Men Free Blog

As if being chosen to play the consummate British secret agent wasn’t enough for Daniel Craig to brag about, the current 007 has been extended a free pass to drive Aston Martin’s best cars any time he pleases. And he isn’t limited to driving on the street. Aston has made its test track available to the faux agent. Craig must be quite the Ambassador to the brand to be granted such special privileges. Unfortunately, Mr. Bond seems to have no intentions of actually going out and purchasing one for himself, saying, “I could drive it faster and more furiously [on the track] than anywhere on the road. I live in London [and] it doesn’t make any sense to drive an Aston Martin there. I’ve nowhere to park it.” Yeah, we know how you feel, Daniel. That’s the reason all of on the Autoblog staff don’t own Astons too… nowhere to park.

Devil May Care, the new James Bond novel set back during the Cold War in 1967, arrives on bookstore shelves May 28th. The book’s author, Sebastian Faulkes, has written the story in the style of the late Ian Fleming to celebrate the 007 creator’s centenary. As we first reported last September, MI6’s greatest secret agent also returns to his Bentley-driving roots in Devil May Care. The car is the same one he drives in Fleming’s Thunderball and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: a custom 2-seat Bentley R type Continental convertible with the 4½-liter engine from a Mk VI stuffed underhood. To celebrate Bond’s return to Bentley, Penguin Books asked the automaker to design a very limited Special Series Edition — just 300 copies will be made. (Anyone want to place bets on the aftermarket value of book #007?)

Under the supervision of chief designer Dirk Van Braeckel (the man responsible for the current Continental GT’s lines), Bentley has delivered a leather-bound, heirloom-quality piece. The ‘Flying B’ hood ornament is featured on the cover and spine, and the outer leather is stitched in the same diamond pattern you’ll find on the seating surfaces of a modern Bentley road car. The inside cover is also finished off in leather, but is styled in tune with cars of the era in which the story is set. The typeface used is the same one you’ll find in a Bentley owner’s manual, and each individually-numbered book comes with a matching-number pewter die-cast R type model and a similarly-snazzy book block. The numbering on each book, by the way, is featured on a metal plate supplied by the same firm who does the engine plates for the cars. Finally, all books come with a plexiglass slipcase.

As you might expect, this mega-exclusive book is also mega-expensive. £750 will put one on the bookshelf, where it would surely look nice next to the divorce papers you’ll be handed shortly after its arrival. If you’re a Bond completist, recent lottery winner, or a Bentley fanatic, you can order the super special edition via Penguin007.com, where they’ve got all manner of Bond info, a countdown clock ticking off the seconds to the book’s release and a link to the Special Series Edition minisite. You regular folk (we know you’re out there) can meet us at Amazon, where the pricing’s a bit more in tune with blogger pay.

[Sources: Bentley, Penguin Books]

Filming of the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, has been put on hiatus after two stunt drivers were injured during filming. The crash apparently took place while performing a chase sequence where one driver in an Alfa Romeo crashed into a wall while chasing Bond’s Aston Martin DBS along the Gardesana, a curvy road that lines Lake Garda. The man behind the wheel of the Alfa was flown to the hospital in a helicopter and is in serious condition, while his passenger sustained only minor injuries.

This news comes within days of the previous crash that put one of the DBSs used for filming into the same lake, and despite the fact that filming was about to be wrapped today, the set remains closed until an investigation takes place. Thanks to all who tipped in.
[Sources: CNN, MI6.co.uk]

At 6:30 this morning, a stunt driver shooting a scene for the upcoming James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, lost control of an Aston Martin DBS while filming a chase scene and plunged into Lake Garda in Rome. The film’s executive producer, Anthony Waye, said that the scene was being shot in the pouring rain, and although the DBS didn’t survive it’s unplanned excursion into the water, the driver sustained only minor injuries and was released from the hospital earlier this afternoon. MI6 declined to comment on the incident, but a spokesperson for the agency remarked that the submersible kit for the Aston was under development. Too little, too late Q.

[Source: Reuters.it - translated]