Aston Martin DB10 was not just another production car handed over to feature in Spectre; James Bond’s latest release.
It was designed by the British car maker exclusively for the quintessential famous British spy, an icon born out of the author, Ian Fleming’s head.
Since the time when Sean Connery playing James Bond drove Aston Martin’s DB5 in Goldfinger, the British auto maker’s cars have made an appearance in 12 out of 24 Bond films made till date. For the latest Bond flick, Spectre, Aston Martin did not merely give any car from its paddock, but chose to design and produce one especially and exclusively for it.
The DB10 was a collaborative effort between Sam Mendes, the director of Spectre, and Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s creative director at the company’s design studio situated in Gaydon, England. As Marek showed off the best designs from the Aston Martin studio, what caught the director’s eye was a small sketch of a two-seater pinned on the wall. The director wanted that exact design and was keen on keeping it in his new Bond film if Aston Martin could deliver it on time.
Marek’s problem was that he had only a sketch to start with. While many of his team members wondered what got into Marek’s head to agree to Mendes’ request, especially since he and his team had a lot of work on their hands with respect to other customer cars, the car designer still was confident of the outcome.
The team initially started with creating a 3-D version which showed off the interiors, added the V8 engine and lengthened and widened it to give it a newly sculpted profile. Then followed the clay model which was sleek, had tiny mirrors, flush door handles and a very low nose, giving it a naughty and yet a menacing look worthy of the Bond character.
The designing team also collaborated with the engineering team to ensure the car’s design was feasible to be made within the timeframe as required by Sam Mendes. A lot of engineering rework was also done in the technological section including the suspension details, the engine and the position of the passenger and driver. The designing team kept interacting with Mendes to ensure that every stage matched his expectations.
The body is made of carbon-fiber making the vehicle very light and also helps in retaining the shape very well. The interiors featured a combination of digital and analog controls and flashy instruments. The DB10 did not need crash testing nor needed to be tested for fuel efficiency as it was not meant to be a production car.
However, stunt requirements such as achieving 60 mph in under-5 minutes, ability to survive some jumps and make the speedometer hit triple-digit readings were essential. The team made ten DB10 vehicles for the movie out of which two were pod cars.
While the DB10 will not be seen anywhere else except in Spectre, its design could be used as a basis for the next-gen DB11.
