How Alonso played designer in Aston’s new limited edition special

Aston Martin’s limited-edition Valour wasn’t quite racy enough for Fernando Alonso, so the company made a track-focused special to his brief. STUART CODLING reveals the one thing he wasn’t prepared to budge on: the manual gearbox

Company cars and their spec have long been a measure of self-worth for a particular type of person. For the travelling salesman fraternity and their ilk it was a matter of life or death what letters appeared alongside the model name on the bootlid, lest shame descend on the family when the car was in repose in the company car park or the homestead’s driveway.

GLX for someone with a glassy corner office and a seat in the boardroom already in sight. LX for the thrusting young executive on the up. L – or, worse, nothing at all – if, like Jack Lemmon’s Shelley ‘The Machine’ Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross, the glory days are long past and all that’s left is an Always-Be-Closing roast from Alec Baldwin. Third prize is you’re fired…