Goodwood Aston day

[yeti]

I popped down to Goodwood to see the chaps on the CTR day organised by Nichloas Mee. Only wanted to have a cup of tea and a chat to the Bamford Rose team as I know my car was too loud to be allowed on the circuit. Neal from CTR said get it tested anyway, came out at 112dB! Anyway the boys got working on it for a couple of hours and with the addition of a LOT of heatproof wadding and sleeves in the exhaust, we got it down to 103dB and I was allowed out!!

The new brakes are fantatsic! The H&R springs are fantatstic! The DBS steering rack and gemetry settings are fantastic! Everything about the car is FANTASTIC, I have driven most of the cars I have owned on track and this really compares with the best of them. Hard to believe it's such a big heavy car, I doubt I would have carried more speed in my Marcos. It corners flat, it doesn't dive under braking at all and those brakes just never give up, they keep biting all the way into the corner and never fade. I saw 128mph on the Lavant straight and I have a very accurate speedo so probably 125mph'ish which is pretty good going. Had to coast through three areas of the track to get past the noise boxes but was quite fun doing that and stopped the quick lap/red mist scenario. A few crappy iPhone pics of the day... The 365 Daytona turned up half way through the day for a nose around. Beautiful but surprisingly small!

Edited by yeti on Sunday 30th October 13:45

[yeti]

Oh and as to the meeting with Bamford Rose... we shook hands and my car will be the V12 prototype! I will have a healthy 550bhp and switchable adaptive damping by spring. Full manifolds and exhaust, engine out and full rebuild to something special.

They're also working on a switchable and possibly even fully variable exhaust system so I can wind it up or down when needed i.e. track days, leaving home at 6am or blatting through a tunnel!

[JohnG1]

Nice one! Can you do a before and after dyno run with engine in and out? So it's possible to isolate mechanical losses in the drivetrain - rather than the usual flywheel vs rear-wheel guesstimates!

[yeti]

JohnG1 said:

Nice one! Can you do a before and after dyno run with engine in and out? So it's possible to isolate mechanical losses in the drivetrain - rather than the usual flywheel vs rear-wheel guesstimates!

I'll speak to the guys about it but I'm sure that's part of the plan John. Car felt great yesterday on track, probably lost a few ponies with all the blockages in the exhaust but still plenty of guts. Not sure what I'd do with an extra 100bhp over standard but sure I'll think of something. The only thing I said to the guys was that it mustn't ruin the driving experience of the DB9 - I suppose the power is only there when you want it!

Having adjustable comfort/sports suspension and a switchable exhaust would be terrific as well, the more I think about it the more logical it seems! Really would be two cars in one as after yesterday I realised that the DB9 is a seriously good sports car as a manual with some tarty brakes and springs.

[JohnG1]

Why not go full fat, bore and stroke to seven litres, new crank, con-rods, pistons, flywheel, clutch and what not.

Go for 700bhp (and kindly test out what I'm thinking of for my V12V)...

[yeti]

Put simply, I think 700bhp would spoil what the car is, a convertible GT. 550bhp gives me what I want from the car, will trounce 99.9% of what I'll meet on the roads but still be pleasant to drive. I'll use all of that bhp, not sure I could want for more, not a lot of extra power needed on track yesterday.

700bhp would make the car too much of a handful for my needs and is also a completely different league in terms of cost I'd imagine! But I'll enjoy hearing about your build when it happens

[JohnG1]

One more thing - what do your insurers say about 450 to 550bhp change?

[yeti]

JohnG1 said:

One more thing - what do your insurers say about 450 to 550bhp change?

They won't care, not the first time I have done such a thing and won't be the last. Their official postion is 'your mods don't cost us money' so I tell them and nothing changes! Only when I change the agreed value of the vehicle does the price increase.

[pommehogster]

Hey Lewis, great to catch up and thanks again for a spin in your car. I was very impressed with how your car handled, oh and stopped ! What a fab day though, very lucky with the weather.
Lovely to see people using their cars as they should be driven, especially that 1938 model, wow and he never backed off.
You will have even more fun once you have been "Bamford Rosed!!!" welcome to a very special club.

