aston 21 whole 88 pages-007

4 CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 50 THE KEY TO SUCCESS? Italian Journalist Massimo Delbò speaks to Andrea Inspiring and infuriating in equal measure, the clear Zagato about his company’s centenary and its crystal Emotion Control Unit was introduced in 2007 special relationship with Aston Martin and only recently discontinued 16 SHOWSTOPPER: ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT ZAGATO 0178/L 54 IN THE BEGINNING: THE ORIGINS OF ASTON MARTIN’S V12 A look at the 1961 Geneva Show car that only two The story of the enduring V12 told by one of the key months later was on the grid for the ferociously players in its development at the Ford Motor hard-fought Royal Automobile Club de Spa Grand Prix Company in the early 1990s 20 ONE MAN’S DB7: THE LONGEST FACTORY VISIT IN HISTORY 64 EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY — AND THEY’RE OFF! James Page catches up with distinguished The final Goodwood Nine-Hour Race, August 1955. anaesthetist Dr David Nancekievill who ‘camped Mike Hawthorn sprints to his scarlet Ferrari on pole out’ at Bloxham to see his new DB7 V12 Vantage position but it was a green Aston Martin DB3S that assembled by hand took the chequered flag 26 WINNING WAYS — JOHN WYER’S FORMULA 66 FROM THE AMHT LIBRARY FOR SUCCESS AT LE MANS Another charismatic shot from the Trust’s Maitland Cook explains how the greatest-ever team unrivalled archives manger oversaw a long-distance race and, most 68 IN A FLAP: importantly, exerted discipline over his sometimes THE DEBUT OF THE 2001 ASTON MARTIN VANQUISH wayward drivers Experienced motoring journalist Andrew English 30 THE ‘INTOXICATING GREEN HELL’ was at the Scottish launch of the innovative Racing Aston Martins featured strongly at the Vanquish in 2001. Experiencing the famous ‘flappy legendary circuit in the Eifel Mountains this year. paddle’ gearbox was a highlight of the event Michael Jones tells the tale and looks back to the 72 LIVES REMEMBERED. ROGER FORSHAW, 1940 — 2019 first cars from Gaydon to risk the ‘Green Hell’ The world of Aston Martin lost a key figure this year. 34 DAY AND NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: THE PRICELESS We look back at a life dedicated to the marque EXHIBITS THAT CELEBRATE THE SIXTIETH 76 TIM BUTCHER AND THE ASTON MARTIN DB7 V8 GT1 ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY AT LE MANS Aston Martin expert Tim Butcher recalls the time in The Museum includes a trophy, Roy Salvadori’s early 1995 when he was on the British side of the crash helmet and the actual flag dropped at 4pm on team that prepared the promising AMR1-powered Sunday, all exhibits associated with Astons’ DB7 for Le Mans greatest-ever race result 82 1958 LAGONDA RAPIDE PROTOTYPE 38 AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ‘POPEMOBILE’ Following last year’s insight into post-DB5 designs At last, the story can be told: it’s one of beer, that never made it into production, with the aid of a cigarettes, potatoes and a frighteningly fast, newly-discovered drawing and a photograph, this road-legal Vauxhall Magnum powered by a claimed year Trust Chairman Rob Smith tells the fascinating 900bhp, twin-turbo Aston Martin V8 story of a one-off car that did 46 SEEING DOUBLE: THE ASTON MARTIN TWENTY TWENTY 88 WHAT ASTON MARTIN DID THIS YEAR One of the stranger design exercises using Aston A regular overview of what the factory has Martin running gear, Italdesign’s DB7-based ‘Twenty accomplished in the last 12 months. A DBX prototype in Twenty’ spent some time at the Museum recently Downing St, an original ‘Bond Car’ DB5 selling for $6.39m and an Artist-in-Residence at Gaydon — just ASTON some of marque-related happenings in 2018 RECORDING THE HISTORY OF ASTON MARTIN © Aston Martin Heritage Trust Editor: Steve Wakefield Drayton St Leonard, Wallingford Designer: Ben Gibbs & Brendon Ward, Motion Ltd Oxon OX10 7BG Printer: ??? Tel: +44 (0) 1865400414 www.amht.org.uk Photographic credits: Follow us on twitter: @amht1 Zagato; Magic Car Pics; Collections Maurice Louche; Kidston SA; or join us on facebook. James Page; John Ross c/o Jarrotts; Geoff Harris private collection; Aston Engineering; Anthony Musci private collection; Aston Martin Trustees - Rob Smith — Chairman Lagonda Ltd; Tom Wood for the AMHT; The Revs Institute; Aston Martin Nick Hewitt — Hon Treasurer Heritage Trust archive; Aston Service Dorset; LAT/Motorsport Images; Tim Cottingham — Registrar Tim Butcher private collection; Guy Loverage and Gail O’Dell August von Joest, Keilson Foote Simon Sproule, Mark Gauntlett Every effort has been made to identify owners of photographic copyright; Tom Westley the Editors will be glad to rectify any omission. Curator: Donna Bannister email: [email protected] Front cover: A beaming Victor Gauntlett flanked by the Zagato brothers outside the ASTON is circulated to all AMHT Supporters. famous Zagato building on the outskirts of Milan in spring 1985 Additional back copies of ASTON are available on the AMHT website — www.amht.org.uk/shop Rear cover: The personification of sensuous style. A rear-three-quarter study of Aston Please view our website for other merchandise. Martin DB4 GT Zagato chassis 0178/L (Kidston SA) ASTON Issue 21 ISSN 1476-9492

From the Editor... 100 NOT OUT Another year rolls on, another milestone reached: the great “The Aston Martin V12 — that’s two Ford Duratec V6s Italian carrozzeria Zagato celebrated its centennial in welded together isn’t it?” NO!! you cry — and you’d be right. 2019. Forever associated with its stubby and brutal Finally, the truth can be told, and who better to tell it than treatment of the DB4 GT, Zagato went on to further successes former Ford product design engineer Anthony Musci? With with Aston Martin and in this edition of ASTON we include an references to Porsche, who acted as a consultant — design interview with Andrea Zagato, that also remembers the famous elements of the Duratec V6 were used in its first water-cooled day trip to Milan in the 1980s when would-be buyers of the V8 engines — Harley-Davidson and Cosworth (“give us a ton of Vantage Zagato were treated to a glimpse of the new car — and money, don’t ask questions and we’ll do it for you in a couple of a long lunch. We also turn the spotlight on one original car, years”) Musci sets the record straight once and for all. chassis 0178/L, a shy performer on the circuit in period but subsequently a cover car in the American press. The new V12 had motorsport DNA running through its veins It won’t have passed any marque enthusiast by that 2019 was since conception, and it went on to class wins at Le Mans and six decades since Aston Martin took first and second overall at the elsewhere in the DBR9, DBRS9 and DBR1-2. Often overlooked Le Mans 24 Hours. John Wyer expert Maitland Cook draws on is the brave effort put on by wealthy French publisher Michel his experience of working with the great man to explain Wyer’s Hommell in 1995, when his DB7 racing car, modified to accept ‘Winning Ways’, whilst we draw your attention to the unrivalled an AMR1 6.3-litre V8, tackled pre-qualifying at Le Mans. The exhibits associated with this feat on display at the Museum. precursor to the DBR9 by 10 years was an impressive machine And speaking of feats, no stranger to licensed premises, few driven by superstar and former Le Mans winner Éric Hélary. professional drivers of the '70s and '80s had the ability to clear Tim Butcher was there and remembers it well. A great ‘what if ’. bars as fast as one Gerald Dallas Royston Marshall: “Come on, Gerry’s race is about to start!” Not only a long-time fan of All this, a look at Italdesign’s unusual Twenty Twenty, the V8 Saloons on the road, the great man’s association with the background story on the Emotion Control Unit and much Marsh Plant racing team saw him behind the wheel of racing more is in this issue of ASTON. DB Astons, V8 Saloons and a DB4. He also played a significant role in the creation of the fearsome ‘Popemobile’, the Vauxhall We hope you find it interesting, and feedback from you, Magnum special saloon powered by a twin-turbocharged Aston our readers, Club and Trust members all, is invaluable. Do Martin V8. How else could sponsor Duckhams launch the one- feel free to contact the Trust with comments on this edition or off car than a call for pints and cigars at the local pub? Andrew suggestions for the future. English tells the unexpurgated story of the beast and we have pictures of it today as its total restoration approaches completion. Until next time. S t e v e Wa k e f i e l d

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ASTON 21 Ugo Zagato, 1890-1968 4

CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 ITALIAN JOURNALIST MASSIMO DELBÒ SPEAKS TO ANDREA ZAGATO ABOUT HIS COMPANY’S CENTENARY AND ITS SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ASTON MARTIN BY MASSIMO DELBÒ There are no doubts that, in years and until the late 1980s, when Ugo Zagato in Milan in 1919. Amongst looking at the history of Alfa became part of the Fiat Group, is the other famous Italian carrozzeria, it Carrozzeria Zagato, which Zagato’s association with Aston Martin, was considered one of the best in the turned 100 in April 2019, you see started in 1960, that has produced business. Ugo’s overriding principles how close was the link between two the best results in recent times. What of design, refined when he worked for manufacturers that helped create some is officially known as ‘Carrozzeria aircraft manufacturer Ansaldo during of the most beautiful-looking and Zagato’ is still owned and managed WW1, were streamlining and lightness. amazingly fast road and racing cars by the founding family and after 100 Today, Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeos of of all time. If the relationship with years plays an important role in the that period are still considered amongst Alfa Romeo was fundamental in the worldwide car industry. the most beautiful and advanced cars early stages of the firm, in the pre-War ever built. After the turmoil of WW2, Carrozzeria Zagato was founded by 5

