Summer seems to have passed by very quickly this year, albeit there has been lots of exciting AML news including welcoming Adrian Hallmark and Adrian Newey!
I found myself back in Morocco last month in Steve’s Virage Volante with Rob, Hamza and our extended WOT family, where this time we travelled over the Atlas mountains to Ouarzazate (gateway to the Sahara), an amazing and unforgettable experience whilst also revealing a special award for Steven Ward.
Despite a last minute flight cancellation from Gibraltar on the way home, with a bit of lateral thinking i made it back in time to attend the ’telling tales’ event the next morning in Herefordshire organised by Nick Vee amongst many other familiar names and faces.
Several of us also enjoyed the AMHT Festival at Gaydon as well as the dinner, and the very popular Dr Bez book signing (15 were reserved for 00 alone!!).
It’s fair to say that since then Steven and I have been busy planning next year’s 00 Canada and USA adventure with a lot of help from others, and its looking like our biggest and most ambitious adventure ever!
I was also delighted to received Neil Pickstone and Simon Isles book about ‘the real Aston Martin spy car’, and see photos from a very special reveal at Aston Martin Dorset.
A very select few enjoyed a special trip to Gaydon to participate in a sustainability focus group, during which we were lucky to witness some of the first new Vanquish rolling off the production line as well as meeting the new CEO having just returned from the launch party in Venice, followed by a visit to Caffeine and Machine Aston Martin evening on the way home.
Edward has been busy shadowing Fernando Alonso around the world it seems, Tony was a winner at Salon Prive, and I met a number of AM racing drivers at a private F1 screening in London. Meanwhile there were group visits to Beaulieu, Hampton Court and Goodwood Revival, plus a special monthly drinks welcoming the Shinkle family and Bob Epstein and friends to London, which was such a great evening!
We had another impromptu drinks to celebrate a DB4GT Zagato adorning the RAC rotunda.
Already we find ourselves thinking about our participation in the 2025 'London New Years Day Parade'. On the subject of Christmas and after last year’s 00 extravaganza, the Christmas Elves are enjoying a well earned rest in 2024 before planning a return in 2025!
This year is all about celebrating 60 years of Goldfinger and that magical partnership, and our monthly drinks later this week will celebrate this at the 007 bar in the Burlington Arcade, as well as the club dinner this weekend at RAC Woodcote.
It feels like it’s been a rather quiet summer, however with 00 official events being held with the minimum three 00 members all over the world, whether it be Morocco, Jersey, Portugal or little Greece in London that clearly has not been the case!
This Christmas and New Year I will be in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Sydney Australia, where I very much hope to catch up with many of you as I can while passing through!
Not forgetting heading to Le Mans in 2025 to witness Valkyrie in action!
All my best,
Jason