Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of the Aston Martin Vanquish GT
Taking a break from all the red carpets and seemingly-endless standing ovations of the 81st annual Venice International Film Festival, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Adrien Brody, Poppy Delevingne, Kevin Costner and other stars all got together to celebrate the launch of Aston Martin’s new Vanquish.
The British firm’s all-new flagship looked spectacular under the spotlights at the historic Venetian Arsenale. Aston is making no secret of the fact the Vanquish super-GT — powered by a new twin-turbo V12 — is intended to go head to head with Ferrari. It’s surely no coincidence the Brit’s 824 horsepower output is slightly more than the Italian brand’s new 12cilindri. In fact, this is the most powerful car in Aston’s 111-year history.
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
“Why are we here in Venice? We want to beat the locals. There is this red team, I forgot their name,” said executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, taking a clear shot at Ferrari. “This is what the next generation of Aston Martin looks like,” he told the star-studded crowd, Variety reported.
George Clooney, in attendance with his wife Amal, took a moment to pose with the car and instantly looked like it was made for him.
Having given up his role as James Bond, Daniel Craig won’t be given the new Aston Vanquish as his company car by Q Branch. He’ll probably have to buy it like everyone else. (The actor was in Venice for the premier of his latest film, Queer, directed Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to Challengers.)
Aston Martin’s Formula One drivers — two-time world champ Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, Lawrence’s son — were both in attendance as well, helping to unveil the brand’s new flagship.
The Vanquish takes over where the outgoing DBS left off, but the two cars appear entirely different. The Vanquish is a full 80 millimetres longer than its predecessor, making it look much more exotic. Chassis highlights include Bilstein DTX dampers, a stiffer overall structure, an eight-speed ZF gearbox, electronic rear differential (e-diff) and bespoke 21-inch Pirelli P ZERO tires.
The design work was overseen as always by Marek Reichman, the brand’s executive vice president and chief creative officer. “We’re always designing for beyond the expected, rational, and thoughtful,” Reichman explained. “We captured the immensity of [the car’s] performance and the imperiousness of its intended purpose while tempering the drama of Vanquish with a rare and unmistakable sense of elegance.” Indeed, to really get a sense of just how long and lovely the new Vanquish is, it really must be seen in person, preferably under some spotlights in Venice.
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
Adrien Brody
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
Daniel Craig (left), George Clooney (right).
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
Benedict Cumberbatch (left), Michael Douglas (right).
Clooney, Craig, Celebrate Glitzy Debut of Aston Martin’s New Super-GT
Joe Alwyn
While not exactly all-new, the 5.2-litre V12 has been given a total overhaul. “Our engineering team completely reworked our existing 5.2-litre Twin-Turbo engine from block casting to cylinder heads,” said Aston Martin chief technical officer Roberto Fedeli. “With ambitious targets for gains in power and torque, plus equally tough goals for improvements in driveability, efficiency and global emissions compliance, the result is a modern masterpiece,” he added.
To reduce turbo lag, the engine features an interesting new feature called Boost Reserve. Aston explains, “Boost Reserve increases turbo boost pressure above what would normally be required for any given part throttle position, so it is ready to go when full power is needed. This is done during partial throttle demands, imperceptibly to the driver, by balancing the throttle flap position (to restrict the intake flow), and the intelligent wastegate in the turbo (to fine tune the increased intake pressure) to match what the driver expects.” Sounds brilliant, if the engineering team has actually managed to pull this off and make it feel natural.
According to the company, the Vanquish “fuses the effortless mile-eating comfort of a continent-crushing GT with the precision, exploitability and immersive, entertaining driving experience of a supercar.” It’s a big claim for little British firm, but we’ll find out later this fall how the Vanquish drives when we get behind the wheel.
The first of Aston Martin’s new Vanquish will roll out to customers in late 2024, but they’ll be a rare sight. Aston Martin will only make 1,000 of these each year, and you may well have to compete with some of these A-listers to get your name on the waiting list.