ASTON 21 Top left: Gianni and Elio Zagato in the 1960s Top right: Men of power. Ugo Zagato sits with Enzo Ferrari. Zagato’s designs for Maranello were few but spectacular: mostly private commissions from 1950s Italian racing drivers wanting that extra edge Left: Elio Zagato was a talented and highly accomplished racing driver. Here, he sits at the wheel of DB4 GT Zagato 0181/L Below: The Bristol 406 GTZ — an earlier Zagato-bodied British thoroughbred Ugo’s sons, Elio and Gianni, joined the firm and soon In October 1958, at the Earls Court Motor Show, Aston distinguished themselves. Martin unveiled the DB4. It was a groundbreaking car for the firm, built in Britain but clothed in a suit from another Charming, larger-than-life Elio, one of the fastest sports Italian great, Touring. A year later, in October 1959, the car drivers of the period, won many races and in doing so newly crowned World Sports Car Champions introduced a brought business to the company. The calmer Gianni helped lighter, shorter-wheelbase car with which to compete in GT in manufacturing. Italian cars bodied by Zagato in the late racing — the DB4 GT. 1950s and early 1960s included the Fiat 8V, Alfa Romeo 1900 SSZ, Ferrari 250 GT Competizione long-wheelbase, Lancia Flaminia GT, Aston Martin DB4 GTZ and Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ. Later, these little jewels would be joined by the immortal Alfa Romeo TZ and TZ2. Zagato first dealt with British firms just after the War. In 1948 it created a one-off MG 1500 ‘Panoramica’, a light and curvaceous design with extensive use of Plexiglas. Then, in 1955 came the Frazer Nash 2000 LM. In 1957 it was the turn of Jaguar, with an XK 140 and XK 150, followed from 1958 to 1960 by Bristol, with the 406 GTZ saloon. 6

CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 Above: Start ’em young. Andrea Zagato sits on his father Elio’s DB4 GT Zagato But it was in October the following But it was in October prestigious Bocconi financial university, year that the masterpiece arrived — the following year that he runs the company today and takes an even lighter DB4 GT, but this the masterpiece arrived up the story. time bodied by Zagato, all the better — an even lighter to compete with its nemesis, the all- DB4 GT, but this time “The creation of the DB4 GT Zagato conquering Ferrari 250 GT Short bodied by Zagato, all was the result of a series of works we’d Wheelbase. the better to compete already done for British manufacturers. with its nemesis, My uncle Gianni was the one speaking It was a wonderful design penned the all-conquering English, whilst my father was fluent in by two engineers: Gianni Zagato and Ferrari 250 GT Short French. Thanks to good marketing by Celestino Zoppi — pairing style, Wheelbase. Gianni and engineer Roberto Piatti aerodynamics and the sort of lean (who lived in London), Zagato started muscularity required on a race track. It 7 to receive some requests from Great was — and still is — a truly beautiful car. Britain.” Only 19 examples were produced, all highly sought-after by today’s collectors. This is how Anthony Crook, then a dealer but soon a director of Bristol Andrea Zagato, the son of Elio, was Cars, was approached and agreed to a born in Milan in 1960. A graduate of its small series of Bristol 406s to be built

ASTON 21 by Zagato. As they were made, one car was shown at the 1960 “This is how it happened. The DB4 GT was the first of a Geneva Salon, which is how David Brown and John Wyer long series of partnerships with Aston Martin that changed, were introduced to the Milanese company. Zagato’s stand and is still shaping, the history of Zagato. If I have to describe was impressive, but it was the weight-saving that stood out what Aston Martin is for Zagato, I’d simply say the perfect for Wyer: a significant 206kg had been shaved off the Bristol companion for the past 50 years. In looking at our 100-year- saloon. That, and the proven aerodynamic advantages of long history, it is clear that Alfa Romeo was the partner for our Zagato designs, appealed to Wyer, eager to redress the balance first 50 years. But, since the amazing success of the DB4 GT with the super-quick Ferrari 250 GT SWBs. Zagato, the links between us and Aston Martin have always been special, even in the turmoil of the 1980s.” “As we learned,” says Andrea Zagato, “Aston Martin, suffering with the DB4 GT on the race tracks all over Europe, The early 1980s was the most difficult period for Zagato, was looking for something to attack the Ferrari domination. with manufacturers starting the process of building in-house Zagato seemed the right solution. It was shortly afterwards that ‘niche models’ and establishing their own styling centres. Zagato received three chassis (not in progressive numbers). The deadline? Cars had to be ready for the London Motor “That is when I joined the company, and I couldn’t have Show in October, about six-seven months away. picked a worse moment,” says Andrea with a smile. “I wasn’t supposed to work in the family business, my cousin was the one, but when my father had his first heart attack, I had the opportunity of spending time with him and couldn’t refuse helping him manage the company for the following six months. “That those 180 days would become, so far, 34 years, was absolutely not foreseen. The first day at work I was just out from business school. I did the only thing I felt able to do: looking at the numbers. And they weren’t good. At first, I was trapped managing the warehouse and looking at the supply chain, Victor Gauntlett laid on a lavish lunch for British V8 Vantage Zagato buyers who’d joined the one-day trip from Luton. Note the special ‘Aston Martin Zagato’ flan (above) at the restaurant in Garbagnate Milanese 8

CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 Right, top: A happy MVG at the wheel of the V8 Vantage Zagato ‘mule’ Right, lower: Victor Gauntlett flanked by Colin Thew (left, AML engineer for the Middle East) and a moustachioed Kingsley Riding-Felce outside Sunnyside including relations with the banks. To succeeded, and we got a very good a wonderful open window on Italian look more credible, I was wearing serious refund from Maserati.” style. The target was to have the new grey suits with false spectacles. car, named ‘V8 Vantage Zagato’, selling Shortly afterwards, a new Aston well, bringing a modern look and a “To everyone’s surprise I brought Martin opportunity arose. “This time 300kmh maximum speed to Aston the first PC to work, and with that we it was Victor Gauntlett looking for Martin, whilst breathing fresh life into started to manage the warehouse. It something special to revitalise his best both companies.” was only a small thing, but later this seller, the aged V8. It was 1985 and minor innovation would change our the agreement with Zagato was quickly It became famous that Giuseppe destiny. We still had a big production sorted out because it was a win-win Mittino, then the director of styling department, managed as a sort of situation. In the end, the agreement at Zagato, asked Victor Gauntlett as a kingdom by my uncle with my cousin, was not only for the designing and joke (but not too much), what if the and in 1983 they got the Maserati making of a small series of cars, but V8 Zagato wouldn’t reach the planned- Spyder project on board. We designed for Aston Martin shareholders to for 300kmh? Gauntlett did not answer, the car and started manufacturing them buy a stake in Zagato, providing the simply making a pistol with his thumb (about 7,000 units) in 1984. For us, it Milanese company with much-needed and index finger, clicking on his seemed to be pure gold, but it wasn’t. cash and the Newport Pagnell firm with temple… “The unions at De Tomaso-owned 9 Maserati went crazy, because they also had workers at De Tomaso-owned Innocenti and its production plant in Lambrate was without work. On the other hand, when I checked the numbers, I discovered that for every Maserati Spyder built, we were losing a decent amount of money. My father backed me strongly, thus giving me enough power to start an internal ‘discussion’ and, later on, a way to quit the costly Maserati contract. Instead of declaring our unhappiness and paying a heavy fine to break loose, we explained to De Tomaso the need to have production of the Spyder relocated to Milan to calm down the unions. We

ASTON 21 I RIETMWEEMLBLER THEN HEAD OF AM SALES IN LONDON, NICHOLAS MEE FONDLY RECALLS THE ‘ZAGATO FACTORY TOUR’ TO MILAN TO SEE THE FIRST V8 VANTAGE ZAGATOS IN BUILD “It must have been spring 1985. We’d already shown potential buyers drawings and technical details of the V8 Vantage Zagato, followed soon after by a launch party in the Sloane Street showrooms, where we displayed a painted 1/5-scale wind tunnel model — all tastefully presented. Orders and deposits had been taken, but Victor Gauntlett wanted to maintain the momentum, showing all those who’d shown confidence in us that production of sorts had started at Zagato’s plant. “Invited guests were told to be at Luton airport for a charter Above: All aboard the Zagato express, flight at nine thirty, sharp. And everyone did, except one the private charter from Luton to Milan latecomer, who was left behind at the terminal — Victor was a stickler for punctuality. This is perhaps an indication of the state “We did the 50 coupés and they sold so well that of the market at the time, with the resurgence of Aston Martin, production moved forward with an open version. But and just how bullish Victor and the rest of the management team I have to admit that the greatest money we made on were about the car that we left a client behind. We were in the this project at Zagato was selling the one car we had driving seat now with a new limited-production supercar at a time kept back for ourselves…” when the market was hungry. The company’s real problem was a new era of car “A coach was laid on for transport from Milan Malpensa to manufacturing. “I did my university thesis on lean car Zagato’s plant at Arese, a suburb of Milan. We arrived on a cold and production,” Andrea remembers. “I knew very well grey day at the Zagato factory, a big industrial space, and in we that car assembly was, for us, an impossible dream trooped... through what was an eerily quiet factory where the to maintain. It was just a question of time, but my Maserati Biturbos had been built before production had ceased. uncle and my cousin were of a different opinion. It Reaching a self-contained area in the back of the plant, there were took a lot of trials, knocking at the doors of many half a dozen Italian craftsmen hammering away, forming body car manufacturers, costing us a lot of money. We lost panels on their traditional tree stumps and wheels. There was not a precious time without, of course, results. I kept the great deal to see. On show was a part-completed prototype V8 company profitable, designing almost everything — Zagato and two more chassis waiting to be started on. including fashion, which provided good royalties — but more importantly, I discovered the CAD/CAM “With not a lot to look at and little communication with the system of car design. As soon as I tried it in 1986, I Italian staff, it was thankfully not so easy for anyone to establish how saw the future. advanced the build process was! After a tour of the drawing offices and a brief background talk from Gianni Zagato, it was off to a local A work in progress. Gianni Zagato stands by V8 ristorante in nearby Garbagnate. The venue was chosen especially by Vantage Zagato No. 1 Victor, not only for its excellent food and wine list but also for its leisurley service; there was no time to return to Zagato before bussing back to Malpensa for the flight back to Luton. “I well remember the whole thing being a light-hearted affair; everyone was in good humour and customers excused us for being behind schedule on production. Elio and Gianni Zagato made a great impression and were absolute gentleman, the buyers loved the lunch and, thankfully, we did not lose one order. The event was not unlike a visit to Newport Pagnell, whilst also being quite unique, offering customers a day trip to Italy, at the same time. On reflection, I suppose this outing illustrates the strengthening position we were in; we had captains of industry and VIPs, all with busy diaries, and yet they all — bar one! — made it and ultimately waited patiently for their cars. “Shortly after, Victor and the Livanos family, shareholders of Aston Martin in the day, had to buy the Zagato company whose business was struggling. It was a case of buy Zagato or refund the deposits! That’s another story.” 10

CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 Above: Victor Gauntlett unveils the first car to factory workers outside the Rectification Shop at Newport Pagnell “In the late ’80s, the Alfa Romeo SZ Sunnyside again, George Livanos with Victor and RZ project — strongly backed up by and their new Anglo-Italian masterpiece Vittorio Ghidella — obliged my father and uncle to buy back the shares from Victor 11 Gauntlett. “When, finally, I was able to shut down car production in 1993 after the Alfa Romeo RZ, we were at a turning point. It was down to CAD/CAM design and our experience with this to keep us afloat. I re- established the company with the economic support of our friend Giorgio Schön [Italian businessman, powerboat racer and semi- works racing driver]. “Even at that moment, the people at Aston Martin were wonderful with us. We were using a tenth of the space of the Zagato building, but the room was like an operating theatre. It was a window on the

ASTON 21 future of cars, not just manufacturing Top: Now in production, a V8 driving journalist and friend Winston any more. Everybody came to visit, Vantage at the Zagato works in Goodfellow back to his hotel after an including many stylists from the car Milan interview. I was looking like the typical manufacturers from their internal computer nerd, but what we did made Centro Stile. Bottom: A corner of a foreign field her curious. A few meetings afterwards, that is forever… Italian she was looking for some help for “One day, my future wife Marella her father’s dream of resurrecting the Rivolta showed up. She had been family’s Iso Rivolta brand. We arranged a date at Pebble Beach, the most important classic car concours in the world, the place where I’m an honorary judge. Walking on the field, I realised that there was space for super-limited production of fantastic collectible cars. “After Monterey, she had a planned meeting in Detroit with Jacques Nasser of Ford, then the owner of Aston Martin, and I went too. He was absolutely crazy about Aston Martin and we dreamed of bringing the two brands back together again. Still today, that meeting is bringing wonderful Aston Martin Zagato cars — designed by Nori Harada, a real genius that I have the privilege of having in my company — on the roads around the world. 12

CENTENARIO: CARROZZERIA ZAGATO AT 100 “We arrived on a cold and grey day at the Zagato factory, which was a big industrial space where they had previously housed Zagato’s production line for the Maserati Biturbo.” 13

ASTON 21 The DBZ Centenary Collection. Priced at £6m plus taxes, only 19 pairs of DB4 GT Continuation + DBS GT Zagatos will be built “This agreement moved forward, and all the management my grandfather did in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by my that followed, from Ulrich Bez on, allowed us to use their father and my uncle in the 1950s and 1960s, when gentlemen wonderful mechanicals to set a new way of coachbuilding drivers were coming to our shop asking to make their cars special cars for special customers with what today we call the better, faster, lighter and more beautiful.” ‘Atelier’ concept. A century-long Italian tradition, perfectly matching a “What you see today, and you’ve seen over the past decades, 106-year-long English tradition. You can wonder how much are Zagato-bodied cars such as the DB7, AR-1, DB9 and fun — high above the clouds — the founders Robert Bamford V12, together with today’s Vanquish in each of its four special with Lionel Martin and Ugo Zagato are having, driving the shapes: Shooting Brake, Coupé, Volante and Speedster. These creations of their descendants. are the results of this great co-operation. With thanks to Andrea Zagato. See www.zagato.it “We take a special car, as any Aston Martin is, in any of its forms, and we make it a little more special. It’s exactly as

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ASTON 21 SHOWSTOPPER: ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT ZAGATO 0178/L BY STEVE WAKEFIELD The axiom “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” is well First owner Edy Corthésy tries his luck at known. “Show in March, race in May” does not scan the 1961 Royal Automobile Club De Spa quite so well, but nonetheless neatly sums up the Grand Prix. After this race, ‘0178/L’ was early history of the first (in number sequence) left-hand drive returned to Aston Martin for the rear wheel DB4 GT Zagato, chassis 0178/L. arches to be modified (like the ‘VEV’ cars) to clear bigger racing tyres The car was displayed on Aston Martin’s stand at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, most likely already sold by national Parkes. The punchy Aston failed to trouble the scorers — but agent Hubert Patthey to its first owner, Swiss enthusiast did finish, albeit down the field. and occasional racer Edy Corthésy of Lausanne. It was an archetypal DB4 GT Zagato: triple bonnet blisters, covered On 17 May 1961 the car was back in the Competitions headlights, lightweight seats and no bumpers or added Department at Feltham for small body repairs (a headlamp adornments. Of the eight left-hand drive Zagatos built, just cover and minor damage to the near-side rear wing) and the five share this specification. addition of racing-spec rear wheel arches — the same design borne by Essex Racing Stable semi-works cars ‘1 VEV’ and ‘2 The factory build sheet for ‘0178/L’ confirms its engine VEV’ — to cover bigger wheels and tyres. number — 370/0178/GT, the one it bears today — its colour, Rosso Maja from Zagato with a Fawn interior, and the These modifications were part of a number of improvements sole specified extra, a spark plug holder loose in the car. As to bring the car up to full race spec. The factory build sheet delivered, the final drive was 3.54:1 with Powr Lok limited- slip differential, and it was shipped on 8 March 1961. Two months later on 14 May, Corthésy and his gleaming acquisition started the Royal Automobile Club de Spa Grand Prix. In truth, the Swiss was probably out of his depth: the race was won by part-time Ferrari works man ‘Wild’ Willy Mairesse whose hot-rod Ferrari 250 GT SWB headed eight similar cars and the lone E-type of Grand Prix driver Michael 16

SHOWSTOPPER: ASTON MARTIN DB4 GT ZAGATO 0178/L 17

ASTON 21 March 1961. '0178/L' — the first left-hand drive DB4 GT Zagato — is presented at the Geneva Motor Show records an increase in compression by machining the cylinder the thin ranks of GT cars that support the old definition of a head; the installation of a lightweight GT exhaust system sports car: a car that can be driven pleasantly on public roads with 27in silencer; Borrani wheels supplied and fitted with or at race-winning speeds on circuits”. the owner’s racing tyres. There is reference to a 3.31:1 ratio axle — the speedo therefore needing adjustment — though At the end of 1962 Haechler, who worked at the Hanover no details on its actual fitment. The recorded mileage at that Bank on Broadway, sold the car for $4,000 to another time was 11,681km. New Yorker, Newton Davis. In 1963, it was bought by Massachusetts resident Chris Murray who carried out a variety History does not relate if these modifications by the factory of works including a fresh repaint to Geneva Show spec. He resulted in more forays on the racetrack; although, on 3 April subsequently sold it to Dr Kenneth Lewin, a passionate fan 1962 the car was back at Feltham for general service work, of the model, who retrimmed it in black leather with grey principally new brake pads, front shock absorbers and an carpets, the configuration in which it is presented today. overhauled clutch. At that time, the odometer read 4,285km — most likely a reset to zero after the previous year’s recalibration. Lewin was a staunch supporter of the Aston Martin Owners Club and in 1972 ‘0178/L’ passed to enthusiast and Club Later that year ‘0178/L’ was sold for CHF 32,000 to fellow member Jerry Rosenstock, who was to own ‘0178/L’ until Swiss Fridolin (Fred) Haechler of Aarau, who took it with 2010. In Rosenstock’s ownership the car was painted again him to the US. And almost immediately the car was in the and the axle ratio was changed from an aggressive 4.09:1 to a spotlight again, as road test cover car of September 1962’s Car more practical 3.77:1. and Driver. The American journalists recorded a 0-60mph time of just six seconds and pronounced it a car that “joins The car became a star of the US concours scene and the AMOC Register lists year-after-year entries at Pebble Beach, 18

PAGE TITLE Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Lime Rock. During this period it picked up many trophies, including class wins at Pebble in 1987 and 1997. It was also featured in several magazines. In 2010, the car returned to Switzerland to join a world- class collection of mainly Italian exotica and has remained in Europe ever since. The works-modified wheel arches are still there, as is its original engine, and it’s never been modified for or damaged in modern, no-holds-barred competition. Like DB4 GT Zagato ‘0200/R’ (‘22 XKX’, the famous dark blue Michael Salmon car) shown at the 1960 Earl’s Court Motor Show — but lacking its the stellar competition record — chassis 0178/L proves that making the transition from show car to racing car was not so hard. If, as Car and Driver put it: “it is a potential GT winner and can run away from many out-and-out competition sports cars.” With special thanks to Kidston SA, Geneva, for the background information on this car. Period photographs copyright and with kind permission of Editions Maurice Louche. 19

