√2022 Aston Martin DBR22 concept is both new and old

The bold new Aston Martin DBR22 convertible concept has historic Le Mans looks with future technology under the skin.

The one-off Aston Martin DBR22 is both a homage to the British sports car company’s past and a pointer to its future.

The good looking convertible is clearly inspired by Aston’s DBR racers from the 1950s — when it joined Jaguar in a successful British assault on the classic Le Mans 24-hour race — but it has future tech from the nose to cabin and down to the tail.

The grille is a new carbon-fibre take on Aston’s traditional air inlet — with prominent bars in place of the usual vanes — there is a completely new look in the cabin and the rear end has a 3D-printed subframe for the suspension and a new signature light bar.

“We’ve effectively modernised our racing bloodline and created a new pedigree,” said Marek Reichman, chief creative officer at Aston Martin in an official company statement.

Aston Martin is hinting strongly that it will produce a limited run of DBR22 production cars — without revealing numbers or pricing — as it has done recently by building 24 of its exotic $2.5 million Vulcan road racer and 14 copies of its $2 million Vantage V600.

The DBR22 is being unveiled this weekend at the Monterey Car Week in the USA, where most people are likely to be drawn to the shape and style of the gorgeous new droptop.

But there is as much substance as style to the car and it’s the cabin that holds the most interest — and promise — for future Aston Martin buyers.

The dashboard layout by the team under Marek Reichman, the company’s chief creative officer, is completely different from Aston’s current production cars and likely to be transplanted — with minimal changes — into the updated DB11 and DBS expected in 2023.

A closer look confirms Aston has moved away from its Mercedes-Benz sourced infotainment package, although there is no detail in the press announcement of any new supplier.

In the tail, the 3D printing of the rear subframe — with multiple aluminium pieces which are bonded together — is one key to the promise of sharp handling to cope with the performance potential of the DBR22 and also a pointer to future uses at Aston Martin thanks to a significant weight saving with no reduction in stiffness.

The car has a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 engine with 715hp and 753Nm, with an eight-speed paddle-shift automatic gearbox and rear-wheel drive, for a promised 3.4-second sprint to 100km/h and a top speed of 319km/h.

There is no sign of any top for the carbon-fibre bodywork, which is painted in a new signature colour developed by the company’s bespoke division —Q by Aston Martin, which will also handle any production cars — as part of its work on the DBR22.

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