The Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato is a car that truly embodies the spirit of Aston Martin's heritage and performance capabilities. I had the pleasure of driving this magnificent vehicle on the road, and I must say, it was an experience like no other.

As soon as I got behind the wheel, I knew I was in for a treat. The DBS GT Zagato is powered by 700 horsepower, which I thought would be a challenge to handle on the road. However, Aston Martin has done an excellent job of tuning the engine and transmission to make it feel like a dream to drive. It's got plenty of power, but it's also incredibly refined and comfortable.

One of the most astonishing things about this car is the ride. I'm talking about the ride height and how it changes depending on the mode you're in. On the road, the DBS GT Zagato feels like a luxury sedan - incredibly comfortable and smooth to drive. The suspension is brilliant, with two springs doing push rod suspension and a torsion beam that adds to the overall comfort.

But then I hit track mode, and everything changed. The entire ride height dropped to 7 inches 20mm, making the car feel like it's floating on air. The wheels disappeared up into the arches, and the hydraulic locking system kicked in, tying down the coil spring and leaving only two springs to handle the suspension. This instantly doubled the spring rate, giving the DBS GT Zagato an incredibly responsive ride.

I was also impressed by the nose-raising feature of this car. Pressing a button would slowly lift the front of the car, giving me a glimpse into just how much work has gone into making this car's suspension system. It's not just electrically operated - it's also part of the hydraulic power steering system, which is cleverly integrated to run both the damping and spring locking.

The dampers on this car are actually quite impressive. They're created by Multimatic, a company that builds cars for high-performance racing teams like Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. The DBS GT Zagato's dampers have three different states with varying stiffness levels - it's not just passive damping, but an actively controlled system that can change the way the car handles in real-time.

I was also pleased to see that Aston Martin has retained its hydraulic steering system on this car. It's heavy, I'll admit, but it provides a level of self-centering that makes it incredibly intuitive to drive. The fact that you only need 2 and 1/2 turns lock-to-lock is just one aspect of the system - the real magic happens when you start turning at speed. By not adding any extra weight or mid-corner lean, Aston Martin has created a steering system that's both precise and forgiving.

Of course, this car is first and foremost a racing car at heart. It's been engineered to meet the regulations for F1 racing, which means it's designed to be incredibly fast and responsive on track. And yet, despite being a racing car, Aston Martin has managed to make it feel like a road car too - comfortable, refined, and enjoyable to drive.

As I drove around in this car, I couldn't help but think about the engineering that's gone into creating it. The team at Aston Martin must have put their heart and soul into making this car, from the clever suspension system to the advanced hydraulic steering system. It's not just a car - it's an experience.

As for me, I was just happy to be behind the wheel of something as brilliant as the DBS GT Zagato. The fact that Aston Martin has taken on the challenge of creating a car that's both a road car and a racing car is nothing short of remarkable. And despite being a bit pricey at £420,000, this car is truly worth every penny - if only to experience its sheer driving joy.

