Exclusive interview with Simon Draper: from Aston Martins to lavish books

If you see an unusual Aston Martin at a race, chances are the entrant will be Simon Draper. His collection is the biggest and quite possibly the most complete single-make grouping of any marque. But after some years racing old cars, he has turned his attentions to publishing books about them, creating some of the most lavish and expensive volumes ever seen.

Cars made an impact on him while growing up in South Africa, when his school teacher father would often take him to the Roy Hesketh circuit at Pietermaritzburg. But it was at his prep school that one marque in particular made an indelible impression, when another pupil turned up in an Aston Martin DB4. Having finished his degree at Natal University, Draper came to the UK in 1970 to pursue his other interests, music and English literature, working ‘temporarily’ at his cousin Richard Branson’s fledgling business. Twenty years on, he was a director of Virgin, and chairman of Virgin Records, one of Britain’s most successful music firms, handling, among others, Phil Collins and Mike Oldfield.

Virgin discouraged the usual company-car status race, and Draper ran practical Volvos, Saabs, and Audis, until a short-wheelbase Quattro Sport caught his eye. “It was hugely practical; I did long Continental trips with the children strapped in the back.”