Aston Martin's celebratory centenary concept

The British carmaker officially took the wraps off its highly anticipated CC100 Speedster Concept at this weekend's 24 Hours of Nürburgring race.

The one-off creation, inspired by the 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 race car -- which when driven by Sterling Moss demolished the competition on the very same track -- brings the concept of a stripped-out, long-distance racing car screaming and kicking into the 21st century. As such, like its predecessor, it is lacking many creature comforts -- most notably a windscreen or roof, convertible or otherwise. However that Spartan interior is still finished in the finest-quality leather and exquisitely bonded carbon fiber. It also features the same cut-glass buttons that grace the console of its range-topping Vanquish GT car.

Under the hood is a naturally aspirated V12 that will catapult the car to 100kph in around four seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 290kph. The engine is mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox with steering column-mounted paddles for the quickest possible up- and down-changes.

To make ingress and egress easier, the side impact protection bars double as hinged gullwing doors and raise out of the driver and passenger's way -- a design feature that should put car aficionados in mind of the special edition McLaren Mercedes SLR Sterling Moss, which not only looked similar -- no roof or windscreen -- but also featured the same door set-up.

Perhaps most impressive about the CC100 is that it went from the drawing board to the Nürburgring in fewer than six months. As Chief Exterior Designer Miles Nurnberger, who was an integral part of the design team, explained: 'The brief was very simple, yet enormously testing: create something that reflects the 100 years of Aston Martin heritage and signals the future of the brand. The idea of an iconic speedster concept that nods to the Le Mans -- and Nürburgring -- winning cars of 1959 soon came, and we have had complete freedom to shape this car.' To highlight the work that went into delivering the vehicle, Aston Martin has also released a video detailing the development process that can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=WFLucaq73zs.

The CC100 is officially a one-off and the company has stressed that it currently has no plans to produce a production model. However it is telling that the car carries a 'Q By Aston Martin' badge. The special bespoke customization wing of the company, 'Q' can add any manner of interior or exterior customizations to a standard car and, as the CC100 uses the same 'horizontal-vertical' tub chassis technology as its road-going counterparts, it's conceivable that an avid admirer could indeed achieve the same end result with the right list of personalization requests.