Aston Martin V12 Zagato
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The Aston Martin V12 Zagato is a British sports car/endurance racer made by
Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
in collaboration with
Zagato Zagato is an independent coachbuilding company and total design centre located northwest of Milan in Terrazzano, a small village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. The company's premises occupies an area of 23,000 square metres (250,000 sq ft)- 11,000 of ...
to celebrate a fifty-year partnership since the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. Introduced in Lake Como, Italy at the
Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este () is a Concours d'Elegance event in Italy for classic car, classic and vintage cars. It takes place annually near the Villa d'Este (Cernobbio), Villa d'Este hotel in Cernobbio, on the western shore of Lake Como ...
on 21 May 2011, the Zagato was awarded with the competition's "Design Award for Concept Cars and Prototypes" which has also been won by the
One-77 The Aston Martin One-77 is a two-door, two-seater flagship sports car built by the British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The car was first shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, although it remained mostly covered by a "Savile Row tailored skirt" ...
in 2009. Zagato introduced the "Corsa" (race) version of the car in 2011 and the "Stradale" (road) version in 2012. The Stradale version doesn't have the black quick releases on the bonnet and boot that the Corsa has and the exhaust pipes of the Stradale version are further apart than on the Corsa version. Like the Aston Martin V12 Vantage on which it is based, the V12 Zagato is powered by a 5.9-litre ''AM11'' V12 engine first used in the DBS which produces , and of torque.


Design

Designed at the Aston Martin Design Studios in Gaydon, the chassis - engineered by a Chris Porritt-led team including veterans of Astons Martins's One-77 project - features a retuned version of the regular V12 Vantage's double-wishbone suspension. The design features a new handcrafted aluminium body with the front similar to the Vantage with differences in the roof and rear section. Another difference is the endurance racing fuel tank carrying up to 120 litres of fuel.


Production

Following a large interest by customers, Aston Martin announced they would produce a homologated version of the car, producing only a limited run of 150 at the Aston Martin headquarters in Gaydon. Starting delivery in the second half of 2012, the Zagato was priced at around £330,000 excluding local taxes. In the end, orders did not materialize at the rate envisioned and only 61 cars were actually made.


Heritage Twins

In April 2020, it was publicly announced that Aston Martin had partnered with British company R-Reforged to produce 19 pairs of coupes and convertibles (38 cars in total). The cars gain center-locking 19-inch alloy wheels and a deployable rear wing over the original version. Power from the 5.9L V12 has been increased to 600 bhp. Customers can choose between an automatic transmission or a 7-speed manual.


Racing history


2011

The Aston Martin V12 Zagato made its racing debut at the 53rd
ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mobi ...
ACAS H&R-Cup VLN round at the Nürburgring on 28 May, the event for the car being a preparation and development experience ahead of the Nürburgring 24-hour race, to be held on 25–26 June. Two V12 Zagatos competed in the 51st
ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mobi ...
Reinoldus-Langstreckenrennen VLN four-hour race on 11 June. Again as a test session ahead of the Nürburgring 24-hour race. Aston Martin Chief Executive,
Dr. Ulrich Bez Ulrich Helmut Bez (born 7. November 1943 in Bad Cannstatt, Germany) is a German businessman and was, until the end of 2013, CEO of Aston Martin motorcars when he stepped down to serve as non-executive chairman. Life Bez holds a doctorate in engi ...
lead the driver team joined by the company's Nürburgring Test Centre Director, Wolfgang Schuhbauer plus experienced amateur racer Peter Cate in the first of the two V12 Zagato's. The sister car was driven by
One-77 The Aston Martin One-77 is a two-door, two-seater flagship sports car built by the British car manufacturer Aston Martin. The car was first shown at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, although it remained mostly covered by a "Savile Row tailored skirt" ...
Chief Engineer Chris Porritt, experienced sports car driver Oliver Mathai and automotive journalist Richard Meaden. Competing in the SP8 category, the V12 Zagatos; near production standard cars with only essential safety and aerodynamic modifications required for racing, took 2nd and 3rd place in class, equating to 15th and 39th overall in field of some 150 largely specialist cars. The two V12 Zagatos affectionately nicknamed "Zig" (green car) and "Zag" (red car) competed in the 39th
ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mobi ...
Nürburgring 24-hour race, held on 25–26 June. The two factory backed cars both completed the race, finishing 5th and 6th in the SP8 class. The red car also raced at the 2011
Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hillclimbing, hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in l ...
on 1–3 July. Driven by Aston Martin head designer, Marek Reichman, the car recorded a best time of 61.21 to finish 15th in the overall shootout. On 17 October "Zig" was part of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Toyota at the VLN9 DMV 250-Meilen-Rennen. During the race drivers of both the V12 Zagato and
Lexus LFA The is a two-seat sports car manufactured by Lexus, the luxury car division of Toyota. It is the second model in the Lexus F, F marque line of performance vehicles from Lexus, following the Lexus IS F, IS F, and also the first standalone Lexus ...
, which included the CEO of Aston Martin and President of Toyota, had an opportunity to drive both cars.


2012

'Zig' attended VLN3 as a test for the Nurburgring 24 hours, during which the car unfortunately sustained a puncture on the first lap, however went on the finish the race without any further problems. Previously running in green livery 'Zig' was re-painted Gulf blue and black for the Nurburgring 24hours to match its GT3 teammates. The car had an excellent race and ran faultlessly throughout driven by Aston Martin CEO
Dr Ulrich Bez Ulrich Helmut Bez (born 7. November 1943 in Bad Cannstatt, Germany) is a German businessman and was, until the end of 2013, CEO of Aston Martin motorcars when he stepped down to serve as non-executive chairman. Life Bez holds a doctorate in engin ...
(D), chief engineer Chris Porritt (GB), Nürburgring Test Centre Director Wolfgang Schuhbauer (D) and journalist Richard Meaden (GB) and finished 26th overall and 2nd in class. The same car also attended the Aston Martin Le Mans Festival, a support race for the Le Mans 24 hours. During the first stint had battled up to an impressive fourth position, having started from tenth, before handing over to his teammate Dr Ulrich Bez.


Gallery

File:Aston Martin V12 Zagato (6147338264).jpg File:Aston Martin V12 Zagato (6146789519).jpg File:Aston Martin V12 Zagato (6147339316).jpg File:Aston Martin V12 Zagato (6147340082).jpg File:RM Sotheby’s 2017 - Aston Martin V12 Zagato N° zero - 2012 - 001.jpg File:RM Sotheby’s 2017 - Aston Martin V12 Zagato N° zero - 2012 - 004.jpg


References


External links


AMOC.org Aston Martin Unveils New V12 Zagato

Official car site

Aston Martin V12 Zagato
{{Aston Martin V12 Zagato Concept cars Grand tourer racing cars Cars introduced in 2011