We drive Aston Martin's DB11 prototype

By topgear ,

TG's first taste of the new V12 GT is alongside its chassis guru, Matt Becker. Jason Barlow reports

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Matt Becker is, oh, the Matt Bellamy of suspension kinematics. If Muse’s frontman has become the stadium-rocking guitar hero du jour, Becker can wring the equivalent magic out of springs, dampers and a bunch of wishbones.

If it sounds like an odd analogy, remember that Aston Martin is as much about showbiz as it is fast cars these days. With that 52-year Bond connection, hasn’t it always?

Turns out, it’s pretty good at both. TG.com has just become one of the first outside Aston to drive the new DB11, and although we were limited to a session around Bridgestone’s test track an hour south of Rome, our initial findings are very promising. Peel away the stripey zebra camouflage and this is close to the finished article.

Pictures: Max Earey

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Becker and his colleague Rob Fern are here working on final damper settings; there’s a general air of contentment at a job well done, though no trace of smugness. That’s not their style.

“When I agreed to take on the Aston Martin job, I started to poke and prod,’ Becker says. “What’s the suspension system, what are its characteristics? I wanted to see some of the information, not necessarily to change anything, but so I had an idea what it would be like.

“But they’re a clever bunch of guys at Aston, and the car was in a good place. The only thing I was slightly nervous about initially was the steering ratio – it’s 13.1 which I thought was quite fast. Was it going to be too edgy, too nervous?”

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Nope. Top Gear has just ploughed into a fast right/left with a deliberately epic level of stupidity, and the DB11 simply shirks it off. Between trying to learn the track while tapping Becker for info, these are only first impressions, but the long-awaited DB9 replacement feels fluent, extremely rapid and unflappable.

Unflappable usability is key to the DB11. Maybe you’d prefer your British supercar, powered by an all-new twin-turbo, 600bhp 5.2-litre V12, one that summons up 516lb ft from just 1,500rpm, to be a little more fire-breathing, but that’s not the deal here.

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Happily, the DB11 sounds just as bombastic as every other recent Aston V12, never mind those two turbos, and with a sub-4.0secs 0-100kmh time and 200mph top speed, plus all that torque, it’s hardly slow.

But what really counts is how clear the messages coming through your fingertips, feet and back-side are. Becker talks about ‘attributes’, and these are what you end up with when you’ve managed to integrate the simulation, aero and chassis departments in pursuit of a common goal.

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“I was looking for a car that heaves, rolls and steers kind of six-dimensionally, so that everything blends together,” Becker tells me.

“The DB11 does that. It’s all of a-piece. You want a diagonal roll axis so the car rolls onto its nose, it tells the driver he’s putting his input in, and gives the tyre time to build up cornering force. So everything becomes more linear and more progressive, and the driver has more feedback and more time to respond…”

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Our pre-prod car, Becker reckons, is about number 130 out of the 150 or so prototypes his team will run during the car’s four-year development. Matt’s largely happy with the car in everyday damping mode; he and Rob are working through the minutiae of the two firmer set-ups.

We’re invited to try all three and can report that, for once, here’s a very high performance car with an extreme damping mode that you might actually want to use. Yes, it could be sharper and more ‘on-the-nose’, but that wasn’t what Aston set out to deliver. Besides, the upcoming spin-offs will go pick up any slack.

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“Ride comfort and isolation – these are key. To me, a GT car is something you can drive a long distance and climb out of feeling refreshed,” Becker says firmly.

“But you must also feel engaged; it needs to give you information back. You don’t want a blancmange, we’re after a broad dynamic spectrum. The DB11 is comfortable and it heaves, but it’s still very connected. You can drive it on a circuit or drive it very fast and not be intimidated by it.”

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The fundamentals certainly feel bang-on. Becker also insists that the car’s EPAS (electric power steering) offers a much wider range of tuning possibilities, way beyond the limitations of the less efficient hydraulic set-up.

We won’t drive the DB11 in a true real-world context until July, but after an hour on the track – including an amusing session on the wet-handling section – it clearly steers, flows and turns-in in a way that belies both its size and weight.

Lovely interior, too, though probably not in the blue this pre-prod car had inflicted on it. The leather was left over, apparently. Now excuse us: it’s time for another guitar solo.