Aston Martin used to work with Zagato to come up with some truly good cars, but those were the old days. But now, both companies have returned to work together again on a new concept super car. This new concept is called the V12 Zagato endurance racer concept, which was unveiled over the weekend at the Villa D’Este Concours in Lake Como, Italy, primarily as a basis to gauge customer interest, with a view towards a strictly limited run of road-going V12 Zagatos to come about.

As the name says, the car is indeed going to be part of the endurance race program, and not a street-legal version, yet. The engine is of course powered by a V12. The new handcrafted aluminium body is shaped in such a manner that’s not possible using pre-formed panel techniques, AM says – utilising the skill of nearly 100 years of heritage in the craft, every aluminium panel on the car has been formed using an English wheel and traditionally-crafted body bucks. Well, the car is still a concept so it’s not a problem anyway.

According to Aston Martin, each front wing comprises seven separate pieces of aluminium, combined and then hand finished to give one flowing form. Another iconic Zagato design cue is the double bubble roof, created in this case from five separate pieces, illustrating further the intensity of craftsmanship involved in the construction of the car. Though, I can’t really deny that the car has the look of a Nissan GTR R35, and also a Ferrari California.

The V12 Zagato is powered by an all-alloy, quad overhead cam 6.0 litre V12 mill producing 510 hp and 570 Nm of torque, mated to a rear mid-mounted, six-speed automated manual gearbox with auto shift manual/select shift manual (ASM/SSM) electric hydraulic control system.

Like the first DB4GT Zagato, which was shown to the public in late 1960 and which spent much of its life as a racing car after being launched, the new car is set to walk the same path – the first two V12 Zagatos to be created are set to serve as endurance race cars for Aston Martin. The car will make its racing debut in the 53. ADAC ACAS H&R-Cup VLN round at Nürburgring next week, with a view to two cars racing in the 24 hour race on June 25-26.