ASTON 21 One man’s DB7: THE LONGEST FACTORY VISIT IN HISTORY BY JAMES PAGE During a long and distinguished career as an anaesthetist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, Dr David Nancekievill has gathered enough experience and stories to fill what would be a fascinating book. He attended the immediate aftermath of the 1975 Moorgate tube crash, and was a regular member of the medical staff at the British Grand Prix. He was on hand to assist Andrea de Adamich after the multi-car shunt at Silverstone in 1973, as well as Jacques Laffite when the Frenchman suffered serious leg injuries at Brands Hatch in 1986, and served as Formula One’s chief medical officer for five years. 20

ONE MAN'S DB7: THE LONGEST FACTORY VISIT IN HISTORY Nancekievill has a unique bond However, the real reason for give you all your money back at the with his DB7 and has maintained meeting him is that, for a time. All you have to do is pay for the it fastidiously since buying it new great many reasons, there petrol and oil. Then your new car will isn’t another Aston Martin DB7 in be ready.’ And indeed it was — it was the world like his. It’s a 2002 model- ready on 31 December 2001.” year Vantage with only 18,000 miles on the clock, and he’s owned it since The deal was done, and Sargeant’s new. No doubt there are others out comment about going to the factory there with low mileages and only one hadn’t been forgotten: “I was passing custodian, but what makes this car Bloxham with a friend, and I thought, unique is that Nancekievill personally ‘They’re making my Aston Martin watched it being built and carefully — I’ll go in.’ I went up to reception documented the entire process. It gives and said, ‘You’re making me a car, can it a very special — and very personal I have a trip around the works?’ The — provenance that you won’t find in receptionist said they were sure they any other DB7. could arrange that and asked if I had an appointment. I explained that, no, It started when Richard Sargeant, I was just passing. who at that time was sales director at Aston Martin Cardiff, got in touch “It was about lunchtime, but she with Nancekievill about buying a new said that she’d found someone who DB7. Nancekievill wasn’t convinced could take me round. Steve gave up — “I said it was too expensive and his lunchbreak to give me a little tour I never buy new cars” — but in the of the factory. The car was being made meantime Sargeant offered him an ex- anyway, but I was completely sold. But demonstrator and explained that he’d honestly, what a cheek — to turn up be able to go to the factory to see the and say, ‘Can I go round the factory?’” new one being built. Steve was Product Specialist Steve Nancekievill recalls how the Waddingham, an Aston Martin discussion went: “He said, ‘You buy stalwart who now also serves as the this, you keep it for six months whilst company historian. Fortunately, your new one is being made’ — we Waddingham was prepared for hadn’t even agreed on that — ‘then I’ll Nancekievill’s arrival. 21 “I’d already been tipped off about

ASTON 21 David,” he says with a smile. “Richard Sargeant phoned up the yellow lines [marking where he could and couldn’t go] and said, ‘I’ve got this lovely chap who’s buying a DB7 off and after a couple of days people understood that I wasn’t me. He really wants to come to the factory. If he does buy a going to sue them if I slipped over or anything. brand-new one, it’s a big thing and he’ll want to see it being built. You’d better be ready because he knows his stuff.’ “I got to know them all very well. Mark and Matt, who put the engine in, I still remember them very clearly. They “As soon as I got the phone call, I said I’d come down. were telling me about torque settings and how the engine’s Most customers would come in, sometimes at the ‘thinking only got 15mm either side because it wasn’t built for the about it’ stage, then come back to choose the colours, and V12, it was built for the ‘six’.” then, if they wanted to, come back and see it being built. So when David said that he wanted to see it being built, I said, At the time, Aston Martin production was still very much ‘That’s fine — we do that all the time. You can come in for a ‘human’ business, with the cars at Bloxham being hand- a couple of hours.’ And David said, ‘No — I’m not talking assembled as they made their way around the 36 stations. about a couple of hours. I want to watch the whole thing.’” “It was 83 minutes per station,” says Waddingham, “and Nancekievill smiles at the memory: “I think it was a case there was no conveyor belt. Each car was pushed manually, of, ‘Yes — you can see it being built. You can come on a trolley until it was on its wheels. The engine was run up for a coffee and go into the barn and see an engine, then we’ll have lunch, then we’ll pull your car off the line and you can stroke it or whatever, then we’ll have tea, and then it’s a case of bye-bye’.” Waddingham, however, quickly realised that the man standing in front of him had other ideas: “David said, ‘If I’m going to do this, it’ll be a big purchase and I won’t be coming back here to buy another one. I’ll probably keep this for the rest of my life.’ I stood there for a second, and thought, I can sort something out — we can make this work. So I said, ‘You’re on’.” The process was made easier by the fact that the two men immediately got on well. “As soon as David’s friend said that he had a Humber Imperial,” recalls Waddingham, “I said, ‘Ah, yes — the nicer version of the Super Snipe. David asked me how I knew about Super Snipes and I replied that I just liked cars. That was it — at that moment, we clicked. It was clear that we’d get on. We could not just talk about Astons, we could talk about anything car-related.” When it was time for his car to make its way around the assembly line, Nancekievill was not the sort of person who’d be content to do things half- heartedly and arrive at mid-morning. He was there first thing. “When I bowled up at 7am to clock on with the workforce,” he remembers, “Steve was already there. I stayed until clocking-off time. I always observed 22

ONE MAN'S DB7: THE LONGEST FACTORY VISIT IN HISTORY “As we went through the process,” says Nancekievill, “people got word that there was this mad doctor on site. They called Ulrich Bez ‘Dr Bez’, of course, but they just called me ‘The Doctor’.” up whilst it was in the body, but it Nancekievill and Aston Martin's Steve Waddingham. “I was commuting from wouldn’t actually drive until right at Waddingham met during David's first about an hour away, but I said to David the end, when it drove off the line.” factory visit and immediately hit it off that I can’t possibly let him miss that. I said I’d be there first thing, and it was As for having an owner there, 23 winter, so it was pitch-black. The visitor Waddingham explains: “It was still car park didn’t need to have lights on quite a novelty at Bloxham. At Newport at that time, because there were never Pagnell they had people doing it for any visitors there! So we were fumbling decades and they knew the score with around in the dark and made our customers coming round. Bloxham way down to the factory. People were was a much younger workforce and a putting the lights on as we walked in younger factory. The DB7 itself was and they said, ‘What are you doing relatively young, and when dealing here?!’” with customers in the factory, there's a lot that can go wrong. This was unique, and it remains a unique experience.” “As we went through the process,” says Nancekievill, “people got word that there was this mad doctor on site. They called Ulrich Bez ‘Dr Bez’, of course, but they just called me ‘The Doctor’.” Such was everyone’s ease with having him around that Nancekievill received an official Aston Martin sweater with ‘Dr Nancekievill’ embroidered onto it. Technicians would take him aside to explain to him exactly what they were doing, and he even got to pick out his own wheel nuts. “The day we went in really early was the day the engine went in,” says

ASTON 21 Above: The DB7 has been upgraded to include GT-spec suspension and brakes but retains the original-size wheels “The workforce at Bloxham was But it’s not the only record that Nancekievill has of his only about 120 or 130 people in car’s build process: “When I left, Steve presented me with those days,” says Waddingham. a book. This was the first year that they’d done Fern Green, “It was quite small. As was Aston and they bound the book in the same leather as my car. It itself, really, at the time. contains the signatures of every single person from every single section. Nancekievill took photographs of each person who worked on the car as it made its way around Bloxham. The “There’s one that I’m particularly proud of: the DB7 resulting album, meticulously kept and with everyone’s manufacturing manager was a lady called Caroline Holman. name recorded, forms a unique document. It was alleged that she didn’t like it when people came to see their cars being built, but I met her several times and “There is no other DB7 with a photographic record of the she was always courteous. She wrote: ‘Congratulations build like this,” says Waddingham. “Or any Aston, really. and many thanks for your contribution to the team. Much Not with everyone’s names on it. As a historical document appreciated by everyone at Bloxham. Enjoy your DB7.’ And for the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, this is like a snapshot the other one I like is from Doreen Wilson, who just wrote: of production at Bloxham in 2001.” ‘I laminated your seats Xx’.” “The workforce at Bloxham was only about 120 or 130 people in those days,” says Waddingham. “It was quite small. As was Aston itself, really, at the time. The workforce was about 500 people over the two factories — engineering, service, parts, everything. “The nice thing about Bloxham was that it was a lovely 24

ONE MAN'S DB7: THE LONGEST FACTORY VISIT IN HISTORY Right: The leather-bound book contains the signatures of everyone who worked on the DB7, and Nancekievill was even presented with a staff jumper place to visit. You had this 17th “Over the years,” concludes Waddingham, “we’ve had century farmyard and outbuildings, other people that have got really interested and come back and then you had this very modern two or three times during production to see it, but no one’s facility that Tom Walkinshaw had ever been there continuously as the car made its way around built for the XJ220. It was more like the assembly line. It was the edge of health and safety coming a race car workshop, but on a much in. Two years after this, we moved to Gaydon and it’s got bigger scale, because we probably a different layout with barriers and a moving track, so this had 30 cars at a time in there. It was really was a one-off. It’s the only time we ever did it. Could like two worlds colliding — cottages we do it again? We could — but we’d never beat this.” surrounding it and a 30,000sq ft unit in which to assemble cars, plus a very good paint shop. And a water mill at the other end!” Nancekievill has been doing a quick count whilst Waddingham is talking, and notes that there are 162 signatures in his book. “The trim came in from Newport Pagnell,” explains Waddingham, “so I think I took it there. I must have got [the book] trimmed at Newport Pagnell, because we didn’t have a trim shop at Bloxham.” Nancekievill’s car rolled off the line as the 5,001st DB7 to be completed. Given the personal nature of the build process, it was appropriate that it was wearing a bespoke sill plate. “You could have a plaque saying, ‘This was made for AN Other’,” explains Nancekievill. “I didn’t fancy that. I wanted it to say: ‘Especially built for Dr David G Nancekievill by the craftsmen at Bloxham’. That’s the only one that’s ever been done like that, as far as I know. They were well chuffed by that. They were very skilled technicians.” A number of people who built Nancekievill’s car still work for Aston Martin, and many of them recognised him when he visited Gaydon many years later. There are graduates now working for the company who hadn’t been born when his DB7 was made, and there’s an increasing level of nostalgic interest in the model that, as is so often stated, saved Aston Martin. 25

