KING OF THE HILLS

You wait for one 800+bhp super GT, then two rock up at once. It's the Aston/Ferrari showdown we've all been waiting for

- JETHRO BOVINGDON

Winter is coming. That's what they say. The doomed tone has grown darker with every passing year. In the quest to reduce emissions there are fines levied, new generations of EVs launched to save us from ourselves and a trail of closed factories. Hot hatches once thrived and now they're an endangered species. Sports cars are built in tiny numbers not because of demand but so as not to hurt fleet average emissions. Supercars have gone hybrid or electric just to survive. And are dying in the process. The cold, bleak outlook is scarier than a White Walker soaring overhead on a freshly reanimated dragon.

And yet today the sun seems warmer than usual. Italy seems even more beautiful. The Gran Sasso massif shimmers and the rolling hills and plains it oversees are lush greens and vivid yellows. The days might be short this time of year, but they are a wonder to behold.

Did I mention the roads? Bumpy and weather beaten in places but flowing, varied and wonderfully challenging. Empty, too. Winter can wait. The long summer around these parts is hanging in there.

It's the perfect location for our two protagonists. Cars that have emerged from the deep freeze of Euro 7 requirements and the stuttering march towards an electric future completely unscathed. Here we are looking down the barrel of 2025 with two brand new super GTs, each powered by 12 cylinders in a vee formation, unencumbered by heavy batteries and electric motors and exemplifying the cherished days of excess and indulgence. If they weren't so bloody fast and enthralling I might even pause to shed a tear.

What a grudge match. Aston Martin Vanquish versus Ferrari 12Cilindri. Although, to be honest it doesn't really feel like a contest.

As time goes on the idea that cars like this are deadly rivals fades...