Are you unfathomably rich and a student of Aston Martin racing history? Aston’s got you covered with this, the DBR22. It’s a concept car, for now, but it previews an ultra limited-edition production machine that will soon roll out of Aston’s aptly-named Q customization department. And it takes its shape from some of the most beautiful and legendary racing machines of Aston’s past.
The DBR22 is a modern-day reinterpretation of the DB3s, the 1953 race car penned by Frank Feeley, with cues from the DBR1, the sports car raced by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori that won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans and nabbed the World Sports Car Championship that same year. The DBR1 is the vintage machine you see in these images provided by Aston Martin.
The new Aston is powered by the familiar 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 from — you guessed it — the V12 Vantage, here feeding 705 hp and 555 lb-ft of torque to an eight-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission. Aston says the DBR22 is good for 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 198 mph.
Inside you’ll find Aston’s latest dash and console layout, with all the rich leather and carbon fiber you could hope for.
Aston says the DBR22 concept’s bodywork was crafted from as few panels as possible, minimizing cut lines. The result is an evocative design that does an impressive job of modernizing the classic lines of the early race cars.
Like so many rich-guy limited-run supercars, the DBR22 has no windshield or roof. This is meant to convey the wind-in-your-face minimalism of mid-century sports racers, but frankly, it probably just means this thing won’t get driven very often.
And yes, there will be a production model. Aston says this concept car forms “the basis of a production-reality example for an ultra-exclusive number of Q by Aston Martin customers.” Those well-heeled customers will get to see the DBR22 concept for themselves at Monterey Car Week this weekend. The rest of us will simply have to look at these photos.
