Aston Martin has kicked off its 110th birthday celebrations with a photoshoot bringing together two notable examples of the marque.
Historic photoshoot
January 15 marks exactly 110 years since Aston's 1913 foundation by racing enthusiasts Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. To honour the occasion, the firm has released a series of photographs of the company's current Valkyrie hybrid hypercar pictured alongside a 1923 Grand Prix car nicknamed 'Razor Blade'. Razor Blade was built less than a year after Aston Martin's Grand Prix debut in 1922 to break the one-hour speed record for light cars by lapping the banked Brooklands racing circuit in England at a speed greater than the then-current record of 163.1km/h for 60 minutes straight. While it failed to do so, it later achieved considerable racing success and is an important car in Aston's history.
Big plans for 2023
The Razor Blade photoshoot isn't the only thing, however, that Aston Martin has up its sleeve for 2023.
The company said that it plans to unveil a new "strictly limited" model later this year, likely at one of the big-ticket automotive events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK or the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California.
This year will also see the launch of Aston's new generation of sports cars, as well as major updates in terms of styling, mechanicals and infotainment for its Vantage, DBS and DB11 models. Slated for launch is the company's "F1 inspired" plug-in hybrid Valhalla hypercar, powered by an electrified version of the Mercedes- AMG 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.
110th year "just as exciting as the first"
"In 1913 Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford came together with a shared vision of racing cars and using learnings from the racetrack to push the boundaries of automotive innovation," said Aston Martin's CEO, Amedeo Felisa.
"110 years and a little over 110,000 cars later, that spirit continues. Our 110th year promises to be just as exciting as our first, as we turn a new chapter in Aston Martin history with the launch of our next generation of sports cars and the reveal of an extraordinary special model later this year that will celebrate this unique milestone."
Other anniversaries
This year also sees some other big anniversary celebrations for the firm with 75 years since the launch of Aston's DB series of grand tourers and 60 years of the Aston Martin DB5, the most famous DB model (and Aston Martin generally) thanks to its association with the James Bond films. DB, incidentally, stands for David Brown, the English tractor manufacturer who took over the troubled Aston Martin in the late 1940s.