Driving James Bond’s 007 Aston Martins from the mega-hit, Spectre, gave Melissa Hoyer a serious and Spectre-cular licence to thrill
The chance to drive James Bond’s 007 Aston Martin from the mega-hit, Spectre, gave Melissa Hoyer a serious and Spectre-cular licence to thrill.
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I WAS recently in a car that sold for 2.4 British pounds. Yes, around $5 million. I was in the seat of just one of 10 of the Aston Marton DB10s models that were handcrafted for the highest-grossing James Bond film ever, Spectre.
To say it was an overwhelming - if not nicely scary - experience is an understatement. But this IS an original James Bond car and who wouldn’t want to make like 007 for a day?
Driving the most recent Aston Martin, the handmade DB10 and driven by Daniel Craig in Spectre, the flick that has become just as popular as its predecessor films, was a total blast.
A gang of international media were invited for the privilege and bussed around an hour-and-a-half out of London to a highly-secured testing ground called Millbrook.
The “Proving Ground” is in Bedford and is one of those grounds that car and even bus companies use to test out new models.
In fact, so sensitive Millbrook is to the secrecy of any “new” cars on the block, we are ALL asked to stick security stickers on our phones and cameras so we don’t take ANY pics of potentially sensitive new cars that may be getting tested as we headed out to our driving zone.
Fortunately, when we reached our track for the day the security stickers could be removed as we, naturally, snapped away.
I mean, it’s not every day you get the chance to be like Bond . .
As most of us know, it is the mega car action in Bond films that really gets fans going.
Being able to be in Spectre’s DB10 equipped with a rig and pod on the top (that’s where the real driving happens) along with driver Rob Hunt was one of the biggest adrenalin rushes ever.
Sure, the ‘pod’ driver started kind of slowly — the driver feeling his, I mean, my way and sensing if there was any fear factor he had to worry about. None. Natch.
Go-pro cameras were dotted throughout the car so every reaction to every swerve, turn, stop, full throttle acceleration were recorded. And boy, I loved it.
For the first time, I was behind the wheel of the car that had been specially adapted for filming as we made our way around a track known as the ‘steering pad’.
It was an adrenalin junkie’s greatest fix. And it is not as easy as you may think.
As there has been a 50-year connection between Aston Martin and the James Bond movie franchise this really was one mighty memorable trip. But the next ride was just as enticing as Spectre stunt driver Mark Higgins took each of us for a number of laps at high speed around Millbrook.
He ripped us around (see video above) and I came out of the seat shaking with excitement. Boy, it is a sexy beast of a car.
As well, we were also able to drive over Aston Martin models: the Vanquish, Vangaurd, DB9 GT Coupe and Rapid S. A veritable smorgasbord of chic, stylish and sexy cars.
In the greater scheme of car sales, Aston Matins don’t sell millions per year, but therein lies their appeal and total British charm.
For a car company around 103 years old, on average, it sells 80000 cars per year. What you do buy is total elegance and class. Oh and quite a bit of Bond action thrown in there too.
Interestingly one of the Bond DB10s sold from Spectre was recently sold at auction for £2,434,500. Gulp. yes that is $4.9 mil!
The DB10 sold was one of only two ‘show’ cars from the 10 that were made especially for the film, so it wasn't used for filming duties.
Under the bonnet was signed by Daniel Craig and it well and truly smashed the reserve price of $2 million. The car has a 4.7-litre V8 petrol engine and a top speed of 190mph, but the catch? It can’t be driven on public roads.
But the very good news? Lots of the proceeds from the Christies ‘Spectre’ auction went to Doctors Without Borders.
So why all this brouhaha over some spectacular sets of wheels? Well, Spectre, which took in over US$850million worldwide, has just become available on Blu-ray™ & DVD from Wednesday so EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Fox Home Entertainment really wanted to amp up sales.
And by giving a handful of a privileged international media the chance to drive the sacred wheels, I reckon their job is well and truly done.
Melissa Hoyer was a guest of Fox Film Entertainment for the Spectre Blu-ray and DVD launch in London
Originally published as Driving James Bond’s 007 Aston Martins from the mega-hit, Spectre, gave Melissa Hoyer a serious and Spectre-cular licence to thrill
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