Our trip to Port Elizabeth and back in nine of the most desirable automobiles currently available in South Africa counts as one of the finest moments of my life, and has been the highlight of my fledgling career. Don't get me wrong, it was great fun driving supercars, but I'll never forget the Aston Martin Vantage V12 in particular - for slightly offbeat reasons.

Sure, the Vantage is a great performer by means of excellent dynamics exploited to the full by the brutish 6,0-litre V12 lent to it by its big brother, the DBS. It performed pretty well at Aldo Scribante racetrack. Its racing pedigree came to the fore with its sharp turn-in, and twitchy rear end, supplemented by a relatively short wheelbase and very stiff suspension set-up.

Knowing quite well that this car would be a handful at full tilt, it was also the one car I felt slight apprehensive before driving... Sure, I did feel rather suave sauntering up to "Hot Lips" as our convoy was ogled by a growing crowd of onlookers, but that was about as 007 as I felt, because I drastically underdressed in a rather worn-out t-shirt, camouflage shorts and high-top sneakers...

In fact, as I think back tattooed, all-black clad art director Kian Eriksen and myself must have actually appeared rather strange as the occupants of this R3,5 million vehicle. I must admit that I felt more out of place behind the wheel of the Vantage than I did at the helm of the Bentley Continental GT.

All set then, and ready to appear cool in yet another small town as our party prepared to head out, but alas - as everyone started leaving I realised the parking brake was still in operation. I tried to remain composed, but started panicking when I realised that the lever wasn't where it would normally be found (just aft of the gearknob), and the Vantage didn't appear to be equipped with an electronic brake either.

The next moment, Eriksen was on the two-way radio to seek assistance from the nearest colleague, but it seemed at that stage that everyone else was out of range. As the crowd that had gathered started looking puzzled, I noticed stitching to my right as I foolishly sought an electronic switch to the right of the steering column and lo, I found the handbrake - tucked away between the driver's seat and door.

With that behind us, I then found out that the seat back of the bucket-type chair in which I was comfortably ensconced was fixed and that I needed to slide the seat a bit closer to get my left hand around that unconventional gearknob, but that didn't mean I could shift gears any more gracefully...

The actual process is as precise as you could expect from a multi-million Rand automobile, but the action required just to perform it boggles me. No matter how tall you are or short your arms are (they range widely in the CAR test team) none of us seemed to be able to mix that six-speed box without knocking our elbows on the seat, or that silly armrest.

Out of town and only using fifth and sixth gears, I built up enough confidence to occasionally venture into third and on the odd occasion, fourth. As much as the Vantage V12 puts on a tyre smoking spectacle under full acceleration, it exhibited huge grip through the many sweeps and tighter bends I encountered...

But, after travelling at speed for some distance, the lack of seat adjustability and any real cushioning resulted in some notable backache for both occupants.

I wanted to like the Aston Martin, I really did. And as fine a machine as it is, that's all I felt it was - it was just too uncomfortable for me. Still, I should've packed in my tux' for the drive...

To see what the rest of the team thought of the Aston Martin Vantage V12 and how it performed against its rivals, read the January 2010 issue of CAR, on sale now.

 

 

 

 

 

Original article from Car