Although the Aston Martin V12 Zagato made its initial appearance only at this year's Villa D'Este in May, it shortly ran a race at the 24 hours of Nurburgring in June and now has been given the official green light. Talk about being on the fast track, no pun intended.
This is good news for me, since I have lusted after it since its initial coming out party at Villa D'Este.
There will be one barrier though; it's high price of entry. At £330,000 GBP, it's certainly not a competitively priced auto, but it remains one of my favorite designs in some time.
Aston has only built two cars thus far. Each have swapped concept bodywork to full race spec and according to Aston one of the cars at Frankfurt will feature an exterior that is supposed to represent the road-going version.
Aside from that, make sure to take a look at the excellent shots 001 captured at an event in San Diego this week.
Aston Martin's press release follows:
ASTON MARTIN V12 ZAGATO SET FOR MOTOR SHOW DEBUT AT FRANKFURT
The new Aston Martin V12 Zagato will be appearing in September at the 64th IAA International Motor Show at Frankfurt. Along with the largest display of contemporary Aston Martins ever seen at a Motor Show, two V12 Zagatos, both having completed their engineering sign-off at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, will be shown for the first time at a mainstream event.
Hand assembled at the company's global headquarters in Gaydon, England, the V12 Zagato is based on the highly acclaimed V12 Vantage and features a beautiful 'handcrafted' aluminium and carbon fibre body. Combining traditional craftsmanship and high technology, the V12 Zagato also boasts Aston Martin's most dynamic bonded aluminium platform and the power of the company's acclaimed 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 510 bhp (380 kW / 517 PS), and 570 Nm (420 lb ft) of torque.
Following extremely positive initial customer reaction, the V12 Zagato is being offered for sale at £330,000 GBP (excluding local taxes) and will go into strictly limited production of up to 150 cars in summer 2012. 50 years on from the introduction of the iconic DB4GT Zagato, Aston Martin and Zagato have collaborated to create this modern interpretation which remains true to the focus of craftsmanship, performance and exclusivity which underpinned the original collaboration.
Launched successfully in late May at the famous Villa D'Este Concours on Lake Como, Italy, the V12 Zagato saw off tough competition to be awarded the coveted Design Award for the concept and prototypes class. Just a week later, the V12 Zagato made its racing debut at the 53rd ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN race at the historic Nürburgring racetrack in Germany. Following other appearances in the series, both prototypes of the V12 Zagato were entered into the gruelling 39th ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hour on 25/26 June, successfully amassing a combined 230 laps and over 3,700 miles of intense durability testing – both taking the chequered flag to maintain Aston Martin's 100% finish record in the race.
The first of the two V12 Zagatos being shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show, finished in its distinctive green livery is the full endurance race car concept specification as campaigned at the Nürburgring. The car, nicknamed 'Zig' by the factory team features a full aerodynamic package including front splitter, dive planes, large rear diffuser and spoiler designed to make the most of the Nürburgring's multitude of corners and lengthy straights.
The second of the cars, nicknamed 'Zag', was originally shown at the Villa D'Este before being converted into the same full racing specification as the sister car. Since the 24 hour race, Zag, has been returned to its original show specification which, although showing a racing car interior, has an exterior more representative of the exclusive road car currently offered for order. In addition to this, Aston Martin today releases the first conceptual illustrations of the road car variant that will go into production from mid 2012.
The pair of V12 Zagatos will join the Aston Martin stand at Frankfurt in September alongside the stunning One-77 supercar and the recently launched Virage and Vantage S.
Aston Martin Zagato V12 Photo Gallery
Aston Martin Zagato V12 Photo Gallery
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