Video: Rare Aston Martin V12 Zagato takes on Goodwood

06th June 2020

Henry Biggs

There are many unique aspects to the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard but one of the most interesting is seeing the cars being driven, not just by professional racers but by the people who helped create them – aerodynamicists, engine builders, designers – all try their hand up the Hill.

The son of a blacksmith Marek Reichman, Aston Martin design chief credits his father’s craft with instilling in him a knowledge of how to make things and traditional methods of design. Reichman began his career at Rover until the company was taken over by BMW, at which point he moved to the German firm’s design studio in California. Later Senior Designer he helped shape future Land Rover models, including the third generation Range Rover, when that company was also under BMW’s wing.

At Aston Martin since 2005, Reichman designed the One-77, DBS, Rapide, Vanquish and Vulcan. He didn’t actually have a hand in the Vantage V12 on which this Zagato model is based. The Zagato was created to celebrate the 50 partnership between Aston Martin and Zagato which stretches back to the DB4 GT special, often held to be the most beautiful car ever made by the marque.

Reichman drove one of two racing versions built for the 2011 season. This is ‘Zag’, the sister car to the bright green ‘Zig’.