5 Awesome Facts About The Aston Martin DB11

It’s not been often that we get such a new car from Aston Martin as the DB11 unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this week. We’ve already been over the car with a fine-toothed comb… and at the show we wanted to hear what Marek Reichman, Aston’s chief creative officer and the DB11’s designer, has to say about it.

What are his favourite five DB11 bits?

1. The grille/bonnet

The grille is definitive and is as distinctive as the DB5’s, while the bonnet is a simple one-piece pressing. The clamshell design hinges forward and by using the side strakes we have been able to reduce the number of shutlines – so fewer lines to interrupt the form, and the beauty.

2. The Curlicue

The incorporation of side strake into an aerodynamic solution, whereby we suck high pressure air out from under the front wheelarch – for less frontal lift – and use that vented air to smooth the airflow over the windscreen.

3. The Tyres

This one’s a little bit of fun. The tyres are designed by Bridgestone and go by the codename of S007. They asked me what I wanted to call them, so I said 007. It’s one of my favourite things.

4. The floating roof arch

Or what I would call the roof strake. It’s an aluminium extrusion that allows the customer to have a black, body colour or bright upper body, and that really changes the car’s character.

5. The ‘AeroBlade’

This is a patented system not done before. Air comes in by the rear window, gets accelerated in a narrowing tube inside the car, and is vented out at the rear in what is a virtual spoiler. The Gurney flap comes up about 40mm at speeds over 100mph to bend the airflow so we get all the downforce we need with zero drag. This solution allows us to have a very clean centre line section, and low and smooth tail compared to others.

Two additional questions for him… how has he specced up his own new DB11?

‘It’s going to be midnight blue with a black upper, with black interior and dark blue stitch, and it’s going to look really mean…’

And when are you driving next at Goodwood?

‘At the Festival of Speed I hope, in something with a racing harness in it… I would hope Andy Palmer (Aston CEO) will be driving the DB11 up the hill!’