BBC_Top_Gear_South_Africa_June_2017

447kWmeetsapolished
floor.Theygetonlike a
house on fire
n a little under three years, Aston
Martin will be building cars in this
hangar. There will be people and machinery,
I
infrastructure,logistics,componentsand,atthe
centreofitall,aproductionline,downwhichwillflow
the forthcoming DBX SUV and potentially something wearing a Lagonda
badge. But that’s not until early 2020.
Nextweek–bythetimeyoureadthisinotherwords–theywill
starttearingupthefloorinhere.That’sacryingshame.It’spolished
concrete, smooth, reflective and untouched since the RAF moved out a
few years back.
Rightnow,andforthenexttwodays,thishangarisours.Well,ours
andafilmcrew’s.Butwecanshare–wehavenotone,butthreehangars
to choose from. Correction: not hangars, super-hangars, 11,000 square
metreseach,orexpressedanotherway,2.7acres.LocatedatStAthanin
SouthWales,theywerebuiltfortheRAFtoservicetheirfastjetsin,
couldaccommodatesomethinglike48Tornadosatatime,but they
movedoutin2012,andtheplacehasbeenemptysince.
AndthenalongcameAston,needinganewmanufacturingfacilityto
fulfilitsplanstodoubleproductiontoaround14,000carsperyear.A
matchmadeinheaven,albeitonethatrequiresaninvestmentof
something like R3 billion before 750 jobs can be created and 7000 cars a
year can start rolling out the doors.
Confrontedwithseveralacresofcoveredspace,AstonMartindecided
todothedecentthing:delaytheredevelopmentpeoplegettinginfora
fewdaysandbringalongabitoftheirbackcataloguetomakeafilm–28
cars,tobeprecise,withacombinedvalueoverabillionrand.Throwina
fewracingdrivers,acoupleofcameosfromWelshrugbyplayers,some
noise, smoke, drama and a decent storyline that involves a cheeky bit of
illicitafterhours“borrowing”,andyouhaveacoolviralfilm.
TopGear was instrumental in this happening. Charlie Turner and I
werechattingwithAstonMartinlastyearwhentheconversationswung
tothedealtheyhadstruckwiththeMoDoverthehangarsatStAthan
airfield.TopGearcreativityswungintoaction,andIthinkthenextwords
uttered were “skidding about, indoors, in Astons”. Our contribution
ended there.
Untiltoday,whereIfindmyselfdoingpreciselythat.Ourbreadthof
imaginationclearlyhasfewlimits.I’minhangarthree.Themainshoot
forthefilmdoesn’tstartuntiltomorrow,butallthecarsarearrivingoff
the backs of trucks and trailers in hangar two right now. I’d love to tell
GT3 racer, Le Mans car,
V600,yep,we’dbehappy
with any of them
you that I have carte blanche to go and grab keys and razz stuff around,
but,well,R1141480937.
Justtwocars,theDBR1andDB4GTZagato,accountformorethan
halfthat,butthatstillleavesR500million-oddmillion-worthofmetaland
carsdatingbackto1921–theA3istheoldestAstonMartininexistence.
Thereareconceptcars,stuntcars,racingcars…andaDB5.Thisone’s
worth R14 million, but I’ve never driven one and this isn’t an opportunity
I’mpreparedtopassup.
ThenoisewhenitfiresisinstantConnery.The4.0-litrestraight-six
sucks air through three SU carburettors and sounds instantly recognisable
fromallthosechasescenes.It’scaptivating.ClearlyI’mnotgoingtolearn
much about how it drives when all I have to play with is a few hundred
metres of hangar, but this isn’t about that, and to be frank it’s not really
aboutskiddingaround,either.Ican’tbringmyselftodoit,totreatsucha
beautiful,elegantthingclumsilyorharshly.SoinsteadIpotterupand
down, fingers guiding the willowy steering and five-speed gearlever, ears
tuned in to the sucking carbs, the fuel starvation through the long corner
ateitherend.InAston’sfilm,it’spairedwiththeDB10,butthatcar’sa
wholedifferentkettleoffish.It’sthestuntcarfromSPECTRE–openthe
door and all you find is roll cage, harnesses and a hydraulic handbrake. I
wanttodriveit,butit’sinauthenticwhenthere’ssomuchrealhistoryhere.
Igoforawanderalongthisridiculouslineofcarsforwhattodrive
next. Honestly, it’s real pinch-yourself stuff. There’s a One-77 next to a >>
74 JUNE 2017