ASTON 21 WINNING WAYS JOHN WYER’S FORMULA FOR SUCCESS AT LE MANS BY MAITLAND COOK 26

WINNING WAYS Left: Mortimer Morris- Goodall in spotted shirt, John Wyer with tie and a serious-looking Tottie Wyer keep the lap charts at Goodwood during the 1959 Tourist Trophy Right: An extract from ‘Motor Racing Management’ with a lap chart from the August 1955 Daily Herald Trophy for Grand Prix cars at Oulton Park As I write, it is sixty years to At both the Spa and Le This career at Aston Martin created the day since Aston Martin Mans 24-hour races in the platform for his winning ways. won the Le Mans 24 Hours 1949, David Brown Wyer was a cautious, meticulous man outright for the only time in the had been impressed by with an obsession for attention to history of the race. “the highly efficient pit detail. This personality was perfect for routines and disciplines a long career in endurance racing, as Reg Parnell was the team manager of John Wyer,” who was Wyer proved with 25 years as team who managed that victory but the running a privately- manager and then racing director mastermind behind the Aston Martin entered Aston Martin under his belt. “It is a vital prerequisite racing philosophy was John Wyer. At for Dudley Folland. for success that there should be one both the Spa and Le Mans 24-hour commander and that he alone should races in 1949, David Brown had been 27 have the responsibility once the battle impressed by “the highly efficient pit had been joined. routines and disciplines of John Wyer”, who was running a privately entered “The best team will be the one in Aston Martin for Dudley Folland. which every member knows the part he has to play, and plays it without On the strength of what he saw, drama, submerging, if necessary, his Brown offered Wyer the position of team own personality and ambitions.” This manager on a temporary basis for the combination ensured that every aspect 1950 season. In fact, Wyer stayed for 13 of each race was planned and executed years, becoming the technical director, with military precision. general manager and finally CEO.

ASTON 21 Above: For each circuit, Wyer had a detailed guide for gear IT DIDN’T ALWAYS selection and maximum revs for any final-drive ratio GO TO PLAN Long-term team driver George Abecassis never took John Wyer’s strict instructions too seriously. In 1953 he was paired with coming man Roy Salvadori at Le Mans. After the drivers’ briefing at La Chartre — in effect, whatever order the cars came round after the first lap was to be maintained for the rest of the race — he told Salvadori: “Right, Salvo, you’ve had the Wyer briefing, now you’re going to have mine. Whatever we do, we must get in front of Reg [Parnell], and when I hand the car over to you, you can be rest assured that’s where we are going to be!” Salvadori later recalled that the former RAF pilot, with many missions under his belt landing secret agents in occupied France, “was as good as his word. Although there wasn’t much of the car left when I took over, the brakes were dicky and clutch was slipping”. Clutch failure put the car out after 73 laps. It was the last time Abecassis drove for David Brown, devoting more of his time to Hersham and Walton Motors Ltd (HWM), in which he was a partner. Starting with the car, he always took an active interest in most importantly, they always had to report to Wyer in the design and never gave the designer complete autonomy, detail for the famous ‘records’. requiring detailed notes of any changes and insisting that all development when testing or at the circuit be recorded Race management and reporting was meticulous and as a reference point, session by session. When racing, Wyer obsessional. In this era, cars were mechanically unreliable and always took a conservative view; no new components were to get a car to the finish of a 24-hour race was an achievement ever raced without track testing to ensure reliability. in itself. So Wyer would analyse the performance of the winning cars at a particular circuit for the previous years and, His attitude to driver choice was entirely similar. First, based on the average increase in speed, set a target lap time they had to be consistent: good team players who were for each circuit. This was often a percentage of the actual prepared to sacrifice their egos for the team’s benefit. They winning time from the previous year. All calculations were also had to be prepared to work at car development, and recorded, as was the actual performance of each team car. 28

WINNING WAYS Top: A timing sheet for the Collins/Frère Bottom: The essentials of long-distance race By doing this, he built up a dossier Aston Martin DB3S/6 at Le Mans in 1955. management in pre-computer days. The triple- of experience which enabled It also records the signals given by the watch board enabled timekeepers to have one his decision making to be based timekeeper to the car and details of pit watch always zeroed and ready to record a new entirely on logic. stops. Note ‘Plan Time’ and ‘Early or Late’, lap; with only two instruments, it was easy for a by which means the team manager can see tired member of staff to forget to zero the watch At Le Mans in 1959, with three if his charges are driving ahead of or behind again. The arrangement worked with a lap- cars entered, he allowed the lead car the pre-set plan. This car finished second counter incorporated into the clipboard, actuated to be “considered semi-expendable, overall and first in the 3.0-litre class by the clicking of the watches but to force a high average speed for the opening hours of the race”. The second car was set “a target lap time of 4min 20sec and was to provide close support”. The third was pegged at 4min 22sec and was “virtually in reserve”. The result of this meticulous planning was that the number one car led the race and blew up after four hours of heated competition, but the other two cars complied and went into first and second places after 19 hours. Their actual average laps had been 4min 22sec and 4min 24sec respectively. It was Aston Martin’s greatest triumph at Le Mans. The same formula was used by Wyer to win the race three more times, twice with the Gulf- sponsored Ford GT40 1968 and 1969, and (in a more supervisory role) with the Mirage-Ford in 1975. But it was Aston Martin and David Brown who gave him the opportunity to develop his theories into winning ways. 29

ASTON 21 THE ‘INTOXICATING GREEN HELL’ BY MICHAEL JONES 30

THE ‘INTOXICATING GREEN HELL’ Nordschleife, the enigmatic north loop of the Nürburgring in Germany’s beautiful Eifel mountain region. The scene of the 1976 accident that scarred Niki Lauda, after which the track was deemed too dangerous for Formula One. Jackie Stewart has huge respect for this undulating circuit, with its unpredictable weather, which he famously called ‘the green hell’: “To win the Nürburgring, for me, was the biggest thing of all… to win the Nürburgring, because you were beating the monster.” Although it is no longer a part of the Formula One Championship, the venue still hosts the annual ADAC 24-Hour Race, which attracts huge crowds and remains a pilgrimage for those intrepid racers, amateur and professional alike, who are still determined to tame the monster. This year, two works Aston Martin Vantage GT4s achieved an emphatic win in the SP8T class (for close-to-production vehicles) having led for over 20 hours. The team would have almost certainly achieved a double podium if the sister car had not experienced an accident during the night. 31

ASTON 21 Having achieved nine class wins out Above: 'Rose', the near-standard V8 punishing testing programme to of 14 attempts, Aston Martin’s recent Vantage whose incredible success assure durability before they went into history is closely interwoven with that started a tradition of Aston Martin production. of the track itself. competing in the Nürburgring 24- Hour race At the heart of this approach was The story starts in the mid- the philosophy that an Aston should noughties, as the company entered 32 be equally at home on a track day as the Gaydon-era. After a period in the cruising at high speed on a motorway. competitive wilderness, Aston Martin With 73 corners, a 300-metre change was, once again, about to prove the old in elevation, steep gradients and fickle adage that ‘racing improves the breed’. weather, the Nordschleife would play an important role in the plan. Dr Ulrich Bez, CEO, was conscious that the marque had acquired a The V8 Vantage was the first reputation for producing cars that, model to be subjected to the new whilst stunningly beautiful, weren’t regime; completing close to 400 laps always entirely reliable. The solution of the fabled circuit in a high-speed was to submit new models to a durability test, at the end of a two-year

