there's "stuff" for getting tar off, it's called Bug & Tar Remover ) which easily dissolves the tar so you don't have to scrub away at it and scratch the paint. The perils of driving when the weather is warm enough to melt the tarmac... heaven.

I will eventually do some words & pictures from last year! In my defence I had covid for a month and then real flu which meant Nov & Dec disappeared.

[seefarr]

The Aston hasn't really been up to much so no interesting updates - mostly just showing off its amazing ass as I walk up the street with a smug grin on my face.

I had to commute out to Sevenoaks and back for work and got to show him off to another workmate - "it's so loud it's scary" was his comment. Is that good? I think it's probably good.

But we do have some news - I sent the car off to have the wheels de-blacked and done in anthracite like I did with the R8. They spotted that the tyres on the rear were down around the legal limit, so this has led to me having to shell out for new tyres as well. I've got no idea why it would be the rears wearing so much more than the fronts.... It had Bridgestone RE050s on there, which were the Aston recommended tyre from 20 years ago, they are really pretty poo and were on the list for replacement this year anyway.

I'm a Michelin fanboy but you can't get PS4S / PS5S in the correct sizes at the moment:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

So it came down to Bridgestone Potenza Sport and Continental Sport Contact 7. Blokey in the shop said he would go with the Contis and as there wasn't much between them that's where we've gone. I'm picking it up tomorrow and we've got a drive down to the The Mulberry Inn planned, so I'll pop some photos up of shiny wheels - very excited!

[roadie]

Cracking thread and a beautiful car. I hope every journey remains an event.

[ds666]

Big brother says hello !

[Aluminati]

That looks the terrier’s

[seefarr]

ds666 said:

Big brother says hello !

Such an evil looking thing!

I got the car back today from the good people at Surbiton Tyre & Wheel and I think it looks absolutely stonking.








We did a few miles today down to a great lunch at the Mulberry Inn. I'm cautious when the tyres are scrubbing in so can't say how much of a difference they've made and BBB was kind enough to drive home after I had a couple of jars. "It's such a lovely car to drive" was her comment today after surfing the torque onto a motorway in delicious noisy mode.

Edited by seefarr on Sunday 30th March 07:50