Aston Martin’s new CC100 Speedster Concept debuts

ASTON Martin celebrated its centenary in world-class style with its debut on May 19 of the exceptional CC100 Speedster Concept.
Created as a celebration of the British brand’s 100 years of sports car excellence, the one-off CC100 looks both to the past and the DBR1 - Aston Martin’s greatest sporting triumph on the track - and to the future with its teasing glimpses of potential future design direction.
The 6.0-liter V12-powered concept car made its world debut by completing a lap of the famous Nordschleife at Germany’s ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race. It lapped the circuit together with the 1,000 km race-winning 1959 DBR1 with British racing legend Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel. It was the most tangible expression yet of the brand’s year-long 2013 centenary celebrations.
Viewed by tens of thousands of spectators in Germany, the radical speedster was driven by Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez. He said: “CC100 is the epitome of everything that is great about Aston Martin. It represents our fantastic sporting heritage, our exceptional design capability, our superb engineering knowhow and, above all, our adventurous spirit. I have nicknamed it ‘DBR100’ because of its affinity to the great 1959 race-winning cars and, of course, our 100-year anniversary in 2013.
“But this car is more, even, than a simple ‘birthday present’ to ourselves: it shows that the soul of Aston Martin - the thing that differentiates us from all the other car makers out there - is as powerful as ever.”
Designed and constructed in fewer than six months at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon, working with key supplier Multimatic Inc, under the leadership of Special Projects and Motorsport Director David King, the finished look of the two-seater CC100 is the work of Design Director Marek Reichman working alongside the brand’s Chief Exterior Designer Miles Nurnberger.
Miles explained: “The brief was very simple, yet enormously testing: create something that reflects the 100 years of Aston Martin heritage and signals the future of the brand.
Measuring almost four and a half meters nose to tail, and more than two meters wide (including mirrors) the Speedster Concept body is a classic example of the almost infinitely flexible nature of Aston Martin’s trademark Vertical Horizontal engineering philosophy.
With a body and interior crafted from carbon fiber, tooled and provided by low volume specialists Multimatic, the CC100 utilises the latest generation AM11 naturally aspirated V12 gasoline engine mated to a six-speed hydraulically actuated automated sequential manual transmission. Controlled via steering column-mounted paddle shifts the lightweight ‘box delivers truly sporting changes perfectly suited to the Speedster’s track-focused nature.
The drivetrain will power the CC100 from rest to 62 mph in a little over four seconds, while the top speed is limited to 180 mph.