THE ‘INTOXICATING GREEN HELL’ programme, in which 30 prototypes launch of the N24 Vantage track car, The company established a permanent covered an incredible 1.5 million miles. later superseded by the Vantage GT4. facility at the ’Ring in 2008. Now called The resultant publicity also created the AMR Performance Centre, it houses Buoyed with the success of the an opportunity to launch a limited- a driving academy, maintains a fleet exercise, Dr Bez challenged Chris edition, N-badged Vantage road car. of road cars for the use of European Porritt, who had played a key role motoring journalists and hosts a variety in the car’s development, to enter a The N400 was launched in late 2007, of PR events. Vantage in the 2006 running of the with a plan to build 480 examples, 24-Hour Race. representing the number of seconds Crucially though, prototype in the eight minutes the car took to development remains the centre’s key Unfortunately, there was precious lap the Nordschleife. N400 boasted role. Many road conditions can be little resource available to develop the an extra 20bhp over the 380bhp of simulated, but there is no substitute for car for racing as the company’s primary the standard version, hence the N400 exploring the feel of a car when pushed focus was on the DBR9 programme. badge. to the limit. A radical decision was therefore An N420 update followed in 2010, As Wolfgang Schuhbauer, Centre taken to race with what was, apart from and then finally, the N430, the last Director, puts it: “We still develop a safety modifications, essentially a road iteration, appeared in 2014. car with our backs and our butts.” vehicle. Roll cage, fire extinguisher and competition fuel tank were added, but Fittingly, in 2015, a decade after In an extreme form of automotive the engine, clutch and brakes were all Rose's auspicious debut, Dr Bez, in torture, new models must now endure standard. his 10th consecutive appearance at the 10,000km of high-speed laps, during 24-hour race, drove a near-standard which time only tyres and brake pads One of the prototype Vantages Vantage N430, adorned in the same are replaced. This element can take up was hastily cannibalised, stripped of yellow livery, to another class win. to six weeks, as the necessary lap times unnecessary equipment and given the cannot be achieved in wet conditions. nickname ‘Rose’. The V8 Vantage was the first model to be subjected Aston Martin’s current CEO, Rose’s four drivers were all amateurs: to the new regime; Andy Palmer, believes that, in terms Chris Porritt and Wolfgang Schuhbauer completing close to 400 of information gleaned, a kilometre who, as test drivers, knew the circuit laps of the fabled circuit under these conditions is worth ten and car well; Horst von Saurma, a in a high-speed durability in the hands of a normal customer: German motoring journalist, and Dr test, at the end of a two- “There’s nowhere in the world that Bez himself. year programme, in which really gives a car a workout in quite the 30 prototypes covered an same way as the Nordschleife.” The experiment was an unqualified incredible 1.5 million miles. success. Palmer recognises the value that can Continued success in the 24-Hours be derived from both developing and Of the 220 cars that started the race, has led Aston Martin to view racing cars in the Eifel forest. This 79 succumbed to violent accidents participation as both an extension brutal track now has a pivotal role in or mechanical failure. Incredibly, of the testing programme and, ensuring that Aston Martins perform however, Rose ran through the carnage importantly, as a public display of superbly, as well as look beautiful. like a metronome, finishing fourth in confidence in its products. class and 24th overall. However, racing has always been in 33 Aston Martin’s DNA, and the marque’s Apart from driver changes, all she enduring relationship with the ‘Ring needed to sustain her was fuel, tyres is as much about passion as it is and brake pads. practicality. Triumphantly emphasising the car’s Dr Palmer sums the place up in just impressive reliability, Porritt then four words: “the intoxicating green hell”. drove Rose from the ’Ring back to Gaydon the following day. Rose’s success inspired the 2006

ASTON 21 DAY AND NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: THE PRICELESS EXHIBITS THAT CELEBRATE THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY AT LE MANS BY STEVE WAKEFIELD The 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours chequered flag The Aston Martin Museum houses many fascinating exhibits, but few are as rare, valuable or significant For pure scale, it might not match the 52ft in this double anniversary year for Aston Martin as by 27ft Tricolour captured by one of Lord the chequered flag used at Le Mans, victorious driver Nelson’s admirals at the 1800 Battle of the Roy Salvadori’s racing helmet and the trophy for the Malta Convoy, but to passionate fans of winners of the 1959 Challenge Européen de Vitesse et the marque, the simple chequer hanging d'Endurance des Voitures de Sport. from the rafters of the Aston Martin Museum is just as significant. 34

DAY AND NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM Sixty years ago, at 4.00pm on 21 June 1959, this very flag was brought down as car 5, Aston Martin DBR1/2, crossed the line in first place, after 24 hours and 323 laps of hard-fought racing. Just one lap behind the Salvadori/Shelby factory car was another DBR1 (chassis ‘/4’, race number 6), which was driven by Trintignant/Frère. The race was a battle royal between Aston Martin and Ferrari, which had entered three updated 250 TR59s. Thanks to sensational driving by Stirling Moss in the ‘dispensable’, highly tuned but unlikely to last DBR1/3, the Italian cars had been broken by pure pace. With five hours to go, Aston Martin was 1-2, with all the red cars out. In his autobiography, Roy Salvadori describes how he imagined “all the moans and groans from the engine and the whines from the transmission, and this worried me a great deal”. Putting these fears to the back of his mind, he and Carrol Shelby “went on to score what was probably Aston's greatest victory.” The Texan took the chequered flag — yes, this actual flag — and the rest, as they say, is history. Above: The travel-stained winning Aston Martin DBR1, with Salvadori in his characteristic white helmet at the wheel, battles on to the finish Right: The chequered flag from the 21 June 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours on display at the Museum 35

ASTON 21 Above: Salvadori’s Les Leston crash hat Left to right: Team manager Reg Parnell and drivers Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori collect their prizes at a party given for them at BP House in London Roy Salvadori’s racing helmet Whilst Shelby favoured a more modern ‘fighter pilot’ American helmet, Salvadori used a Les Leston GP fibreglass Whilst Shelby favoured a more modern shell with canvas sides and neck protection ‘pudding basin’. ‘fighter pilot’ American helmet, Salvadori used a Les Leston GP Below: In the centre sits the special silver vase awarded by the fibreglass shell with canvas sides and ADAC München and AC de L’Ouest Le Mans neck protection ‘pudding basin’. His white helmet was a familiar sight right up to the late 1950s, when he changed to an up-to-date design in silver-grey with a black stripe, a type he wore when driving the troublesome Aston Martin DBR4 GP car. Salvadori’s bruised and battered Les Leston worn that day in June 1959 (and countless others over the racing season) now sits in the magnificent glass display case at the Museum. The silver trophy After a year of heartbreak in 1958, it had been John Wyer’s intention to concentrate on the Grand Prix programme in 1959 and only enter the DBR1s at Le Mans. Extensive testing, with no diversions, would surely pay off this time. 36

DAY AND NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM “The Texan took the chequered flag — yes, this actual flag Things did not go according to plan. changes on the DBR1s — three cars started By the end of the year, though, the David — and the rest, as the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood, the scene Brown team came away with three overall they say, is history.” of a 1-2-3 for Aston in 1958. victories (including the French 24-hour Despite setting fire to the then leading classic) and the World Championship. Wisely, car of Salvadori/Moss, DBR1s came first and Brown and Wyer then called it a day on two-seater, fourth, thus winning the World Championship for open sports car racing and sold the cars in January 1960. Feltham. It was the David Brown team’s finest hour. The first diversion had been a last-minute invitation to To the winners, the spoils. After collecting much silverware compete, all expenses paid, at Sebring in March. The car on the podium at Goodwood, later that year Aston Martin’s retired early in the race. Next, Stirling Moss asked if the successes at the two most prestigious European long-distance spare DBR1 not needed for Le Mans was available for the events (the Nürburgring 1000km and Le Mans 24 Hours) was Nürburgring 1000km, an event he’d won for Aston, sharing recognised by the award of the ‘Challenge Européen de Vitesse DBR1/3 with Jack Brabham, in 1958. Wyer sent DBR1/1 et d’Endurance des Voitures de Sport — 1er Classement with a skeleton crew as back-up, and Stirling duly won the General 1959. ADAC Muenchen. AC de L’Ouest Le Mans’. gruelling race, ably assisted by Jack Fairman, who drove the This small silver vase is part of the Heritage Trust’s minimum distance possible. collection and is also on display at the Museum — another It was one of Moss’s greatest-ever drives. piece charting the history of Aston Martin’s greatest-ever year Just over a week later the team set up camp at its familiar base on the racetracks; the one of final victory at Le Mans. at the Hotel de France, La Chartre sur le Loir, and at 4:00pm on Sunday 21 June, Aston finished first and second at Le Mans. Three races entered; two wins. The World Championship was ‘Roy Salvadori — Racing Driver’ by Roy Salvadori with Anthony Pritchard, Patrick Stephens Ltd 1985 within the team’s grasp, so in early September, after much testing — and the installation of air jacks to aid faster tyre 37

ASTON 21 Mine’s a pint! From left: John Pope, Gerry Marshall and David Farndon of Duckhams at the March 1974 launch of the John Pope Special at the local pub, the Three Hammers in Chiswell Green on the outskirts of St Albans An audience with the ‘POPEMOBILE’ BY ANDREW ENGLISH 38

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ‘POPEMOBILE’ Of course it wasn't an Aston Martin and that's official... In 1977, no less a person than Brian powering a Fiat Cinquecento, V8- utterly hostile that we feel a sense of Joscelyne then editor of the AM engined Vauxhall Firenzas, Mustang- personal gratitude that it hasn’t come quarterly magazine and a big figure engined Capris, 7-litre Camaros, to the Top Gear office and punched us in the Aston Martin Owners Club DFV-powered Dafs, Cosworth-engined in the middle of the face.\" Although, turned down the race results for the Escorts and Chevron-chassied Hillman you might tartly observe that Jeremy John Pope Special (JPS) Vauxhall/Aston Imps. Clarkson had got that job covered... Martin for inclusion in club records. “They were exhilarating cars to drive,” This behemoth came from the “As you can imagine, this has set us recalls Brodie, “because they had more imagination of John Pope, a gentleman something of a problem,” he wrote power than grip. They were fantastic farmer from Hertfordshire, who had in reply to John Pope’s request, “over things, with a level of innovation you become hooked on big-banger saloons whether or not to include them in the just don’t get now. You could dream up after his friend and near neighbour 1976 Aston Martin competition record. a spec and if you got it right, well you’d Gerry Marshall took him to a meeting After careful consideration, it has been be on the money...” in the late Sixties. Pope had a racing decided not to, as the car is accepted as past and a season under his belt racing a Special Saloon.” This car, the John Pope Special, was a Vauxhall Viva GT. He wanted to find just such a fantasy racer, a Vauxhall a way of getting into the Super Saloon Special Saloon? Can anyone smell Magnum powered by an Aston Martin series on a level footing with the big Fabergé Brut? Turn the clock back to DBS, 5.3-litre V8 with two massive teams. When an advertisement in the Sixties and Seventies and the wild Air Research turbochargers. In its day Exchange And Mart for a crash-damaged and noisy tin tops with series sponsors it is reputed to have produced 900bhp, Aston Martin DBS V8 appeared, Pope such as Wendy Wools and Tricentrol good for 170mph, with a documented didn’t hesitate. providing generous prize money. Think 0-60mph time of 5.7sec. bell-bottoms, side burns, Watneys Red The Tadek Marek-designed 5.3-litre Barrel, and talented driver/engineers What a machine. Still is, too. I’m engine would have produced about like David Brodie, Gerry Marshall, looking at it now, in David Jack’s 310bhp, giving the Aston a top speed Peter Baldwin, Doug Niven and workshop at Aston Engineering in of about 160mph, with a 0—60 time Tony Hazlewood, some of them often Derby. It's parked right next to an of 5.9 seconds. Included in the deal was found outside a pint or two of the immaculate Project Car and a DB4 GT, the chassis and running gear, it was a aforementioned Watneys. and looking cheeky, iconoclastic and just promising start... as much a crowd puller as anything in And, as the Sixties moved into the here. Makes you wonder what these cars Contemporary photos show John Seventies we were gifted Super Saloons; all talk about when the lights are off; I Pope as a Saturday matinee idol — Special Saloons on steroids, wild bet the Magnum has an Essex accent... think John Gregson on the flying bridge Frankenstein monsters bearing little of a World War Two destroyer. relation to their original donors, but In July 2012 when it was up for sale, retaining a familiar silhouette from the Top Gear magazine ran an article on it, “He was a big man, and he’d lost a few wheels up. Think half a BDA engine Matthew Jones praising its stupefying fingers in an accident with a combine power output concluded: “It looks so harvester, so as a boy I was fascinated,” 39

