The Full Official press release is also to be found on the Official Aston Martin site - here.

Aston Martin has unveiled the new DBS which will be driven by James Bond, the legendary British secret agent, in the next 007 film, “CASINO ROYALE”, to be produced by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for EON Productions.

It looks incredibly gorgeous!!

Aston Martin’s Design Director, Marek Reichman, has said that the DBS hints at the brand’s future design direction. He describes the styling as “encapsulating a link between our elegant DB9 road car and the powerful DBR9 race car.

Aston Martin is unveiling a 4-door concept car at the 2006 Detroit Motorshow on Monday, January 9th. The Aston Martin Rapide, a four seat high performance coupe, illustrates the flexibility of Aston Martin’s unique VH (Verticle/Horizontal) architecture – a glued and riveted extruded aluminium tub with a backbone of carbon fibre. The full official press release will be available on Monday Jan 9th.

According to TOP GEAR Michael Harvey, the four-door version of the DB9 will be 5 meters long (size of a Quattroporte) – 300mm or 0.984 feet longer than the DB9. Because of the car’s extra weight, the engine (DB9′s V12) has been upgraded from 450 to 480 bhp and the brakes are now carbon ceramic. The price? Around $250,000.

Aston Martin Racing has unveiled the DBRS9, a competition car for club and national racing series, and a bridge for teams and drivers looking towards international GT racing.

The DBRS9 is based on the DB9 road car, but shares many design features from the full GT1 specification DBR9. It uses the road car’s aluminium bonded chassis with a DBR9-based roll cage. Aston Martin Racing’s engineers have tuned the standard 12 cylinder, six litre engine to produce approximately 550bhp (an increase of 20%) and reduced the overall weight by 480kg, to increase the power to weight ratio to nearly 430 bhp/tonne. Much of this is down to the extensive use of carbon composite materials for all the body panels (except the roof) and on the interior trim, as well as polycarbonate side and rear windows.

The DBRS9 has a six-speed H-pattern gearbox with new, shorter ratios for competition use, which can be upgraded to a full sequential racing box. The car’s ride has been lowered and the double wishbone suspension has been rose jointed and fitted with two-way adjustable Koni dampers and stiffened competition springs. 

While Aston Martin Racing’s focus has been to optimise the DBRS9’s performance, it has also been designed with practicality in mind. Both the seat and steering wheel are easily adjustable, and there is the option of a passenger seat, for demonstration drives. Removable body panels, a modular chassis and a package of spares simplify service and maintenance.

“There are many people who want to race Aston Martins competitively in everything from the occasional track day to weekend club or national series races,” said David Richards of Aston Martin Racing. “The DBRS9 opens GT racing up to more enthusiasts and with its levels of performance will offer aspiring racing drivers the experience of a GT racing car without the complexity associated with running a full GT1 car.

“The DBRS9 will start at £175,000 plus options and taxes. The cars will be built to order at Aston Martin Racing’s headquarters in Banbury, UK with first deliveries expected later in 2005.

Dr Ulrich Bez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin, said: “Positioned between the road going DB9 and the 2005 Tourist Trophy winning DBR9, this car will make a racing experience more accessible to Aston Martin race enthusiasts. It reinforces the DB9’s performance potential and inherent racing qualities.”

Aston Martin Racing has unveiled the DBR9, which will spearhead the British marque’s return to international motor racing in 2005.

The car was shown to a selected audience for the first time on 4th November 2004 at Aston Martin’s headquarters at Gaydon in the UK. An intensive testing programme now follows for Aston Martin Racing prior to the DBR9’s debut race scheduled for the 12 hours of Sebring, Florida, in March 2005. 

Aston Martin Racing will run two cars at Sebring and then move to Europe to prepare for the Le Mans 24 hours in June 2005. This will mark Aston Martin’s return to the race which was won outright in 1959 with Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby. In recognition of this, the DBR9 will follow the Le Mans-winning DBR1 and Works DB3S and carry the same green and yellow livery as the cars which dominated sports car racing in the late 1950s.

Aston Martin Racing will build 12 Works cars, which will be run by three Works teams in the major international GT series. A limited run of only 20 racing cars, prepared to the same specification, will also be built and made available to selected customers to race or keep in private collections.

The DBR9 GT racing car is based on the latest Aston Martin production sports car – the DB9 – but is significantly modified for competition use. The DB9’s bonded-aluminium body architecture is shared with the DBR9 and provides both with a lightweight rigid chassis. The race engine uses the same aluminium cylinder block and head as the DB9’s 450bhp 6-litre V12 unit, but with racing modification it is expected to produce in the region of 600bhp. 

The DB9’s double wishbone suspension configuration is retained on the DBR9, but features up-rated components and a revised geometry for racing purposes. Formula One style carbon brakes are fitted front and rear and a competition, six-speed sequential gearbox is mounted at the rear axle.

The DBR9 was styled by Aston Martin Racing’s own design team who made extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to optimise the aerodynamics before producing the final body surface. The panels are hand made from carbon-fibre composite, helping the car to meet its 1,100kg minimum weight and giving it a power to weight ratio of 550bhp per tonne – more than double that of the road car.

Dr Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin, said: “We need to create heightened awareness for Aston Martin around the world and motor sport will allow us to do this.”

“We took four years to find the ideal partner in David Richards and Prodrive and together have created Aston Martin Racing. The DBR9 is the first step in our return to motor sport and I know that our customers and enthusiasts alike are looking forward to seeing Aston Martin racing again at an international level in 2005.”