What's this then?

This is Aston Martin's new home for vehicle development and chassis tuning - Aston Martin Silverstone. Set to be fully operational in December, the new centre will become a home for Aston's chassis development, and will be where the vehicle development team will do most of their work from.

Up to now, Aston had been travelling to a variety of European circuits for chassis tuning, and the fact that Silverstone is much closer to the factories in Warwickshire and Wales means that prototype work should become much quicker and more efficient.

Aston Martin's Chief Engineer - Vehicle Engineering, Matt Becker said: "The new base at Silverstone will provide us with a reference circuit upon which to develop the next generation of Aston Martins. Silverstone is a fantastic place for us to practice the dark art of vehicle dynamics, the fine tuning that takes place to turn a good car into a great car. Our talented team of engineers and our high-performance test drivers now have a racing circuit right outside the door."

The new centre, located next to the Stowe Circuit loop at Silverstone, will be where development of the likes of the electric Rapid-E saloon, and the new Aston SUV will take place, as Aston Martin embarks on a huge programme of introducing one new car a year.

Aston Martin's Senior Manager - Vehicle Engineering, Ian Hartley, is excited about the opportunities presented by the new home for his department. He said: "As our cars become even more high performance our dependency on track development becomes greater. Having the Stowe circuit and regular access to the remaining Silverstone circuits will be a great development advantage. It will allow us to refine the ride and steering attributes on the road and then very quickly evaluate the handling characteristics before making changes with the tuneables."

Silverstone will also be used for performance benchmarking, durability testing and will be the home of Powertrain Systems Development.