You created the DB11 from
a clean sheet of paper. What
was your starting point?
“The most important part of
any Aston Martin is the driver.
We started by positioning the
steering column, the seat,
the pedals, the HVAC unit
and determining how long we
wanted the wheelbase to be.
Compared with the DB9, we
increased the wheelbase by
65mm, which gives the DB11
the proportions we wanted.”
Which of the DB11’s design
features stand out for you?
“One of my personal
highlights of the body is the
clamshell bonnet. The desire
is to have the least number
of lines to interrupt the flow
of the car’s design and this
bonnet only has two cut lines.
But producing it was right
on the limit of our technical
capabilities. We had to find a
blank sheet of aluminium to
press the bonnet out of, an
aluminium press big enough
to make the part, and then
an ecoat
[electrophoretic
painting] tank big enough.”
How effective is the
AeroBlade ‘virtual spoiler’ at
reducing lift at the rear?
“It’s not a gimmick. We proved
it by CFD [computational fluid
dynamics] and then we rigged
up a Vanquish with the system
and tested it in all kinds of
conditions. The work we did
to prove that it works in all
conditions was extensive. A
lot of cars of this type have an
exaggerated ‘flip’ at the rear
and we didn’t want that. This
technology means we can
have a sloping tail without any
compromise in stability.”
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