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One hundred year anniversaries are a somewhat rare occurrence in the motoring world, so as part of Aston Martin’s centenary celebrations this year, the British car maker wasn’t going to let an opportunity to commemorate the occasion with a very special project pass it by. CC100 is the result.

We first met the gorgeous speedster back in May, when Aston Martin’s CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, unveiled the bespoke creation to the world, leading a parade lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife ahead of the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race. The contingent included Sir Stirling Moss, who was once again behind the wheel of the spectacular DBR1 – the famous racing model that won at Le Mans and Nürburgring in 1959, and 98 other Aston Martin machines of varying vintage.

It’s easy to draw parallels between this car and the DBR1 with its open cockpit, unconstrained vision and seating just for two, but it’s wrong to think of the CC100 as a contemporary reimagination of a legendary racing machine. We’re looking at a glimpse of what’s to come for the inimitable marque.

Originally the CC100 project was envisaged to be a one-off, but two cars were built and both examples have since been purchased by private buyers for undisclosed amounts. On his visit to Monterey and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance last weekend, a very lucky Larry Chen got to spend some quality time with one of them.

Unlike many future design studies that emerge from auto manufacturer design labs, Aston Martin’s DNA is unmistakable in the CC100.

The project was given the green light in the latter half of 2012, leaving the automotive artisans in Aston Martin’s Prototype Operations department less than six months to design and build a car that perfectly reflected the brand’s first 100 years. No pressure then.

Of course, that task would have been made much easier were the engineers only required a create static showpiece as is often the case with concept cars. But right from the get-go the brief called for a fully functioning vehicle, finished to the same exacting standards extended to all Aston Martin production cars. Realising an entirely new car from the ground up was not possible though, and given the parts bins at the team’s disposal there was absolutely no reason to try and reinvent the wheel anyway.

The highly versatile ‘VH’ (Vertical Horizontal) bonded aluminium chassis that underpins the limited edition V12 Vantage Roadster forms the backbone of the CC100. Dimensionally, its shares the same 2,600mm wheelbase and the same sills and the front bulkhead/firewall. But at well over two metres wide (including the mirrors), it’s considerably broader than the Roadster; a fact that necessitated control arms and a widened subframe at the front end, and longer driveshafts in the rear to collectively increase wheel track by 100mm (4 inches). The lack of height only accentuates its squat stance.

The CC100’s bodywork however, is entirely unique to the project. Given the time restraints, at sketch level the exterior architecture was signed off swiftly, allowing Aston Martin’s Director of Design Marek Reichman, Chief Exterior Designer Miles Nurnberger, and their team to move quickly into the modeling phase.

After working in scale a full-size clay model was carved and shaped by hand. Then, the finished form was 3D scanned and digitally prototyped in-house, before being sent off to Multimatic – one of Aston Martin’s many technical partners – for precision molding in carbon fibre.

In total there are 55 separate carbon body panels draped over and around the alloy chassis, many with their raw weave exposed and finished in a high-gloss clear coat. That means high tensile strength and light weight – 390kg (860lb) less than the V12 Vantage Roadster’s 1760kg kerb weight – if we’re crunching numbers.

It’s not hard then to figure out what sort of performance is on offer with that latest iteration of Aston Martin’s venerable 5935cc V12 mounted low in the chassis up the front, just begging to be awaken.

That masterpiece of naturally-aspirated engineering with its all-alloy construction, quad cams and 48 valves delivers 565hp at 6,750rpm, and 620Nm (457lb/ft) at 5,500rpm through a finely-tuned Bosch Motorsport engine management system.

Five hundred and sixty five horsepower – thirteen hundred and seventy kilograms: it’s a pretty healthy ratio. Aston Martin says the CC100 can go zero to 62mph (100km/h) in a little over four seconds, before storming its way to an electronically-governed top end speed of 180mph (290km/h).

Helping it achieve those numbers is a six-speed, hydraulically-actuated, automated sequential manual transmission from Italian maker Oerlikon Graziano. Unlike the V12 Vantage Roadster, which is only available with a traditional manual gearbox and a floor stick; in the CC100 clutch-less gear changes are made via the steering column-mounted paddle shifters.

The chassis and handling tune needs a mention here too, because unlike Aston Martin’s road car range, which across the board offers up a perfect balance between performance and comfort – as all grand tourers should, the CC100’s suspension specification has been developed directly from the car maker’s GT4-spec Vantage race car programme. That goes some way in explaining the four-way adjustable dampers at each corner, along with bespoke 18-inch forged alloys from Italian wheel boutique APP Tech and brakes by Brembo.

It is, for me at least, the way the CC100 presents itself that is the defining factor here. From the expansive One 77-esque front grille treatment to its Aston Martin Heritage Racing Green paintwork and yellow ‘lipstick’ accents, Aston Martin has hit the mark.