Bond breaks the records

Posted on 11/27/2006 under: Aston Martin

"Casino Royale", the 21st James Bond film and the first to star Daniel Craig, has broken British Box Office records on its opening weekend. The film took £1.7m on its opening day, a new record for a Bond film, and grossed £13.4m over the weekend, breaking the previous Bond record of £9.1m, set by "Die Another Day" in 2002. On July 15 at the Milbrook proving ground in Milton Keynes, the film and Aston Martin entered the Guinness Book of Records as stunt man Adam Kirley rolled an Aston Martin DBS seven times in a single stunt, beating the previous record of six set by a stunt man on BBC's Top Gear programme last year. Gary Powell, "Casino Royale" stunt coordinator, said: "We rehearsed the stunt several times driving test cars, which were a similar weight to the Aston Martin, at 80mph towards a ten inch ramp which worked very well. The cars flipped over at least 5 3/4 times in rehearsal. But we knew, due to the design and suspension of the Aston Martin DBS, it would probably level itself out in mid-air."

"When we came to filming the stunt on the night, as suspected, the Aston Martin DBS levelled itself out, refusing to flip over. Adam had to drive the cannon fitted Aston at high speed and hit the release at exactly the right moment."

The DBS was one of five supplied to the film makers, following a list of eight models which have appeared in Bond films, starting with the 1964 film "Goldfinger" in which Sean Connery drove a DB5.

Source: Aston Martin Racing Line Magazine