British car maker Aston Martin celebrates its 100th anniversary with the Aston Martin CC100 Speedster Concept sports car.

It pays homage to AM’s 1959 Le Mans and Nurburgring-winning DBR1, perhaps the automaker’s greatest sport triumph on the track, as well as hinting at future design direction.

The body and interior are crafted entirely from carbon fibre, designed and constructed in less than six months at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon.

The car borrows the open-top “speedster” body style from the DBR1. But it dispenses with the windshield and adds huge cutouts in the so-called “swan wing” doors, which open at an upward angle and are a hallmark of modern Aston Martins.

The Aston Martin CC100 Speedster Concept car uses a version of the company’s potent 6-liter V12 engine and a six-speed automated manual transmission.

The new car is claimed to have a limited top speed of 180 mph (290 km/h) while being capable of reaching 62 mph (100 km/h) in just over 4.0 seconds.

Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s CEO, drove the CC100 in a surprise debut at the Nurburgring, making a parade lap around the German track before the start of an annual 24-hour endurance race that kicked off yesterday.