06 Mar 01
/td> Aston Martin's Vanquish is launching now, though it will be a rare sight for many months. In the meantime, you can see the car in action on a frozen lake near the Arctic Circle, watch it blast around some high-speed banking, and hear the spine-tingling sound of its V12 by clicking on the 'ENGINE START' button.
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Frozen Testing
As you can see from the clip, slithering about on a frozen lake in a powerful car is highly entertaining. But what's the point of it all? First, checking that the car functions as it should in temperatures way, way below freezing, as well as ensuring that the anti-lock brakes, traction control systems and winter mode of the semi-auto transmission do their stuff. And of course, you need to be sure that you can get into the car in the first place - locks can freeze, even on £158,000 supercars. The car you see here, incidentally, is partly disguised with matt black paint and duct tape.
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The Electrifying Venom of 460 bhp
These sound clips were recorded in the engineering department at Aston Martin's Newport Pagnell factory shortly before last month's Geneva motor show. The 460 bhp V12 sounds potent enough at idle, moderately thunderous at middling revs and positively apocalyptic at high rpm. The 'ENGINE START' button is a copy of the one lucky Vanquish drivers must press to fire the motor up.
At the Test Track
These clips, taken at the Millbrook test track near Luton, show the Vanquish in its final form, posing for the camera. Much of the high-speed testing for this car was done at the bigger Nardo test track in southern Italy however, because the 190 mph Aston is too fast for Millbrook, whose limit is about 170 mph.
