Darren Turner – Aston Martin factory driver, is going to attempt 200 miles an hour with the Aston Martin Bulldog for the first time after forty years.
The Aston Martin Bulldog, styled by William Towns in 1980, showcases the vehicles expert engineering. At the time, Aston Martin hoped that the Bulldog would be capable of driving 200 miles an hour to make it the fastest car of its time.
In testing the car at MIRA, with Victor Gauntlett the chairman of AML in 1981, the Bulldog didn’t live up to the expectations and instead achieved 191 miles per hour.
In 2020 the Bulldog was given to Classic Motor Cars in Bridgnorth, Shropshire for an 18-month nut and bolt restoration. After this, the owner will take the Bulldog on a world tour, as well as attempt to run the car at over 200 mph.
Bulldog Driver: Darren Turner
Darren Turner expresses his excitement: “I had heard of the legend of Bulldog from within Aston Martin and when news started to filter out about the car being restored to go for the 200mph target, I thought that was such a cool thing to do… When I was asked to drive it I didn’t need to be asked twice!”
He added: “I really appreciate being asked and I’m looking forward to becoming part of the story of bringing Bulldog back to life and finally achieving what it set out to achieve all those years ago.”
Richard Gauntlett, son of Victor Gauntlett, is also highly ambitious for the Bulldog to become the fastest production car as Richard grew up with the car and states: “The car is well on the way to being restored and CMC will have it running by the end of the year. We will then attempt the record that never was. A critical part of this was finding the right driver for the job and someone that could get involved in overseeing the final elements of the project, in terms of set up and testing.”
Nigel Woodward, Managing Director at Classic Motor cars in Bridgnorth approves Darren as the driver: “Having such an accomplished driver on board and one that will become involved in the final set up and testing is fantastic and of course, given Darren’s own historic connections with Aston Martin, very fitting too.”