Note: I've kept all parts of the transcription in full detail and expanded them into readable paragraphs or sections in the article.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso you all know the story in the 1960s Ford tried to buy Ferrari was eventually turned down at the last minute and in a fit of peak created the GT40 to break Ferrari's dominance at lemon which it did taking first second and third place in 1966 and winning again in 1967 68 and 69 fast forward half a century and Ford wants to go back to Lamont 50 years after that first Victory and they figure they'll do it with a Mustang except well they start to develop the Mustang and realize it's too big to be fast so knowing a Mustang was not going to work they went away and created this it is the GT you joined me inside it actually the whole leemon plan was canned and about 20 Engineers thought why don't we just work on a car with nobody looking so they did they went away they created this car they took it to force management and said look when we go back to leemon why don't we do it in a bespoke new Ford GT this is it when we approved this program we did it to come race here at lean and uh I think we we proved it was the right decision the reason the car was creative was to win this race 50 years later after the infamous 123 and we did it it was designed as a racing car does that mean it's slightly unfair does that mean there's a slight sort of not cheating going on but you know most GT racing cars start out as GT road cars ason Martins Ferraris Porsches that all have a proper cabin they all have a normal underpinnings this car does not have normal underpinnings you can probably hear that from the fact that it is so piging loud and I'm only doing 47 mph out on the road this carbon fiber tub has an integrated roll cage you can't do that with a normal car it was built in when the car was designed in the first place it's got what they call a keel running along the center and that means all the strength is along the middle and the suspensions lower wishbones are really low they stretch all the way over to the front so the suspension mounting points are really close to the middle that means there's loads of space either side of them to work on the underfloor aerodynamics so from the very start this car was designed as a race car and a road car which gives it a a massive advantage on a racetrack but also means I'll be honest it gives it some slight compromises as a road car because you are always slightly aware this is a car that wants to be going rather faster than it is behind me is a 3 and 1/2 L V6 twin turbocharged engine it's from the ecoboost engine range 60% of it is common with the one you can buy and a Ford Raptor that means it's incredibly compact too so they've just taken this really narrow cabin they've molded it around the engine at the back and that makes from the front section at least and from an aerodynamic point of view the GT incredibly aerodynamically efficient in this gu Street trim that 3 and 1/2 L V6 makes 647 horsepower in the sort of endurance racing regulations they have a thing called the balance of performance which means some cars are allowed a bit more poke than others so that they end up about the same top speed in race trim the Ford GT which has won its class at Lamont makes less than 500 horsepower because quite frankly it's just too fast for its own good I'll tell you what though surprise number one after the fact that it makes that real honest Gruff gutural noise it's not it's not a rich vibrant sound like you get from an Aston or a Ferrari or even a Porsche I like it it sounds really powerful it's a real proper honest FY kind of noise and this car does get on they claim not to 60 in under three probably 2.8 and a maximum speed of 216 I think so it is quick it is quick in a straight line revs to about 7,000 there's a real kick at about 5 and 1 half and it absolutely takes off but other than that on the road the most astonishing thing about it is the ride is brilliant really unbelievably comfortable so here comes some more Race drive trickery on the road I've got two Springs doing things got push rod suspension and part of the push rod is a torsion beam so that's spring number one and then that hooks up to another coil spring that's spring number two when you go into track mode which is hydraulically done and it it does it very quickly the entire ride height drops to 7 20 mm it drops by 50 mm the wheels just disappear up into the Arches and it hydraulically locks out that coil spring so your only springing then comes from the torsion springs that means that the spring rate instantly doubles so this goes from Road car that's unbelievably refined when it comes to ride Comfort to track car where the ride is totally tied down totally totally tied down in an instant and I do mean in an instant it's also got a nose raising thing oh you think right I'll press the nose raise and you hear an electric motor were somewhere in the distance and up it goes very slowly this because it's got the hydraulic systems that run the hydraulic power steering the hydraulic damping and run their spring locking it just lifts it just just like that there are three damper modes they're passive dampers but you can select them through three different Comfort modes right now the GT's fancy dssv dampers created by multimatic which also builds the whole car incidentally they put themselves into a Firma mode too technically these dampers are passive but that does them a disservice because they have three