WE’VE BEEN WAITING A LONG time to lay our hands and yes on an Aston One-77, and 2011 might just be the year that we do it. Delayed and pushed back (it first appeared at Paris in 2008, believe it or not), completely sold out and still not quite delivered, the One-77 has been Aston Martin’s ultimate tease. We’ve heard endlessly about the joy of the naturally aspirated, 7S0bhp, 553lb ft, mid front mounted 7.3- litre V12 driving the rear wheels through a six-speed semi-auto paddle shift. We’ve even seen it drive down the road and up a few hills, wondered about the carbon fibre monocoque chassis construction, what it might really sound like trying to hit (>2 in 3.5 seconds and whether there’s much wind noise at the 22O+mph t.op speed.
It’s big, but weighsjust 1,500Kg. It has a deployable rear spoiler — a bit of a first for Aston — and pushrod activated adaptive ride-height suspension. It has carbon- ceramic matrix brakes bigger than your head and a damping system that features Dynamic Suspension Spool Valves (DSSV).
Rarely seen even at the top-flight of motorsport, DSSV allows for infinite modification of the One-77s suspension while the hardware is still on the car.
Seeing as every one of the 77 due for build will be custom tuned to the owner’s dynamic preferences, that’s a very good thing. Oh, and did we mention that you can specify left- or right-hand drive? Now that’s bespoke. And pretty damn cool.
In fact, the One-77 is a hyper car wearing all the familiar masks ofa traditional Aston Martin front engined, rear-drive C-T. We know it exists, but the ongoing torture is that until the people who have actually shelled out to own one have had a drive, the motoring press looks set to have to look on in slightly grumpy awe.
But precisely who cares? When something looks that good, and sounds like that, and tweaks every nerve ending in your body just by driving past, then money really does count For much. Come on Aston, unleash the beast!!!
