Aston Martin Unveils Roofless V12 Speedster Special Edition

This 200-mph machine salutes the winningest Aston race car ever.

Between a partnership with luxury watchmaker Girard-Perregaux, pastel-colored supercars, and a return to Formula 1 marked by this special-edition Vantage, Aston Martin has been extremely active in the first months of 2021. And the vaunted British automaker isn’t slowing down, as evidenced by this racy custom specification for the forthcoming V12 Speedster.

News of the Q by Aston Martin-designed roadster’s 88-example run has been trickling in since early 2020, with the latest being this DBR1 edition of the open-top roadster. 

The four-character code refers to the DBR1 race car, which dominated at a string of key circuits throughout the late 1950s and famously earned the 1959 World Sportscar Championship with a win at Le Mans, cementing its legacy as the winningest Aston racing machine ever. 

The V12 Speedster DBR1 incorporates multiple nods to its namesake, including a Racing Green paint finish that took over 50 hours to complete, Clubsport White pinstripe and roundels, a Satin Silver anodized grille with a Clubsport lipstick graphic, Conker saddle leather, and Viridian Green technical textile/Caithness leather. 

While no interior imagery was provided, Aston says that Racing Green driver and passenger helmets sit underneath the doors, solid silver “wings badges are protected by transparent enamel, and gloss carbon fiber is incorporated throughout the cockpit.

Under the hood is a twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V12 engine capable of producing 690 hp, just 25 hp shy of what the same engine cranks out in the flagship DBS Superleggera. It’ll hit 62 mph in 3.4 seconds on the way to a 198-mph top end. 

No price has been announced, but the Aston Martin V12 Speedster DBR1 is available to preorder now.