You're looking at the glorious Aston Martin V12 Speedster. It is apparently based on a Vantage, if you look at the head- and taillights, but it has bespoke carbon-fibre bodywork fashioned by Q by Aston Martin (the personalisation department), as well as hints of the DBS Superleggera. Such as its 5.2-litre, biturbo V12 engine, here delivering 700hp and 753Nm. Sending all that to the rear wheels via an eight-speed ZF transmission and a limited-slip differential, the performance is sprightly, to say the least: 0-62mph takes 3.5 seconds, the top speed has to be limited to 186mph. Presumably, this is because if the V12 Speedster went any faster, it'd probably blow your head clean off your shoulders - as it has no windscreen and no roof. The interior features a stripped-back look which hints at the weight reduction, while there's a decent tech spec on the car which includes independent double-wishbone front and multilink rear suspension, with coil springs and adaptive dampers which offer Sport, Sport+ and Track modes, a set of 21-inch forged centre-lock alloy wheels and ginormous carbon-ceramic brake discs of 410mm diameter up front and 360mm at the back. Just 88 examples of the Speedster will be built, with orders being taken now ahead of first customer deliveries in Q1 of 2021; not bad, given the thing was only conceived as an idea a little over a year ago. And the price? Oh, just the small matter of £765,000 for each one. Wowsers. Anyway, last word to Miles Nurnberger, director of design for Aston Martin Lagonda, who said: "With the V12 Speedster we do go back a step and look into our past for inspiration. Since the DB11 launch, everything has been focused and very forward looking. Here though, we find a different tempo. There's clear lineage from the 1959 Le Mans winning DBR1 to our Centenary celebratory CC100 Speedster Concept in 2013. There is also a bit of 1953 DB3S in the mid-section, so it really is our latest incarnation of the Speedster concept. It's also inspired by fighter jets as much as it is by our history, and it has been created to deliver an incredibly visceral experience, hence why it is a V12, rather than a V8. With the V12 Speedster we are amplifying all the emotional strings that we can to the absolute maximum."

Matt Robinson - 4 Mar 2020