One British icon meets another

The Aston Martin Bulldog supercar, built in 1980 and intended to become the world’s fastest production car, visited the aircraft carrier in Portsmouth, just weeks before the car is due to use a Royal Naval airfield to start testing and ultimately reach the 200mph it never did in the past.

Technicians at Classic Motor Cars in Bridgnorth spent more than 6,000 hours over 18 months working on the car.

Aston Martin had planned that it should become the fastest production car ever, running at 200 mph. But it fell short at just 191mph. Due to financial constraints the project was axed. Now it is to attempt to reach the 200mph milestone with the help of the Royal Navy.

The morning of November 8 saw a crane manoeuvred into position alongside the aircraft carrier to enable the Aston Martin Bulldog to be put on the flight deck of the 65,000-ton ship.

The car is set to do initial testing at the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton in the coming weeks. The trials are weather-dependent and all concerned will not risk the vehicle or the driver.

It had also been agreed that the car should visit the HMS Prince of Wales, which has just returned from sea trials where its F35 Lightning stealth fighters landed on the flight deck for the first time. She is now ready for operations worldwide.

HMS Prince of Wales is one of the most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK. Her flight deck is 280 metres long – enough for three football pitches – and she holds 45 days’ worth of food in her stores. She will have a crew complement of around 700 increasing to 1,600 with her aircraft on board.

She is the second Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier, the first being HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is currently on her way back to the UK after global operations.

On Monday, supported by dock engineers and crane operators with the ministry defence police on the quayside and on seaborne patrol around the ship, the crew made ready to welcome her latest visitor.

The car was put into a specially constructed sling, which lifted the car to one of two aircraft lifts, which take fighters and helicopters from a massive hanger up to the flight deck. There were some nail-biting moments as the car was swung into the air, but it was soon on board, on the flight deck and driving to a photo position alongside the forward bridge of the carrier.

As the crew changed shift more and more came up to look at the car as it paraded on the deck a meeting of the most advanced military technology of the day with cutting edge automotive engineering.

For Richard Gauntlett, the son of former chairman of Aston Martin Victor Gauntlett, and the team at Classic Motor Cars, it was a proud moment.

Richard Gauntlett said: “The car was built at a time of great adversity and has been restored in a time of great adversity.”

Nigel Woodward, managing director at CMC said: “This really was one British engineering icon meeting another. It was a fantastic moment for the staff at CMC to see the car on the deck of HMS Prince of Wales after all their hard work.”

The car stayed on board overnight and under guard before being visited by members of the CMC team who had restored the car and Richard Gauntlett with his mother and sister.