Aston Martin - Bloxham, near Banbury

The modern era of Aston Martin began at the Bloxham factory, near Banbury in Oxfordshire -- and it was riddled with irony and coincidence.

This was also the factory that built Britain\'s first true supercar -- the Jaguar XJ220, so named because it was to sprint to 220 miles per hour -- and it was built here by TWR, Tom Walkinshaw Racing. The XJ220 should not have existed at all, let alone be built and sold to about 350 wealthy people who \""just had to have one\"" such as entertainer Elton John. The XJ220 was born out of the frustration of Jaguar\'s designers and stylists, headed by the late Geoffrey Lawson, who wanted Jaguar to rediscover its leading edge in design and dynamics. When this secret after-hours project was uncovered by management, and the public got an inkling -- they simply had to build them.

Originally designed as a V12, the late Tom Walkinshaw at the time used his considerable racing expertise to insist on a twin-turbo V6 instead, and so the XJ220 was fleshed out at Bloxham. Ironically, the man who took the reins from Geoff Lawson after his passing, Ian Callum, was also the designer of the delicious DB7 that started the Aston Martin revival -- and the DB7 was