"Quantum of Solace" picks up where "Casino Royale" left off. It starts out with some enticing shots of the DBS and the sound of that V-12 engine and goes into an epic car chase that will not disappoint.
"This one is a proper car chase," Powell says. "The last film, you think it's going to be a car chase and just when you think it's starting to happen, the car rolled over. This is totally opposite."
This time the DBS mixes it up with Alfa Romeo 159s. There were seven DBSs and nine Alfa Romeos used to create that scene. Powell adds there were two Land Rovers, the one that gets smashed up and thrown over a cliff had its engine and gasoline taken out so it wouldn't create a needless explosion.
Powell said in the last film the DBS was still a prototype. "It was early in its development," Powell says. "The cars we had on this one were the proper DBS. So we had what you can go buy in showroom."
Except that these cars were outfitted with roll cages and plating on different parts of the cars. Powell said airbags were removed "because when you're doing the car chase and your cars smash into each other, the last thing you want is an airbag going off in your face." Driving on different gradients also chewed up the rear suspension and axles, so they changed the rear axle a few times.
"We played about with the suspension because we went on different terrain," Powell says. "Because an Aston Martin normally rides four inches off the floor and we were going through this quarry where there were huge potholes, we had to jack it up as best as we can."
The crew also had to create more tread on the tires. "The film starts off on tarmac mountain road and we end up in a marble quarry, so both the Alfas and Aston -- we changed the tires when they went to the quarry. For the Aston Martin there is only one brand of tire that they make for that car. We had the tires the car comes with and probably 30 sets of tires, but cut our own treads into the tires."