Driving a supercar or a sportscar is one of the perks that we as automotive journalists enjoy. The usual supercar experience includes either a quick blast down one of the many lovely roads around Mumbai and Delhi or an occasional thrash around the three racetracks we have in India. And although driving these cars around at breakneck speeds on a track is difficult work (not really), someone has to do it, right? But sometimes you can get really lucky. So there I was in the British Midlands with almost unlimited access to the famous Millbrook proving grounds and I had the keys to the complete Aston Martin sportscar and supercar range at my disposal. What followed was the definition of a hard and tedious day, by which I mean a day full of ridiculously fast driving and some tyre squealing fun.
The Aston Martin range includes spectacular V8 and V12 powered cars
Now, for those of you that aren't aware of what the Millbrook proving ground is, it is one of the premier automotive testing facilities in the world and certainly the best in the United Kingdom. It features a two mile (3.2 km) high speed bowl, a mile (1.6km) straight, a very tight and twisty circuit to emulate urban conditions and the extremely demanding Alpine handling circuit. Now, to put things into perspective, the famous car chase scene from the Bond film Casino Royale where James Bond crashes and rolls the Aston Martin DBS in order to save Vesper was filmed at the Alpine handling circuit (not Montenegro as the movie suggests). So how did I end up getting almost unlimited access to the facility? Well, it was organised by the famous fashion group 'Hackett London', which apart from being the official apparel partner for the Williams Martini Formula 1 team is also the official partner for Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing.
The Vanquish uses a V12 motor to churn out 568bhp of raw power
As I mentioned earlier, I had the entire Aston Martin sportscar range at my disposal. And when asked to choose, I naturally gravitated to the V12 powered Vanquish. I don't know if it was the beautiful proportions or the tantalising exhaust note, but there is something too good to resist about this GT supercar. Luckily for me, the Vanquish was the chariot of choice to tackle the high speed bowl so after a quick spin around the course and a quick few safety tips, I let unleash the 568bhp V12! Now when driving on a banked course, every lane is angled to let you drive the car without putting your hands on the steering wheel.
The fastest lane at Millbrook lets you take the car up to 160 km/h
What I mean is that if you drive at a certain speed, you don't actually need to turn the wheel to make the car follow the lane as the angle of the road makes the car stay in lane. The fastest lane at Millbrook lets you take the car up to 160km/h and as we just mentioned, it will stay in lane without you even touching the steering wheel. Of course, without trying to blow my own trumpet, being the speed freak I am, I did manage to push it to about 230km/h before being gently reminded of the fact that there were other cars to drive.
The Vantage Volante is a head turner even when driven slow
And so I got out of the Vanquish and straight into the Vantage Volante (or roadster) for the urban simulation. The tight laid out course was to demonstrate how usable the Aston Martins were in city driving conditions despite being slightly unpractical two seater sports cars. Of course, being convertibles added to the glamour of driving slower than I just had despite the fact that somehow, slow turned out to be quite fun too. And then it was time to get out of one Vantage and get into a much MUCH faster Vantage, the fire breathing V12S, which incidentally is also the fastest series production Aston Martin as of today.
The 1 mile arrow straight allowed us to stretch the Vantage V12S up to 270 km/h
And this time, I hit the mile straight to do just one thing - go as fast as I was brave enough to go. Imagine this, a V12 Aston, an open safe and arrow straight road with zero restrictions. "Let it rip!" was the command that the instructor gave and with launch control doing its job as it is supposed to, the Vantage lit up the rear wheels and we held on for dear life. 0-100km/h was just a quick blur as we quickly sped past the 200km/h mark. At this point I started ignoring the still quickly rising needle and concentrated hard on keeping the Aston in a straight line considering we had some pretty strong cross winds to deal with. With a final result of just over 270km/h on the readout, one of the fastest speeds of the day, even the instructor admitted that we were clearly braver than we looked. Going fast in a straight line is easy though, going fast over a set of sharp and never ending corners is another thing altogether. I was finally ready for Millbrook's crown Jewel - the Alpine course.
A V8 with a manual is a must have experience for everyone
And to add to the excitement, the instructors laid down a challenge. "Do you think you have what it takes to have all four wheel off the ground at the jump section?" Everything was at stake here now. It must be done was what I was thinking as I was strapped into yet another Vantage, this time a V8S coupe with a manual gearbox. A V8 with a manual is something everyone must experience at some point of time and boy am I glad to have driven one of the last cars with this configuration being made today. The Alpine course is not easy, not by a long shot. After a couple of laps to get acquainted with the track layout, I had two chances of doing my best and not ending up like a certain Mr.Bond.
The Aston's tail steps out just enough on the Alpine course
Corner after corner, the Aston pushed on with the tail stepping out just about enough to make you feel proud of yourself and as I got through the undulations that could make the Nurburgring sit up and take notice, there was the infamous jump. We came, we saw and we conquered - or should we say 'we Vantaged'. For a moment, everything went light, weightless and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared witless. But having not lifted the throttle pedal for even a split second, I did have all four wheels in the air and surprisingly the Vantage landed with just a soft thud and went on as if nothing had happened. And after a spew of joyful expletives that made the instructor chuckle away to glory, I knew for a fact that I had accomplished something special today.
The Millbrook proving grounds is considered the hallow course for automakers
We had pushed a bunch of cars to ridiculous speeds, taken the Vantage flying and yes, driven around slowly in a convertible Aston Martin, which is always an occasion by itself. And I had done it at Millbrook, which by itself is considered hallowed ground for most automotive manufacturers around the world. As exciting days go, this will certainly be right up there as one of the best driving experiences I have had in a while.