[Jockman]

Yo Yeti, if you're after 550 bhp try the new M5. Beamer are getting that kind of figure from a V8 these days.

But then again, it is only a Beamer.

And I'm on number 14 now

[AMGreg]

Looks a good day. I was hoping to get down to spectate, but in the end I could not get the chance. Nice photos!

[JohnG1]

Jockman said:

Yo Yeti, if you're after 550 bhp try the new M5. Beamer are getting that kind of figure from a V8 these days.

But then again, it is only a Beamer.

And I'm on number 14 now

"Yo"?
"Yo"???

What gives?

And an M5 is a big bimmer for the dull. No comparison to a gentlemans express like a DB9...

[yeti]

Jockman said:

Yo Yeti, if you're after 550 bhp try the new M5. Beamer are getting that kind of figure from a V8 these days.

Not my kind of thing at all I'm afraid. It's not simply about the power or I'd buy a GTR or a chavved up Subaru, or something similar, it's about the experience.

But then you know that as well as I

[Jockman]

yeti said:

But then you know that as well as I

Yup - just joshing with you and John 'crash test dummy' G1.

I do feel that Aston are right to keep out of the bhp rat race, leaving it to individuals like you two to arrange bespoke solutions with credible outlets like Bamford Rose

[JohnG1]

Jockman said:

Yup - just joshing with you and John 'crash test dummy' G1.

I do feel that Aston are right to keep out of the bhp rat race, leaving it to individuals like you two to arrange bespoke solutions with credible outlets like Bamford Rose

I don't think it's a choice. AML has no money to develop engine platforms. FoMoCo are keeping them alive with supply of V8 and V12.

So they cannot keep up. R&D for 2009-2010 was what £8m?? That's peanuts.

All recent models since Vantage and Rapide have been reskinning (Virage & DBS), repackaging (Vantage V12) or supplier driven (Vantage S with Graziano 7 speed box).

AML is regrettably screwed unless FoMoCo, Toyota, Honda or Mercedes take them under their wing. Or - long shot - the Quandt family decide to diversify from owning BMW.

I've said that all before...

[brakedwell]

It's a pity Bill Gates isn't a petrolhead with very good taste.

[Jockman]

JohnG1 said:

All recent models since Vantage and Rapide have been reskinning (Virage & DBS), repackaging (Vantage V12) or supplier driven (Vantage S with Graziano 7 speed box).

Pretty much so....though they do now have a FWD in the range

You reckon 510bhp is the max they can get out of the V12 ??? Bearing in mind the 430bhp they're now getting out of the V8.

Is a large R&D budget required to get 550bhp ?? Is this the same V12 that was outputting 450bhp on early DB9s ??

[JohnG1]

Jockman said:

Pretty much so....though they do now have a FWD in the range

You reckon 510bhp is the max they can get out of the V12 ??? Bearing in mind the 430bhp they're now getting out of the V8.

Is a large R&D budget required to get 550bhp ?? Is this the same V12 that was outputting 450bhp on early DB9s ??

The Vanquish S got 520bhp. Never understood why that did not continue - I suspect the cost per unit was too high.

I suspect that it would be quite simple to get 550bhp from the V12.

But it would cost more per unit. And then the new engine would have to be thoroughly tested.

Will AML spend the money on this when the R&D budget is £8m??

[George H]

Jockman said:

Yo Yeti, if you're after 550 bhp try the new M5. Beamer are getting that kind of figure from a V8 these days.

But then again, it is only a Beamer.

And I'm on number 14 now

But the M5 has twin turbos.

And a BMW badge, so people will instantly think your a cock. E63 (the one with the 6.2 V8 instead of the new 5.5 twin turbo) over an M5 any day of the week

[Jockman]

George H said:

And a BMW badge, so people will instantly think your a cock.

I assure you Georgeous that I do not require a BMW badge for this scenario

I think in my posting I put the wrong smilie - after 'number 14' I should have put