Background

Following three years of intense development, Aston Martin choose to unveil their new car for the nineties and beyond, at the International Motor Show in England on the 18th of October 1988. Called the Virage it was one of the sensations of the show attracting enormous public and media attention. The engine, based on the well tried and tested all alloy V8 designed by Tadek Marek with its racing pedigree, was heavily revised with entirely new cylinder heads with four valves per cylinder (last used by Aston Martin in 1921-2) for better breathing and to overcome power losses inevitable with the use of catalytic converters. This is so the engine can run on unleaded fuel anywhere; in effect it is a “worldwide” engine compatible for all markets. Development of the new four valve heads was undertaken by the renowned experts, Callaway Engineering of Connecticut, United States.

The chassis was designed in conjunction with the Cranfield Institute of Technology (one of the leaders in aerospace technology). It is torsionally stiffer, lighter and less complex that that of its predecessor, the V8. The body, in true Aston Martin tradition is aluminium, hand beaten by skilled craftsmen to a design by John Heffernan and Ken Greenley. “From the outset we felt that the car should be an evolutionary successor to the DB4, 5, 6 and V8,” said Heffernan. The front spoiler incorporates an aerodynamically shaped undertray, while the rear features a boot lip spoiler, each combining to produce zero lift. Glazing is flush throughout.

A Virage Volante was first displayed at the 1990 International Motor Show, with a 2+2 following in 1992. In 1993 the car was further improved when the four speed version of the Torqueflite automatic gearbox was introduced with variable sport or comfort settings.