Specification for the DB9 Carbon Volante is as follows

• Two-door Volante body style with 2+2 seating, 2015MY
• Carbon Black II or Stratus White coachwork
• North American market cars were also built in Lightning Silver, Ceramic Grey, Morning Frost White,  Tungsten Silver,  Quantum Silver and Meteorite Silver, Volcano Red, Onyx Black and Jet Black
• Black window surrounds
• Carbon fibre side strakes, front splitter, rear diffuser, mirror cars and rear lamp infills
• Graphitic finish on the tail pipes
• Standard or optional sports exhaust
• Black meshes
• Painted or optional Carbon door handles
• Gloss black diamond turned wheels
• Brake callipers in a choice of black, grey, red or yellow
• Black roof with Black Rokona headlining
• Obsidian Black hide (other colours on North American market cars)
• Welt in a choice of black, silver, red or yellow with same or black stitching
• Carbon Fibre facia and door pulls
• Paddle tips in Carbon Fibre or optional red, yellow or silver
• Steering wheel in black leather or Alcantara
• Piano Black air vents
• Black anodised rotary switches
• Black tread plate and pedals
• Special Carbon White sill plaques

Although not believed to be a numbered special edition, only 66 DB9 Carbon Edition Volantes were built.

The specification of the cars reflects elements of the North Coast itself. The Q Bison Brown leather interior is inspired by the North Coast 500 logo and the exterior Q Seychelles Blue is a close match to the logo, and the same colour as Prince Charles’ DB6 Mark II Volante.

In addition, Dunbeath Tweed has been added to the sun visors, door cards, seat inserts and the central powered stowage area to provide an extra Scottish touch, and Dark Ash Open Pore has been chosen for the interior trim to deliver a much more striking look.

Each car is embroidered to the individual edition and comes with its own sill plate for authenticity – making each vehicle extra special. Moreover, as these cars were built by Q by Aston Martin, each car comes with ‘Q’ wing badging and a two-piece luggage set in the same leather and tweed as the car interior.

• 2017MY DB11 V12 coupe, right hand drive
• Seychelles Blue coachwork
• Saltire themed AM wings badges
• Bison Brown leather
• Sun visors, door cards, seat inserts and central storage area in Dunbeath Tweed
• Interior trim in Dark Ash Open Pore
• Numbered sill plates
• Luggage set in Bison Brown leather & Dunbeath Tweed

Aston Martin Lagonda were so impressed with the new coachwork, it was adopted for the upcoming 3.0 litre model. As the new Tickford body was so much heavier, the extra power from the 3.0 litre engine was key as otherwise the newer 3 litre would have been slower than the outgoing 2.6 litre model.

This Startech 510 was first displayed at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show as a showcase for their offering for the DB11. The base car for the 610 is actually the DB11 V8, the engine of which is supplied by AMG; the 610 is an indication that the V8 is boosted to 610 bhp, an increase of 100 bhp over the standard engine. Peak torque increases from 675 to 800 Nm, on tap constantly between 2,000 and 5,000 rpm. How is this achieved? Startech adapt a plug-and-play auxiliary control module, which provides the engine control unit with special mapping for injection and ignition and increases the boost pressure of the turbos as well. The PowerXtra SP610 “powered by BRABUS” performance upgrade allows sprints from rest to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds; The top speed increases to 192 mph.

Startech also offer a front spoiler with tall flaps on both sides in either gloss black or carbon, designed to attach to the lower section of the front bumper. Plus a similar choice of side wings, which repeat the styling element of the front flaps ahead of the rear wheels. 21 inch Monostar M wheels featuring five pairs of spokes combined with a hub cover that gives the wheel the appearance of a center lock rim.

In addition to the accessory range, the Geneva show car also had  a bespoke interior using the finest handcrafted leather, Alcantara, and carbon fibre.

Prices as of 2020

• Front add-on elements, high-gloss black – 2.300,00 € excl. VAT, carbon 3.400,00 € excl. VAT
• Side wings – high-gloss black 2.400,00 € excl. VAT, carbon 3.200,00 € excl. VAT
• Front wheels – 990,00 € excl. VAT., rear wheels – 1.180,00 € excl. VAT – plus extra for special colours and tyres
• PowerXtra SP610 – 6.500,00 € excl. VAT
• Bespoke interior – POA

If you like there Startech 610, then you will love the DB11 Cyrus by Mansory.

