I have great memories of being hurled
around a race course on an airfield in Reno, Nevada, and the Ascari
circuit in Spain in the passenger seat of the Bentley Speed 8 race
car, which won Le Mans in 2003.
Those times I was being driven by
Bentley’s great ambassador, Derek Bell, himself a five-time winner
of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was not just exhilarating, but awe
inspiring for someone like me who loves to drive great cars fast.
Watching an acknowledged master behind the wheel is a time to
re-evaluate your own skills; but really, it’s the very best way to
see a car’s greatest potential unleashed.
The scene shifts to Sydney, Australia
and as I scream up through the gears, and the tacho needle hits the
red line in the Aston Martin V8 Vantage coupe I am thinking that,
again, I’d like to be in the passenger seat, this time with Aston
Martin’s CEO, Ing. Dr.Ulrich Bez, behind the wheel. Not only has
this man driven the tiny British company to exceptional heights,
resulting in Ford agreeing to sell the company to equity investors
for AUD$1.2 billion; but Bez has also been the man who pushed his
engineers to exceed everyone’s expectations of the new Vanquish,
DB9 and Vantage models.
No mean pedaller himself, Bez has put
his money where his mouth is, racing Aston Martins on the
Nurburgring, and driving thousands of kilometers testing his new
models across the desolate deserts of the USA, and on the slippery
alpine roads of Europe. The key to Aston Martin’s contemporary
success is undoubtedly the passion, the drive and the commitment of
Ulrich Bez.When you drive the Vantage coupe, you
can sense his spirit and his fatherly eye in every component; the
sound of the engine, the snick of the gears and the confident stance
the car has on the road. If ever a car possessed the soul of its
creator, the Vantage is it. Much like Sir William Lyons’ presence
in the great Jaguars before and after his death. Bez is Aston
Martin’s champion and is wholly responsible for lifting it from a
tiddler in the global car industry, to a serious player.
I have known Ulrich Bez for more than
15 years, and am very much aware of his impressive achievements at
BMW and Porsche. So I was very surprised when he turned up as
Director of New Product for the Korean company, Daewoo. What gives?
He replied: “John, what a great opportunity this is! A clean sheet
of paper. How many car guys get this chance? To create, guide, mould
and produce a whole range of cars.”
To overuse an old phrase, the rest is
history. Bez was responsible for the development of the Lanos, the
Nubira, the Leganza and the Matiz. His legacy was four very
interesting new cars, with many design highlights and the foundation
for GM’s new Asian design and manufacturing base today. They were
also an outstanding commercial success.
I spent many hours with Ulrich Bez in
meetings, motor shows, Millbrook test track in England, and on the
road in a variety of Daewoo’s. I too joined the fledgling company
in 1994 as it began its auto revolution in Korea. It was an exciting,
challenging time. It also brought not only the satisfaction of
creating; but also the frustration of getting big projects moving
through a bureaucracy.
But, I’m sure Dr. Bez would say that
in his journey through life in the car industry, it was all worth it.
At the end of his contract, he left Daewoo to seek a new challenge.
It was not long before Jacques Nasser, then CEO of the Ford Motor
Company, tapped him to take over, fix and make prosperous Aston
Martin. Ford bought the company in 1984, and sank quite a lot of
money into it. Fortunately, it had good carers under Ford ownership,
but it must be recognized that Nasser threw Aston Martin its best
ever lifeline when he appointed Ulrich Bez. Truly, a prescient
decision.
Bez once told me the tale of his
development work on the AWD Porsche 959 and the challenge he faced in
one of the test programs. He wanted to drive the car flat out
‘somewhere where there were no limits on speed and distance’.
Despite the car industry’s complete embrace of the Nardo test
circuit in Italy, he wanted somewhere where the opportunities were
limitless!
The next moment, he had packed up the
Porsche team and freighted the prototype to ice-bound northern
Russia, where they set up camp by the side of an immense, solidly
frozen river! For the next week, Bez and his engineers took great
delight in driving up and down the river at the car’s maximum speed
(on studded tyres) testing its potential, its stability and its
handling. Crazy? Probably. Effective? Yes.
Bez was the man wholly responsible for
pushing the pretty little Z1 sports car through the BMW bureaucracy.
He was its creator, its soul and its ‘father’. The car was hailed
by automotive experts and journalists, and mildly appreciated by BMW.
The Board took exception to Bez’s strong will and fanatical pursuit
of the project, and because the car was not really a complete
commercial success, the Board members vowed never to ever give one
man at BMW total power ever again. In recognition of the part the Z1
played in his career development as an engineer, he redesigned his
house in Germany, so that the back wall of the garage, where it
joined the dining room, was made of glass. That way, whenever he
entertained at home, the Z1 was on display for his visitors to
appreciate. Ulrich Bez is a rare bird – he’s an
eccentric German. He is at the same time inspired, intelligent,
autocratic, off the wall, manic, determined, and has a great eye for
detail.
He loves driving fast cars, fast. He
loves Formula One, and also getting behind the wheel of a race car
for a few laps. He is the complete car guy. However, he’s also more
than that. He took control of the redesign, and construction of Aston
Martin’s new headquarters in Gaydon, England. During a tour he proudly points out
where they used travertine marble for good effect in the walls and
floors of the entrance and the lobby, but plaster walls and polished
wood in the offices and common areas which are hidden from public
view.
It’s not hard to be impressed by the
man, his achievements, his passion and will to win. I always thought
that his appointment to run Aston Martin was inspired, and put a
square peg in a square hole. The marque demanded a man of engineering
integrity to create a new dimension for its products; and now we see
the fruits of his labour. You don’t have to drive the V8
Vantage coupe at its maximum speed to appreciate what a great car it
is. It feeds all your senses, and delivers great performance, and
certainly a lot of eye-catching appeal. Bystanders can’t keep their
hands off it, so in the lust and envy stakes it delivers big time.
No, it’s not the equal of a similar
Porsche. The Stuttgart company simply has too many talented
engineers, massive development budgets and a tradition of excellence
that’s hard to match in the six years or so that Bez has been
guiding Aston Martin. However, despite small issues in the
area of refinement and finesse, the V8 Vantage will deliver its
promise to its enthusiast owners. And, they can thank Ulrich Bez. I’m
sure they do, every time they twist the key and push the Start button
on the centre console.
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