ROAD TO
RACER

Like many Aston Martin owners, Juti Takagi’s love of the James Bond film franchise was what first drew him to the marque, but unlike most, the 25-year-old counts himself in a select group: one of just 100 to own the 2021 Vantage 007 Edition, a car he discovered thanks to some serendipitous intel.

“A family friend knew our local dealership in Fukuoka [Japan] had one,” Juti recalls. “We’d always shared a love of Aston Martin and 007, so that was the starting point that got me into ownership.”

The Aston Martin special, created to celebrate No Time to Die while paying homage to the V8 Vantage from The Living Daylights, proved to be quite a starting point. Juti has grown his collection significantly since, and now owns a Valour, a DBX, a Vanquish 25 Volante and a Valhalla.

“Keeping the collection to a minimum is quite hard when Aston Martin has so many great cars,” he admits.

For Juti, it’s the personality that Aston Martin imbues in each of its cars that differentiates the marque from all others. “Especially Valour, which has that rare combination of a V12 engine and manual gearbox that doesn’t really exist nowadays,” he adds.

Invitations to Aston Martin’s exclusive ownership experiences, the ultraluxury driving programme ASCEND and the track-focused UNLEASHED, have only strengthened this special bond. First came an ASCEND trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2024, which had long been on Juti’s bucket list, where he rubbed shoulders with Fernando Alonso, before trying his hand at clay pigeon shooting – though nothing topped “thrashing a British car down a British B road”.

In 2025, he attended another motorsports spectacle through ASCEND, the 24 Hours of Le Mans – an event that left a lasting impression. “I’d been to Formula 1® races before, but the drama of Le Mans, start to finish, really kick-started me following endurance racing more closely,” he explains.

Juti had been looking forward to seeing the marque’s Le Mans entry, the Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar, take on the day-to-night challenge. The road-legal hypercar from which it was derived had sold out back in 2017, and he had been determined to get his hands on one if the opportunity ever presented itself.

As it turned out, he wouldn’t need to wait long. The marque had just launched the Aston Martin Valkyrie LM programme, which offered the opportunity to own a limited-edition, track-focused evolution of the hypercar he had watched compete. Owners could also utilise a dedicated driver development programme to build their confidence and explore the limits of a machine designed to exceed 200mph.

“I knew it would be a challenging car to drive, but Aston Martin got me well prepared for the action,” says Juti, who took the leap from having never set foot on track before to driving a hypercar solo on the Paul Ricard circuit as part of an UNLEASHED event in April 2026.

He first learned the circuit in the Vantage before stepping into the Valkyrie AMR Pro, and then the LM itself. “The biggest challenge was the jump from the Vantage to the AMR Pro, it is on slicks, has the aerodynamics, and a completely different speed,” he says. “Then, going from the AMR Pro to the LM, the gap felt smaller, but it was still there. The AMR Pro has ABS, so you can just slam the brakes, but the LM needs a much more delicate touch. I miscalculated that more than once.”

The new LM Valkyrie owner couldn’t be in better hands with Darren Turner as his coach, a driver he cites as one of his racing heroes. “I saw him driving at the British GT Championship in May, and it’s always nice to see someone I know win.”

Another Aston Martin he was able to push to the limit during his second UNLEASHED experience of the year at Austria’s Red Bull Ring was the Valhalla, which he will also be adding to his collection. “As soon as I heard Aston Martin was developing a son of Valkyrie, and it would be Aston Martin’s first hybrid mid-engine car, I knew I had to have one,” Juti says. “The way it drives felt much closer to the AMR Pro than to the Vantage or a GT4 car – it’s much more track-focused. Mind-blowing, actually.”

While Juti is unlocking his skills on track, he has still been making time for road trips. “I’ve been fortunate to experience Ferraris, McLarens and Lamborghinis, but I get the most joy out of an Aston Martin. They’re practical too, especially the Vantage with its hatchback – perfect for fitting suitcases and a weekend bag for three or four-day trips.”

It speaks to what he calls the Grand Touring vibe he’s always associated with Aston Martin. Style plays a big part, too. “I want to look cool, right?” he laughs. His favourite roads are close to home, the back country roads of Fukuoka and the Kyushu region, particularly the Milk Road, a mountain route that winds across the island.

“When I park at a beautiful spot, I can’t stop taking pictures of my car,” he says. “It suits the scenery so well. I have so many that it’s a tough competition with photos of my girlfriend.”

An advisor for his family company in Japan while studying in Boston, USA, Juti is equally driven in his professional pursuits, with the ambition of becoming the person who connects Fukuoka to the world, bringing his local city up to a global level. “I want to have a local impact that lasts for generations,” he says. “If anyone wants to do business or build a network in Kyushu, I want to be the first person they call.”

The power of networking, a lesson inherited from his entrepreneurial family, has helped to serve his passion for cars, too. “What brought me deeper into collecting is the people,” he says. “That’s another reason I keep buying. I love the network. The Aston Martin customers I’ve met never keep their car in a garage or museum; they always drive them, so we talk about cars all the time.”

For Juti, returning for another ASCEND and UNLEASHED event is, therefore, a homecoming of sorts. “At this point, it’s just nice to see my Aston Martin family,” he smiles.