Each year, the Dutch Aston Martin club “Power Beauty Soulmates” (PBSM) organizes a one week trip to a location suited for lots of driving fun. Previous destinations include Le Mans, Isle of Man and the italian Dolomites. Sixteen teams (so 16 Aston Martins!) signed up for this year’s trip: to the Scottish Highlands! Watch this space for my day-to-day report of the Scotland Highlands tour. Here’s day 1:
I am going to make two big trips with “Agent #002”, my Cobalt Blue V12 Vantage Roadster. First to Scotland, from June 14 to 21, with the Dutch Power Beauty Soulmates club. Then in July, from the 17th to the 22nd, Aston’s Centenary Rally “1000 Miles to London”. And for these two special trips, Agent #002 is getting a special outfit, a spectacular temporary wrap. Monday next week is wrapping day, at WrapMyRide.nl. I will be posting pictures to our Facebook page throughout the day, so that you can follow the wrapping process from start to finish. Just to get an idea, here’s what we did for last year’s Power Beauty Soulmates trip to Italy. (this year’s wrap is going to be more spectacular though 🙂 )
Two months ago had gone by since the last Sunday Drive of the Dutch “Power Beauty Soulmates”, so it was time for another meeting. This time, 12 PBSM members and their Astons met for lunch at the Kieviet Hotel in Wassenaar. After lunch, they left for a nice route along the Dutch coast, via Katwijk, Noordwijk, Zandvoort, to end up for drinks at the Duin en Kruidberg hotel in Santpoort.
Here’s a quick video my wife shot on the Autobahn, while driving back from the Nürburgring 2 weeks ago. Me and my wife in my blue V12 Vantage Roadster chasing a friend driving my red V12 Vantage, on the German Autobahn. Reaching speeds up to 270 km/h. Fun!
Driving in the Aston Martin Centenary Parade at the Nordschleife was a unique and exciting experience. Hopefully you were able to catch some of that excitement from the parade photos and the parade video, both shot by my wife, riding with me in the V12 Vantage Roadster. However, driving in the parade myself did mean I wasn’t able to take pictures of most of the other cars in the parade. And boy oh boy, there were some interesting cars (and drivers!) participating, especially at the head of the pack. Luckily, I have just received a large batch of photos taken by other photographers from the side of the track, most in the famous Nordschleife Carousel corner. Here’s a selection of those photos. If you want see all photos, check this album on my Aston Martin News page on Facebook.
Here’s a video of the Centenary Parade Lap on the Nordschleife last Sunday, prior to the 24 hours race, with 107 Aston Martins! (This video was shot from my blue V12 Roadster, with my red V12 Vantage right behind us)
Earlier today, as a part of Aston’s centenary celebrations, 107 Aston Martins (including my Red and Blue) did a Parade Lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The convoy of 107 Aston Martins was lead by the new Aston Martin CC100 driven by Dr Ulrich Bez, the iconic DBR1 driven by Sir Stirling Moss and, as a special guest, mr. Bond himself, Daniel Craig driving a DB5!
Here’s a selection of action photos of last week’s track day at the Nürburgring GP Strecke:
Last week, on Tuesday, I participated in the Aston Martin on Track day on the Nürburgring GP Strecke. Since I was driving on the track most of the day, the only photos I was able to make (and included in my report of the day) were rather static pit-lane photos. Luckily, Aston Martin had several professional photographers document the entire day and I have just received a large batch of nearly 300 photos. I am going through them now, making a selection for an upcoming “Astons on the track” post. But for now, here’s some photos of my Fire Red V12 Vantage on the track (these were easy to spot as it was the only red Aston present 🙂 ):
Only a few days to go… This weekend, from Sunday 17:00 to Monday 17:00, the 24 hours race of the Nürburgring will be held, on the infamous Nordschleife track. Aston Martin Racing will compete in the 24 hours race with 3 cars: The Bilstein-liveried V12 Vantage GT3 (shown above). Another V12 Vantage in close-to-production specification. The first hydrogen-powered race-car, a Rapide S. Next to that, 4 other Aston Martins, non-factory teams, will enter the race.