ASTON 21 Left: Pope stands by his creation in what looks — appropriately — like a blast shelter on his farm at Potters Crouch. It’s probably potatoes recalls Gregor Marshall, Gerry’s son. car sat on extra-wide Revolution wheels The car appeared in five more meetings “But whilst Dad loved the idea of a with welded-in centres. that year and Pope became secretary of Vauxhall Aston, he never thought John the Super Saloon Drivers Association. would finish it.” It was secretly photographed for Vauxhall Motorist magazine in February Then, during the winter of Like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s owner, 1974 and officially launched in March 1974/1975, John recruited the help Commander Caractacus Pott, Pope set at the Three Hammers pub, with Gerry of Aston Martin’s experimental set to work in his barn and in late 1973 Marshall in attendance — funny that. department and, with engineers David he finally opened the doors. Named Pope didn’t waste any time getting Morgan, Arthur Wilson and Barry from the off as the John Pope Special the car on the track, and in April he Rowledge, fitted a brace of AirResearch (aka \"The Popemobile\"), it used as much entered the British Racing Sports Car turbochargers, dry sumped the engine of the Aston’s running gear as possible, Club Super Saloon races at Snetterton and sat back in amazement. There isn’t together with a square-tube-framed and Mallory, both taking place on a lot of evidence that the engine ever upper structure holding an arched body the same Easter weekend. According produced the headline 900bhp, but few shell, with a one-piece tilting front end. to David Smith’s web site, the JPS would disavow at least 600. The five-speed ZF gearbox ran into a De suffered from the attentions of extra- Dion tube/Watts linkage rear end with diligent scrutineers, but finished sixth “My first memory of seeing it in a Salisbury limited-slip differential. The and seventh in the respective meetings. anger,” recalls Dave Jack, “is on the National Circuit at Silverstone. Gerry 40

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ‘POPEMOBILE’ Marshall was driving and he started \"They were all fantasy Marshall, Nick Whiting and John from the front row. I was standing cars,\" says Brodie. \"I can Homewood, who gave it a first win at in the grandstand on the outside remember a race in the Lydden in Kent. Pope entered the car at Woodcote — I always enjoyed late Sixties at Mallory into the support race for the British watching from the outside — and the and there was this little Grand Prix at Silverstone where he race was fascinating. Gerry struggled off Ford Anglia beside me on finished 12th and that September into the line, caught everyone up by Copse, the grid driven by a man the Brighton Speed Trials where he set which I could see from there, and then called Richard Scantlebury. a fastest official run of 23.1sec and won disappeared off towards Maggots. You What I didn't know was the Forrest Lycett Trophy. Pope also could see them roar back along the that it had a 3.8 Jaguar took the car to Elvington and despite back straight, and coming into Bridge engine under the bonnet\" suffering transmission problems set Gerry was swamped by two cars he new world records for the standing and was fighting with and the thing almost flying quarter mile, as well as being staggered round Woodcote with Gerry timed at 170mph. wrestling the car in his inimitable way. Then when he got the power down the “They were all fantasy cars,” says thing just lit up, it was incredible. It just Brodie. “I can remember a race in the went from Woodcote to Copse so fast; late Sixties at Mallory; and there was blimey, it was amazing. And the whole this little Ford Anglia beside me on the race was like that, just terrific...” grid, driven by a man called Richard Scantlebury. What I didn’t know was But 1975 was a mixed year. The that it had a 3.8 Jaguar engine under JPS blew a piston at the opening the bonnet [it was called the Janglia meeting at Silverstone and struggled and campaigned later by Mick Hill]. with development issues all year. The So he takes off like he’s headed for the bonnet was chopped up to let out the moon and gets to Gerard’s and it’s all considerable heat and Pope also lent over the place. I’m thinking, ‘Jesus, the car to a variety of drivers, including how’s he holding on to that!’ They were Below: Massive line-up for the support race for the 1975 British Grand Prix. The main race was won by Fittipaldi in a Marlboro- McLaren. Swede Ronnie Peterson only lasted seven laps in the OTHER ‘JPS’… This one finished 12th 41

ASTON 21 Left: A determined John Pope at speed in the powerful Super Saloon during one of its many outings in the 1970s. Note flat cornering stance all electrifying on the straight, but you look at it’,” recalls Jack. “It was certainly magazine, which persevered with a couldn’t stop them and you couldn’t turbocharged by then and I remember fifth wheel long after rival magazines turn them in.” being horrified by the crudeness of it had switched to the more efficient and all — but then, everything was crude robust hub-based sensors, is that they And whilst the cars were a major in those days, even cars that went to Le were infernal devices — many ended draw, scrutineers and officials were Mans. I seem to remember a discussion their days mouldering in the long grass tough on the safety of these cutaway about intercoolers came up. It was in at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Frankenstein monsters. Brian Tarrant’s the barn, but there were no lights so Bedford after detaching themselves death at Thruxton in 1971 in Ray we were poking around with torches. and flying off; although, not before Harris’s 4.6-litre Chevrolet-powered I think Gerry just wanted to see what damaging the car’s coachwork. Austin A40 Special Saloon marked a ideas I’d have. I was interesting in how clamp-down on these cars. The public it had been grafted together.” The Popemobile produced some loved them, though. There were 15 pretty impressive figures. Mean times of these big beasts on the cover of the Ever a canny writer, Brian Joscelyne for runs in two directions, with the October 1974 edition of Cars and had offered Pope a chance to have a fastest in brackets, were: 0-40mph Car Conversions, everything from road test in AM Magazine, and in the 2.95sec (2.9sec); 0-60mph 5.7sec the Popemobile to Gerry Marshall’s summer of 1977 he finally got his wish. (5.6sec); 0-80mph 7.4sec (7.2sec); Ventora with a 5-litre Repco V8, to 0-100mph 11.4sec (11.3sec); 0-120mph Doug Niven’s 5.7-litre V8 Escort. “Having warmed the ‘beast’,” 15,7sec (14sec). It was fast then, even he wrote, “and attached the fifth when factoring in the decrepitude of And 1976 was perhaps Pope’s best wheel, we set off for the first run. the fifth wheel, the slow-changing ZF year with the JPS, which proved a The acceleration was just fantastic, gearbox and the extra weight of Brian decent top-ten finisher in the Super with seemingly no let up beyond the and the equipment, which he estimated Saloons championship. It must have 100mph and the end of the runway would have increased kerb weight to been quite a sight to see Pope driving on began to approach at an alarming rate. 30cwt (1,524kg), where the normal the road to each meeting with the four- However, the electric speedo did not wet kerb weight was quoted at 27cwt track cartridge player barely audible in seem to be functioning, and when we (1,371kg). the bare shell. got back we saw why. The tremendous battering it [the fifth wheel] had But the heat was going out of the David Jack finally got up close to received along the bumpy surface had Super Saloons, despite efforts to revive the Popemobile when Gerry Marshall almost wrecked it, and certainly the its fortunes with events such as the phoned and asked him to look at it. “He tyre and tube were ruined.” BBC Radio 1 race day at Mallory said, ‘Jacko, we’re going to look at this Park, where the Popemobile was car, it’s terrible, but we’re going to have a My experience on Fast Lane entered into the Dave Lee Travis Super Saloon race. The Tricentrol series had 42 been discontinued for ‘77, alternative sponsors were harder to come by and there was considerable push-back by Special Saloon Championship administrators anxious that their audiences would be diluted by the ‘Superloons’. There was an attempt to revive the championship in 1978, but by then most cars and drivers had bailed out and joined the Donington GT Championship.

