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Now here's a very powerful car in a compact size....so that when you drive this....you feel you good ole' adrenaline pumping....Ladies and Gentlemen, here's Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS, the new car from the legendry car-makers, which is also slated to be show-cased in the 22nd Bond movie- Quantum Of Solace.

When you strip away the layers of bureaucracy from a small company, the planning falls into the hands of real enthusiasts. You get a kind of corporate culture that asks, "What if...?" As in, "What if we put our biggest engine into our smallest car?" -reports Edmund, the man behind the concept at the Aston Martin's.

The result is a car like the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS, a concept with a 600-horsepower V12 engine that can reach 200 mph. If it goes into production (as we think it will), the Vantage RS would be the fastest street-legal Aston Martin you can buy.

One suspects this particular "What if?" question would have remained unanswered were Aston Martin still a part of the vast Ford empire. Liberated from Ford just a year ago, the team at Aston Martin's headquarters in Gaydon, just southeast of Birmingham in the English Midlands, produced a fully functioning mule of this car just last fall and commenced testing. And on December 11 at a lavish party to celebrate the opening of Aston's impressive new design studio, this concept car was unveiled to an audience of 700.
In as little as 18 months, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS could be on sale

Mako Blue
The Aston Martin Vantage RS was unveiled by Dr. Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin's CEO. "Over the past five years, we have established a reputation for presenting fully functional, feasible concept cars, and the V12 Vantage RS is no exception," he said. "With our dedicated production facilities, our own engine plant, our own unique vehicle architecture and now a dedicated design studio, we have the ideal framework to bring new models such as this to market and to further establish Aston Martin as the ultimate independent luxury sports car company."

Bez invited the public to provide a name for the unique pearlescent blue in which the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish RS concept had been painted, and "Mako Blue" subsequently won the contest. Marek Reichman, Aston's design director says, "The name is taken from the mako shark, which is the fastest and most agile shark known to man. The Maori translation for mako is 'blue lightning,' which obviously is descriptive of both color and car."

Looking under the hood of the beautifully finished concept car, it's amazing that Aston Martin's V12 fits at all. The task of assessing the feasibility of squeezing it into the Vantage was originally contracted out to an independent engineering consultancy, which concluded that it couldn't be done. So Aston brought it back in house to prove that it could.


The V12 Soundtrack
At the RS's unveiling, a recording played of the V12 whooping angrily to a few prods of the throttle, giving us an idea of the fabulous free-revving yowl that the 5,935cc 48-valve DOHC V12 can produce when it's in race specification. Unfortunately a line to the engine's dry-sump oiling system had been incorrectly connected during final preparation, so there would be no live concert during the evening.

The chassis will be a relatively straightforward setup without the fancy electronic controls of the recently introduced Aston Martin DBS. This car's dampers are manually adjustable. (You can see blue adjusters atop the inner fenders once you lift the hood.) Although other carmakers are developing ever more sophisticated stability control, the V12 Vantage RS's system will have just two modes, either on or off, backed up by a limited-slip differential. And while both the mule and concept car have the V8's Graziano-built six-speed manual gearbox, Aston hasn't ruled out the Speedshift transaxle with shift paddles on the steering wheel.


Speaking of price, about $320,000 — double the price of a Vantage V8 — seems likely, which would put it up with the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. According to Minards, production could be as few as just a hundred, and indeed all the top sports car companies are having great success with such limited-production specialty models.

Assuming all of these hurdles are overcome, the earliest the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS could be on sale is mid-2009. For anyone lucky enough to get their name on the waiting list, that's going to be an agonizingly long wait.


But for the unlucky ones like me....i'll try be happy watching it onscreen and i'd let Daniel Craig drive it for me:lol:

Many know what it’s like to lose a game of iPod roulette - when the shuffle feature offers up one of the worst songs in your collection. But they are in good company - because so does James Bond. Daniel Craig might play the world’s suavest man but his musical tastes have let down his super-cool image - reports The Sun.

For rather than wooing the ladies on the set of new Bond movie "Quantum Of Solace" with some seductive jazz, 007 listens to crazy German heavy metal and showtunes from Grease.

The actor revealed: “I have about 5,000 songs on my iPod. It’s very eclectic - anything from Kate Bush to The Raconteurs".

“I love iPod’s shuffle. But it can be nerve-racking if anyone is around. When something dodgy comes on, like Grease, you’re like, ‘Nooo!’ and dive to switch to the next tune. I also quite like German heavy metal - like the band Die Toten Hosen.”