Aston Martin is certainly no stranger to building special editions of its existing lineup, so it comes as no surprise there’s another new one today. This time the focus is on the Vanquish S. Introducing the Vanquish S Red Arrows edition, limited to just 10 examples and commissioned by Aston Martin Cambridge. For anyone who’s not English, the Red Arrows are the Royal Air Force’s highly regarded aerobatic unit, founded in 1965.
It’s made up of nine pilots who perform insane sky maneuvers, kind of like the English equivelant of the US Air Force Thunderbirds or the Navy’s Blue Angels. The Red Arrows also do their thing at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed and various other state occasions. As for the Vanquish S Red Arrow itself, Aston Martin says it’s finished in Eclat Red (‘Eclat’ is the Red Arrows’ motto), the same livery used for the Hawk jet planes. Numerous other touches, such as white and blue carbon livery detailing and a white ‘smoke trail’ on the side strake adorn the exterior. We particularly dig the exposed carbon fiber roof panel featuring an inlaid ‘charge’ pattern that mimics a fighter jet canopy. And, of course, there are Union Jack enamel wing badges.
The exterior is rounded off with a titanium exhaust. Step inside and there are Pinewood green inserts that evoke the design of a classic flight suit and – this is cool – Martin Baker ejection seat fabric. There’s even green webbing seatbelts and a One-77 derived steering wheel with center rotary toggle switch inspired by aviation instrumentation. The seats backs are embroidered with the Red Arrows emblem in classic diamond formation. Each Vanquish S will be signed, 1 through 10, by the equivalent number Red pilot in the squadron. The tenth car is being donated to charity. Power, of course, comes from the naturally aspirated 6.0-liter V12. This is the third Q by Aston Martin special edition, and we doubt it’ll be the last.