Under the new Automobile Club De L’Ouest (ACO) technical regulations for 2011, AMR thought it had the ideal opportunity to compete for top honors at the 24 Hour race despite tough competition. The new regulations were designed to properly balance the performance of petrol and diesel powered cars and thus AMR could break the stranglehold of the diesel powered Audi and Peugeot.

Confidence in the new regs was so great that AMR felt able to develop Aston Martin’s first purpose-built racing chassis and racing engine for more than 50 years. The engine was especially daring, a turbocharged straight 6 cylinder and unlike the previous racing V8 and V12’s, was not based on a production power unit. That said, success in the race track could well have lead to a production version being fitted to a future Aston Martin race car.

Work on the new chassis and engine began in early 2010 at the AMR headquarters in Banbury, UK and the first of a planned production run of six cars ran in early 2011. Unlike the leading Audi and Peugeot LMP1 cars, the radical AMR-One  had a fully open cockpit. The body was designed to have minimal downforce and various ducts allowed air to pass through the car rather than over it.

The first race for the AMR-One was the 6 hours of Castellet, also the first round of the Le Mans series in April 2011. The single car entry qualified 11th overall behind a number of what should have been slower LMP2 class cars. In the race itself, the car finished 29th but as it had not completed 70% of the race distance was sadly not classified.

AMR decided to pull out of the next round at Spa and continued testing prior to the 2011 Le Mans 24 hours race where two cars were entered. During the race itself, disaster struck. One AMR-One retired after just two laps, the other car officially retired after four hours although almost all of that time it spent in the pit lane after completing only 4 laps. The AMR-One never turned a wheel in anger ever again. By the Silverstone round of the Le Mans series, the previous V12 engined Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 was again pressed into front line service. It turned out that the older car was both faster and more reliable than the newer one.

By the end of 2011, AMR announced that they had decided to discontinue development on the AMR-One and refocus back onto the GT class with the V8 Vantage GTE. AMR sold off the unused chassis to the racing team, Pescarolo and also to the radical DeltaWing project. The first view of an AMR-One following the premature end of it’s short racing life was at the 2013 Aston Martin Centenary Celebration at Kensington Palace now in private ownership.

The CC100 features extremely modern styling, but has been strongly influenced by the DBR1 race car. It has no doors as such although it does have a panel that lifts to assist with entry and exit. There is also no roof and an entirely exposed cabin. During development, the CC100 was known internally as the DBR100 which would appear to be a very suitable name indeed, one wonders why it wasn’t used on the completed car itself.

The CC100 shares the AM11 type engine with the other Gen4 cars although the specific power output of the CC100 was not disclosed. What has been shared is the performance with a claimed limited top speed of 180mph and 0-60 mph dash in under 4 seconds. A little research has shown that the car was actually based on the new V12 Vantage S together with the new Prodrive developed  7-speed Sportshift III gearbox.

As well as the Nürburgring demonstration, the first CC100 was displayed at Gaydon during Centenary Week and took it’s place as the last car on the Centenary Timeline at Kensington Palace in July 2013. Four weeks later, CC100 was shown on the Concept Lawn during the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegence in Monterey in California.

Whilst the first car with yellow accents was built to celebrate the firm’s centenary, the second commemorates the legendary win by the DBR1 in the 1959 Nürburgring 1000km with Stirling Moss at the wheel. This second car was completed for an enthusiast owner before the end of 2013. The second car was also painted in Alloro Green but has blue accents and a black interior. This second car was hidden from view for a while but eventually was shown to the public during 2017. The photographs below were taken at the opening of the new AML facility at St Athan in South Wales.

This has been the most ambitious project yet created by ‘Q by Aston Martin’ although more unique cars will no doubt follow in due course.

Mansory have  tuned the 5.2-litre V12 engine to a claimed 700 horsepower and 850 Nm of torque thanks to new engine mapping, a sports air filter and a stainless steel sports exhaust system.

To my eyes the Cyrus looks taller than the original car but as it’s on 35mm lower springs and ultra low profile tyres, maybe it’s just the size of the front grille that gives that effect.

Although I couldn’t look at the interior at the show, Mansory craftsman gave the featured car Silver leather upholstery with green Alcantara trimming and stitching. The interior has a huge range of carbon fibre trim pieces, new illuminated door entry sill plates, and a flat bottomed, redesigned sports steering wheel.

The Mansory Cyrus DB11 is currently available as a complete conversion although it’s also possible just to buy the individual accessories and fit them yourself.

If you like the DB11 Cyrus, have a look at the Startech 160 which was displayed on an adjacent stand at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show.