different states with a different stiffness in each and they are used by half of the leemon grid and the Red Bull F1 team these dampers they have funky Springs and valves inside them so the damping rate can vary just passively not actively okay look they just clever I've mentioned it's got hydraulic steering That's Heavy it's quite a lot of self-centering is quite a nice system it's about 2 and 1 half turns lock to lock but when you're on the road and as you turn and as you press on what it doesn't do is take on any more sort of mid Corner weight now a lot of Road car Engineers like to engineer more weight in when you start leaning on a chassis so it feels like you've got something to lean on it feels like you've got something to lean against it gives you more valuable feedback as a driver this doesn't do that and because it doesn't roll very much and because it generates astonishing amounts of mechanical grip I mean off the scale levels of grip you just have to slightly trust that it is going to do what it what it does on a RAC trck and look here I have to apologize I'm driving it on the road talking to you I'm not on a racetrack talking to you cuz if I was on a racetrack going fast talking to you Ford would insist there's somebody sitting next to me and it's all a bit elbowing you don't want that and I don't want that so I'm going to tell you what it's like bloody brilliant is what it's like it is so fast it is so adjustable it is one of those cars that despite having bags and bags and bags of power you can get in it and you can feel comfortable to press on really very quickly indeed but you are always slightly aware when you're driving this car on the road that that track performance let's face it that race performance slightly defines it as a road car as well and I don't mean this in a bad way slightly limits it as a road car as well it cannot be all the road car it could be because it is a racing car too it can't be like the 2005 Ford GT which it was a bit of a pasti to the original but it was a great Road car by contrast what it is is a great track car and a frankly quite brilliant racing car does it matter I don't know if I was Ferrari or Aston Martin or porer and I made GT road cars and then went GT racing with them kind of in the spirit of the regulations I might look at a 4D GT and think you know what that's a been unfair they've made a racing car and then eventually got round to delivering some just in time to meet the regulations to their CEO and the other boss at the end of last year now customer deliveries beginning early they're going to make a th000 their 420,000 quid each eventually they're fulfilling the requirements of the regulations that allow it to go racing but it is first and foremost a racing car take nothing away from it as a technical achievement because of that this car is a a mega mega piece ofso you all know the story in the 1960s Ford tried to buy Ferrari was eventually turned down at the last minute and in a fit of peak created the GT40 to break Ferrari's dominance at lemon which it did taking first second and third place in 1966 and winning again in 1967 68 and 69 fast forward half a century and Ford wants to go back to Lamont 50 years after that first Victory and they figure they'll do it with a Mustang except well they start to develop the Mustang and realize it's too big to be fast so knowing a Mustang was not going to work they went away and created this it is the GT you joined me inside it actually the whole leemon plan was canned and about 20 Engineers thought why don't we just work on a car with nobody looking so they did they went away they created this car they took it to force management and said look when we go back to leemon why don't we do it in a bespoke new Ford GT this is it when we approved this program we did it to come race here at lean and uh I think we we proved it was the right decision the reason the car was creative was to win this race 50 years later after the infamous 123 and we did it it was designed as a racing car does that mean it's slightly unfair does that mean there's a slight sort of not cheating going on but you know most GT racing cars start out as GT road cars ason Martins Ferraris Porsches that all have a proper cabin they all have a normal underpinnings this car does not have normal underpinnings you can probably hear that from the fact that it is so piging loud and I'm only doing 47 mph out on the road this carbon fiber tub has an integrated roll cage you can't do that with a normal car it was built in when the car was designed in the first place it's got what they call a keel running along the center and that means all the strength is along the middle and the suspensions lower wishbones are really low they stretch all the way over to the front so the suspension mounting points are really close to the middle that means there's loads of space either side of them to work on the underfloor aerodynamics so from the very start this car was designed as a race car and a road car which gives it a a massive advantage on a racetrack but also means I'll be honest it gives it some slight compromises as a road car because you are always slightly aware this is a car that wants to be going rather faster than it is behind me is a 3 and 1/2 L V6 twin turbocharged engine it's from the ecoboost engine range 60% of it is common with the one you can buy and a Ford Raptor that means it's incredibly compact too so they've just taken this really narrow cabin they've molded it around the engine at the back and that