Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XVIII

and Track modes. Together with varying the level of power steering assistance, the Roadster can transform – with the push of a button – from Sunday cruiser to drop- top race car. Though I momentarily clicked the car up to Track, I found Sport the most exhilarating setting – without scaring me half to death. There I was able to take the Roadster into corners much harder than I’d conceived possible for a convertible. More often than not, when an automaker transforms a coupe into a roadster, rigidity and therefore cornering confidence is lost. Not so in the V12 Vantage S Roadster. In fact, from my seat, I couldn’t tell the difference between it and its hardtop cousin. As the sun shone down onto me and the wind ripped through my hair, however, the rest of me could feel the difference… and it was marvellous. The power steering’s directness and quick ratio perfectly complimented my driving style and inspired much confidence. Riding the limits of tyre to roadway friction, I could easily solve any hints of understeer with a touch of the throttle pedal, which would gently kick out the rear end. Coming back down the hills, if I found my speed exceeding my comfort level, the carbon-ceramic brakes at all four corners kept the car – and me – calm during hard deceleration. Though it was over 42 degrees Celsius that day in the desert, and the engine turning at oft-full revs, it never once got overheated or skipped a beat. It was this proficient shedding of excess heat that proved the carbon additions to the Roadster’s nose were more than cosmetic; they, too, improved performance and kept the V12 cool. Contradiction Many high-performance carmakers brag about bringing race car technology into their road-going cars. While this infusion undoubtedly improves on-road performance, it also essentially code for making a car less liveable, less enjoyable. AstonMartin, though, hasn’t fallen into this trap. It’s included its fastest and fastest- accelerating roadster lessons learned on the racing circuit, like CNC-machined combustion chambers and hollow camshafts. Thankfully, it’s foregone features like carbon fibre racing bucket seats and a solid suspension. Instead, Aston folded in the important, go-fast bits but left out the things that might make a buyer wish he’d bought a luxury sedan instead. The seats, for example, are incredibly comfortable and not only support the driver during high-speed, spirited motoring sessions but also on long, sun-soaked highway cruises. And, as I mentioned before, with the auto-shift manual gearbox in automatic mode, though a bit ‘laggy’ at times, the driver can enjoy the benefits of a lightweight, manual transmission capable of rapid-fire shifts and also the ease of an automatic when he’s not feeling exceedingly impassioned. Conclusion This brings me back to my opening statement. Automakers often produce more potent variants of their models, as the given model gets on in years. Not only does it attract more attention to the moniker, it also stretches out the life and longevity of the platform. Rarely, though, do such changes make a car better than the original. After all, harder and faster components do not necessarily a good car make. Plus, things like hood louvres can just as easily downright ruin the handsome visual aesthetics as they can make an engine cooling system more effective. Here is where Aston Martin’s designers prove their brilliance. They’ve taken an ageing car and made it not only quicker and more capable, which is frankly the easy part, but also made it more handsome and far more enlivening than in its previous iterations. The Vantage stands as Aston’s best-selling model. I can’t image the prospect of gutting and remaking such a success is easy to face for the Aston designers. With one fell swoop, the car and its gentlemanly wiles could be ruined. Delightfully, they’ve done just the opposite. The Aston men successfully bolted up parts that by themselves could otherwise be considered far too boy-racer for the gallant Aston brand and made a car worthy of a place not just in some of the most distinguished car collections in the world but also perhaps a place in the pages of motoring masterpiece history.