Aston Martin To Take On Dakar Rally?

Unlike earlier special vehicle operations, Dave’s “skunk works” operates with a degree of autonomy with its own 40-strong staff in separate facilities at Wellesbourne, 10 miles from the firm’s Gaydon HQ.

The new-look outfit is the brainchild of Aston Martin chief and general new broom, Andy Palmer, the exec who gave up one of the world’s most powerful motor industry positions for a chance to steer a revitalized Aston Martin into its second century. The skunk works is one of Dr Palmer’s four pillars on which future success for the company will be built, along with the recently unveiled DB11, the DBX crossover to be built in Wales, and a resurgent saloon line to include electric vehicles and a return of the Lagonda name.

It’s Dave King’s job to conjure two specials a year out of that lot, and you’d have to agree that, so far, he’s off to a flyer. The tally so date: the DB10 for the Bond movie, Lagonda Taraf, Vulcan, Vantage GT12 and most recently Vantage GT8. Handily everything Dave and his team put their names to seems to sell out quickly – even the new GT8 and that was only launched in mid April. Special projects is also responsible for Aston’s concept cars and made the exquisite centenary special CC100 which we saw at at the Festival of Speed in 2013.

“Andy has given us licence to be more entrepreneurial and generate ideas ourselves,” Dave King tells GRR. “The  more success we have the more we can grow and develop.”

Now the decks are being cleared for the next big project - the AM-RB 001 hypercar designed with F1 design maestro Adrian Newey – you can see the latest on that here.

Dave King started with Aston in 1999 after beginning his career with Jaguar. First Aston job: putting the V12 into the DB7 – a long way from his own passion of rallying. GRR sat down with Dave at Silverstone recently to find out more about him – and his specials…

What Aston Martin specials can we expect in the future?

Two-a-year at least is our brief and we have mapped them out for next few years. Some could be standalone projects, versions of production cars, concept cars, technology projects – we’ll dabble in anything. They could just as easily be concerned with electric technology as speed. Who knows, maybe a Paris-Dakar version of the DBX…

Can we expect special Astons to use the new twin-turbo V8 engine from Mercedes?

It’s a great engine and no secret we will be using it in our mainstream cars. It gives us a fully competitive smaller engine to complement the turbo V12 we have just announced. We haven’t started to explore its tuning potential yet… but I am sure we will be.

How do you decide how many to make of each car?

If we get the numbers right we create a car that will definitely appreciate in time. With the Vantage GT12 we didn’t know if 100 was the right number, but the car sold out within days of the Geneva show. Now with the Vantage GT8 we are making 150 cars and have deposits for them all. These aren’t just ‘colour and trim’ cars but thoroughly engineered specials inside and out. The customer can be confident they are getting value.

Are you tempted by ‘continuation’ models of famous Astons of the past, like Jaguar’s 2015 Lightweight E-types? Wouldn’t people like a ‘new’ DBR1?

It is all up for grabs and there are some opportunities we are looking at. I don’t know if they will happen. You have to tread very carefully because the collectors market is so special, such a big part of the brand and its mystique. We have to make sure we don’t upset the balance of that.

You are also head of Aston Martin Racing – how important is racing to the marque these days?

It is absolutely vital. You can’t be a proper sports car company if you don’t go racing in our view. All our main rivals race the cars they sell. We race the Vantage, exclusively now, in GT3, GT4 and GTE. The Vantage is our race car and always will be. We are committed to that rather than anything more extreme.

No more Le Mans prototypes then as in 2011?

We overstretched ourselves with that. It was a brave move, worth a punt, but we can’t spend however millions it was. The value for us is racing cars that look like the cars we sell. We can say to our customers: your road car is a better car because we race it.

The Vantage is over 10 years old now, can it still win on the track?

Well, we had a double podium finish in the 6 Hours of Silverstone! So, yes. Changes to the GTE class have allowed us to reduce the gap to the GT3 cars which have been getting so much faster. Mid-engined Ferrari and Ford, rear-engined Porsche, front-engined Aston – with the (balance of performance) GTE class rules all these cars will go round a track within half a second of each other. It comes down to smart strategy, good drivers, reliability. Do I think we can beat them? Yes, and Le Mans is the big prize for us.

‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ still holds true then?

We know it does but it is hard to quantify. Our racing goes together with the heritage and James Bond to make an emotional connection with the customer. Aston Martins must be rational but must hit on an emotional level too.

What shape is Aston in today?

There was a buzz around the company in the early 2000s when, with Ford’s backing, it felt like a start-up company and we all had a we-can-do-anything attitude. That’s come back under Andy. When you have a leader like that it gives people confidence to take calculated risks and act in a more entrepreneurial way. It gives everyone confidence to succeed.

See you at the Festival of Speed?

Yes, we have got something in store this year, one of our specials which you won’t have seen before. And hopefully also the Le Mans-winning Vantage GTE!

Tell us something about yourself we don’t know

I was third in the National Rally Championship in 1988!