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Aston Martin celebrates its legendary status as British luxury icon and racecar manufacturer with its latest concept car — the DBR22. It is an open-cockpit two-seater brute that was unveiled at the 2022 Monterey Car Week last month.
The Aston Martin DBR22 takes design cues from such storied sportscars as the DBS3 and DBR1. The former is Frank Feely and Willie Watson’s racecar that started it all back in 1953, only to be one-upped by the latter several years later when it won Aston Martin the Le Mans (a legendary endurance bout) and the World Sports Car Championship in 1959.
These achievements are honoured almost half a century later by the marque’s bespoke division Q by Aston Martin on the cusp of its tenth birthday. The in-house branch has proven itself an integral player in the marque’s operations, not only in providing high-end customisation options for discerning customers but overseeing special launches like these.
A cutting-edge 3D-printed rear subframe
Photo: Aston Martin
Which brings us back to the DBR22. The car features a coach-built silhouette brought together from only a few separate panels and distinctly Aston Martin throughout. Particularly, key details of the Aston Martin DBR22 include a carbon fibre front grill almost directly transplanted from the DBS3 and DBR1. In addition, a bespoke coat of paint developed specifically for the vehicle (now available through Q by Aston Martin). Not to forget, a cutting-edge 3D-printed rear subframe — a first for the British luxury automaker.
Furthermore, under the hood is a ferocious twin-turbo powerplant pushing out track-ready numbers for a track-ready car: 753NM and 705hp. Also, the car lurches from dead-stop to a century in just 3.4 seconds, with a top-end speed of 319kmh.
Said Marek Reichman, Aston Martin Chief Creative Officer: “We set our design systems to “hyper-drive”, pushing the exploration of formalism further and endeavouring to express a future in the here today. Where could we go with the surfaces, proportion and form. Combining this approach with advanced process, technology, and materials, we’ve effectively modernised our racing bloodline and created a new pedigree.”
“DBR22 is a hot-blooded, purebred Aston Martin sports car full of speed, agility and spirit. A machine that we think will be the basis of many of tomorrow’s icons,” he concludes.
According to Autocar, a UK-based automobile magazine, Aston Martin will build ten examples of the DBR22. One model for each year of Q by Aston Martin’s existence — going for £1.5 million (S$2.5 million) each. This means that there’s a non-zero chance that we’ll eventually get behind the wheel of one of these, fingers crossed.
Find out more: Aston Martin.