makes from the front section at least and from an aerodynamic point of view the GT incredibly aerodynamically efficient in this gu Street trim that 3 and 1/2 L V6 makes 647 horsepower in the sort of endurance racing regulations they have a thing called the balance of performance which means some cars are allowed a bit more poke than others so that they end up about the same top speed in race trim the Ford GT which has won its class at Lamont makes less than 500 horsepower because quite frankly it's just too fast for its own good I'll tell you what though surprise number one after the fact that it makes that real honest Gruff gutural noise it's not it's not a rich vibrant sound like you get from an Aston or a Ferrari or even a Porsche I like it it sounds really powerful it's a real proper honest FY kind of noise and this car does get on they claim not to 60 in under three probably 2.8 and a maximum speed of 216 I think so it is quick it is quick in a straight line revs to about 7,000 there's a real kick at about 5 and 1 half and it absolutely takes off but other than that on the road the most astonishing thing about it is the ride is brilliant really unbelievably comfortable so here comes some more Race drive trickery on the road I've got two Springs doing things got push rod suspension and part of the push rod is a torsion beam so that's spring number one and then that hooks up to another coil spring that's spring number two when you go into track mode which is hydraulically done and it it does it very quickly the entire ride height drops to 7 20 mm it drops by 50 mm the wheels just disappear up into the Arches and it hydraulically locks out that coil spring so your only springing then comes from the torsion springs that means that the spring rate instantly doubles so this goes from Road car that's unbelievably refined when it comes to ride Comfort to track car where the ride is totally tied down totally totally tied down in an instant and I do mean in an instant it's also got a nose raising thing oh you think right I'll press the nose raise and you hear an electric motor were somewhere in the distance and up it goes very slowly this because it's got the hydraulic systems that run the hydraulic power steering the hydraulic damping and run their spring locking it just lifts it just just like that there are three damper modes they're passive dampers but you can select them through three different Comfort modes right now the GT's fancy dssv dampers created by multimatic which also builds the whole car incidentally they put themselves into a Firma mode too technically these dampers are passive but that does them a disservice because they have three different states with a different stiffness in each and they are used by half of the leemon grid and the Red Bull F1 team these dampers they have funky Springs and valves inside them so the damping rate can vary just passively not actively okay look they just clever I've mentioned it's got hydraulic steering That's Heavy it's quite a lot of self-centering is quite a nice system it's about 2 and 1 half turns lock to lock but when you're on the road and as you turn and as you press on what it doesn't do is take on any more sort of mid Corner weight now a lot of Road car Engineers like to engineer more weight in when you start leaning on a chassis so it feels like you've got something to lean on it feels like you've got something to lean against it gives you more valuable feedback as a driver this doesn't do that and because it doesn't roll very much and because it generates astonishing amounts of mechanical grip I mean off the scale levels of grip you just have to slightly trust that it is going to do what it what it does on a RAC trck and look here I have to apologize I'm driving it on the road talking to you I'm not on a racetrack talking to you cuz if I was on a racetrack going fast talking to you Ford would insist there's somebody sitting next to me and it's all a bit elbowing you don't want that and I don't want that so I'm going to tell you what it's like bloody brilliant is what it's like it is so fast it is so adjustable it is one of those cars that despite having bags and bags and bags of power you can get in it and you can feel comfortable to press on really very quickly indeed but you are always slightly aware when you're driving this car on the road that that track performance let's face it that race performance slightly defines it as a road car as well and I don't mean this in a bad way slightly limits it as a road car as well it cannot be all the road car it could be because it is a racing car too it can't be like the 2005 Ford GT which it was a bit of a pasti to the original but it was a great Road car by contrast what it is is a great track car and a frankly quite brilliant racing car does it matter I don't know if I was Ferrari or Aston Martin or porer and I made GT road cars and then went GT racing with them kind of in the spirit of the regulations I might look at a 4D GT and think you know what that's a been unfair they've made a racing car and then eventually got round to delivering some just in time to meet the regulations to their CEO and the other boss at the end of last year now customer deliveries beginning early they're going to make a th000 their 420,000 quid each eventually they're fulfilling the requirements of the regulations that allow it to go racing but it is first and foremost a racing car take nothing away from it as a technical achievement because of that this car is a a mega mega piece of\n"