Above: A fabulous archive including lovingly crafted scrap AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ‘POPEMOBILE’ books accompanies the car The Popemobile went into semi-retirement, with John only bringing it out for high days and holidays. Eventually it was sold on, and by the time its current owner, Geoff Harris saw it advertised in 2015 it hadn’t been run for over 30 years. “I’d read about the car in the Aston Martin Register,” he says, “and often wondered what had happened to it. So when I saw the advertisement I thought: ‘I’ve just got to buy it’. It seemed important to own such a wild, period car with over 600bhp.” With a price falling to affordable levels Harris bought the Magnum, although his wife Dawnie commented; “that’s my kitchen gone...”. “Once we got it home, we realised it was very tired,” says Harris, “and it wouldn’t be useable in that state. We got it started and it had a very smoky turbo and was very loud, with a three-inch exhaust going into four-inch-bore tailpipes.” It dropped a valve at idle and Harris realised then that it would need a committed and experienced specialist to get it up to full health. David Jack at Aston Engineering was an obvious candidate, with his knowledge from tuning RHAM/1, aka ‘The Muncher’, Robin Hamilton’s turbocharged Le Mans car. Jack also looked after Harris’s previous Aston Martin, a DB4 GT with which he achieved standard-car lap and hill climb records up and down the country in the Eighties and Nineties. He also raced a Lola T70 GT in Europe. “I entrusted it to Andy Robinson Race Cars for a new cage, fuel tank and dry sump oil tanks,” says Harris, “and Aston Engineering for the mechanical rebuild, refurbishing the front sub frame, the rear de Dion axle, the steering column adjustment and the pedal box.” As well as the rebuilt engine and transmission, the Popemobile has also had new wheels and uprated half shafts, as well as rebuilt brakes, but it hasn’t been changed too much and still feels an indubitably Seventies race car. “We’ve worked hard to try and keep to the spirit of the car and the time,” says Jack as we walked underneath it on the ramps a month ago. “The body shell was new to Pope, but the DBS had been crashed, so we’ve been careful to check everything.” Jack’s attention to detail goes down to the minute; even the ‘correct’ kitchen strainers at the end of each front-wing engine air intake have been re-sourced. Open the glove box and there's nothing there but the end of the cylinder head, and if you blip the throttle, the headlamps swivel open with the suction to admit more air into that enormous engine. “It was called cutting edge at the time, but nowadays, it's known as DRS enabled,” laughs Harris. 43

ASTON 21 THE CAR TODAY 44

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ‘POPEMOBILE’ Left: Photographed at Aston Engineering in Derby, the immaculate car is almost ready to rumble once again At the moment, the engine is running, but the car “I’d like to see it racing again in selected is untested and that painstaking process will take events,” he says. “I have concerns about place in the coming months. So once it’s up and Aston V8s and turbocharging, but Dave breathing fire and brimstone once again, what does [Jack ] does give you a lot of confidence.” Harris plan to do with the John Pope Special? The Classic Sports Car Club runs a series of Special Saloon and Modsports with a well-attended race calendar, where wild Anglias mix it with Super Saloon Morris 1000s and more modern modified TVRs. They’ve even got permission from one of the original sponsors, Wend Wools, to name the championship; although, they struggle a bit with modern noise regulations. So will we see the mighty Popemobile take its place on the grid once more with these monsters? We’ll have to see, but if it does happen I’d really like to know about the driver’s side burns and what’s on the cartridge player... (www.modbase.info/#/john-pope-special/4594470549) 45

ASTON 21 SEEING DOUBLE: THE ITALDESIGN ASTON MARTIN TWENTY TWENTY BY JAMES PAGE 46

SEEING DOUBLE: THE ITALDESIGNS ASTON MARTIN TWENTY TWENTY Aston Martin’s association with Italian design houses goes back Bertone to join Ghia, then in 1968 he a long way. When the marque wanted one to style the car that set up Italdesign with Aldo Mantovani. would become the DB4, it turned to Milan-based Touring, from Over the years, this legendary design which it also licensed the Superleggera construction technique. house has been responsible for the Then there’s Zagato, which has been involved with a number likes of the Alfasud, the original Lotus of models over the decades, starting with its famous 1960 Esprit and the Volkswagen Golf Mk1, development of the DB4 GT — a car that Aston Martin Works and Giugiaro himself is said to be has recently given the ‘continuation’ treatment. particularly proud of the humble Fiat Panda, the 4x4 version of which has Less well known is the Aston Martin outline, the sweep of gained something of a cult following. contribution of Giorgetto the front wings as they came down to Giugiaro to the history of Aston the headlamps evoked the Ferrari 250 Italdesign has also created a long line Martin. When Giugiaro was still in GT. It was an impressively clean, sharp, of concept cars, from the utilitarian his early 20s and working at Bertone, modern design. to the exotic, and at the 2001 Geneva he penned the Jet on DB4 GT chassis Salon it turned its attention to Aston 0201/L. First shown at the 1961 Bertone later produced two more Martin. The Twenty Twenty was based Geneva Salon, and then at Turin later Jets — a 2004 ‘shooting brake’ concept on an early DB7 Vantage manual and that year, the Jet was bodied in steel, based on a lengthened V12 Vanquish was no show pony — it was a fully and whilst the grille retained the basic and the 2013 Jet 2+2, which was based functioning car, complete with 6.0-litre on the Rapide. As for Giugiaro, he left V12 that was said to have been uprated to give 500bhp. Twenty Twenty wasn’t the first Giugiaro Aston, but it remains unique and has been The driving force was Giorgetto’s son owned by Italdesign since its 2001 launch Fabrizio Giugiaro, and the idea was for he and his illustrious father to offer a glimpse of what an open-topped Aston Martin could look like in the year 2020, although in some ways it seemed to owe more to Italdesign’s previous concepts than it did to the future. In 1998, for example, the company had produced the Structura to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Based around a 5.6-litre W12 engine, it turned structural elements of the car into design features — or, in Italdesign’s words, it ‘transcended design to emphasise the architectural form’. 47

ASTON 21 Above: The fully finished interior aesthetics are load-bearing in both the made from plastic and carbon fibre, features a neat instrument cluster literary and the technical sense.” and they were attached to an extruded and delicate switchgear; the bulky aluminium ‘exoskeleton’ that was in full rear end looks distinctly American; You could even refers to the 1988 view and part of the overall design. and the clever door hinges hint at Aztec to find further traces of the DB4-era wing vents studio’s occasional tendency towards an “The parts forming the body industrial look, and the Twenty Twenty rest on top and do not conceal the Italdesign recognised — in brilliantly once again sought to bring engineering engineering,” said Italdesign. “The lines expressive language — that the Twenty to the fore — showing it off rather than and modulations normally conveyed Twenty relied upon the experience that hiding it away. It was an attempt to by light reflected off surfaces are in this it had gained from the Structura and blend function with form, and although case traced by structural sections in the altogether more functional Capsula, some would argue that it looks better in extruded aluminium.” which it had produced in 1982: the metal than it does in photographs, “Both of these concept cars assigned you’d have to conclude that it had Perhaps the most successful part of the structures overlying the floorpan limited success in that regard. it is the mid-section, in particular the the role of a motif — of a dominant striking door hinges that bring to mind aesthetic feature. Here the technological Where it did accurately look to the the wing vents on the DB4, DB5 and future was in its use of lightweight and DB6. A panel behind the front seats composite materials. The panels were disguises the fact that it’s actually a 2+2 48

SEEING DOUBLE: THE ITALDESIGNS ASTON MARTIN TWENTY TWENTY — left in place, it makes the car look like a two-seater — at Gaydon have gone down a far more sophisticated and much whilst the soft-top is stored in its own housing and can be less ‘industrial’ route in terms of overall styling. But although fitted between the rollover bar and the windscreen. The engine, the look of it may not have dated particularly well, this 2001 meanwhile, is visible through large vents in the bonnet. concept is still a fascinating piece of history, and it’s remained in the ownership of Italdesign ever since its Geneva debut. It Sadly, the rear is less successful. It’s as if, as someone once was displayed at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed, then remarked, they simply ran out of time. Look at the car in again as part of an event marking 50 years of Italdesign, which profile and the sharp front end blends quite nicely into the is now part of the Audi Group. centre section, which then turns into a squared-off, blunt rear that would look more at home on a Cadillac. The interior, In September 2019, the car came to the UK for the however, is nicely resolved, with three main dials stylishly DB7’s 25th anniversary celebrations at Wormsley Estate in positioned atop the steering column rather than in a standard Buckinghamshire, after which it spent a short time on display dashboard, and plenty of brown hide to soften the metallic at the Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum. As well as famous theme. There’s a neat row of toggle switches in the centre models from throughout the marque’s history, the Trust has console, although the substantial door handles help to offset never been shy about showcasing rarities and concepts as part any sense of delicacy. of its regularly rotated and updated displays — as proven by the recent presence of the DP100 mock-up that was designed The Twenty Twenty remained a one-off — and a little-known for use in the Gran Turismo 6 video game. one at that. In 2001, Aston Martin was just starting to put the Vanquish into production based on the VH platform of True to form, the Twenty Twenty took pride of place extruded aluminium and composites, plus aluminium panels. alongside, amongst others, A3, a Nimrod Group C racer and This brought the marque’s design and engineering very much a DB Mk III. Proof, were it needed, that you can never be sure into the 21st century and pointed the way towards the next what you’re going to find on display — and that’s in addition generation of models up to the DB11, which once again moved to the countless pieces of memorabilia and documentation everything on with a brand-new bonded aluminium platform. that are arranged throughout the historic barn. No part of Aston Martin history is too obscure or too leftfield to be It’s via the use of this sort of material that the Twenty Twenty included, and that’s exactly how it should be. is most closely related to today’s Astons, even if the designers 49

ASTON 21 THE KEY TO SUCCESS? BY STEVE WAKEFIELD The ‘ECU’ — no, we’re not referring to the European Currency Unit, the forerunner of the Euro or even, on an automotive theme, an Engine Control Unit. It’s that “new piece of jewellery that will wow press, customers and dealers too”, Aston Martin’s famous Emotion Control Unit. 50