Up The Hill In An Aston Martin – Vanquishing Goodwood

Always a brand that’s uniquely recognisable, and with such status, it was right at the top of my hit list when planning to experience the British car industry. The Goodwood Festival of Speed was already on the books so the cherry on the top was an invitation to spend a day in their Aston hospitality with a passenger ride up the famous Goodwood Hill.

Aston Martin knows how to turn it on. Coffee in the morning is a given, yet I held off on the champagne until after I’d been up the hill climb. Almost everyone there owned one or more Astons. The benefits of ownership were clear. Aston Martin brought a significant collection of its latest models, including the new Valhalla supercar and the Valkyrie hypercar. Also celebrating 60 years of its “Volante” convertibles, the new drop-top DB12 and V12 Vanquish were shown for the first time.

My select group walked to the paddock display stand and met our cars and drivers. I would join Peter in their unreleased V12 Vanquish V12 Vanquish Volante – a car so new I had not previously seen it. It’s beauty and muscle, luxury and lap times, all in one.. With few V12s left in the world, this twin-turbo 5.2-litre, 820 hp (611kW), 1,000 Newton-metre monster is a rare machine. No surprise it was surrounded by onlookers. Throngs of people crowded around while the lucky few got beyond the velvet rope into the VIP area. That was me.

Pilot Peter helps customers extract the best from their Aston. He does this all day and every day, yet even he was excited to be driving the V12 Vanquish; a name always reserved for the very best in the GT range. Surrounded by thousands of onlookers, we fired up and joined the regal procession to the start. It’s one of the most pleasing traffic jams you’ve ever attended: as part of the supercar run, we are surrounded by every marque, make, and model from the best in the world. Koenigsegg, tick. Pagani, tick. Aston, tick.

Just getting to the start point is rather epic. You trundle down a narrow two-way farm lane and get to see all the cars and then get to a very tight turnaround. We were absolutely, 100%, definitely not meant to do a spin turn. I can neither confirm nor deny whether almost everyone was doing just that. To be fair, it’s a narrow spot.

We launch in with a roar. Any V12 sound is a joy for petrolheads, so we got a lot of attention. I’ve done a fair few motorsport events, yet I was impressed. It went far faster than I was expecting. Peter fired it up the hill climb like a champion, and it was over in a flash.

At the top of the hill is a unique mix-and-mingle between supercars, drivers, and passengers. You see the odd Formula One World Champion in there, a few Le Mans winners. When the last car has raced up, you file down the road at a leisured pace. Waving as you go, it’s a huge amount of fun because you get to see more of what you’re doing, where you’re going, and the thousands of people watching the course and wondering which movie star you are. What a day, what a car. It’s an incredible atmosphere and the hill climb is the highlight. You want to do it another ten times.

The Vanquish, far from being small, asserts itself as a maximal Super GT in Aston Martin’s own words. It’s a truly staggering car in every aspect: looks, performance, and sheer theatrical presence – it has it all.