His name's Holgate, Sam Holgate, and he's the 30-year-old lad from Foston who designed James Bond's latest set of wheels.

The former John Port pupil was lucky enough to land a placement at Aston Martin when he left university seven years ago - and has been on its small team of designers ever since.

In the time he's been working for the Warwickshire firm, he's already helped design some of the company's most beautiful new cars, but his involvement in the fictional spy's gorgeous new DB10, the centrepiece of the latest Spectre film, came about almost by accident.

Sam Holgate designing Aston Martin models
Sam Holgate designing Aston Martin models

Sam explained: "For me it was quite a normal day in the design studio, or at least that's how it started out.

"We'd been working on proposals for the new Vantage and we had lots of sketches on the wall. The producers from the Bond film had come in to look at another car we were trying to get used in the film.

"But as they were walking round they saw one of my sketches on the wall, which was a full-size side-view print of the car that I was working on, and they took a liking to it and said they wanted to use that in the film."

Sam Holgate's Aston Martin DB10 sketches. He designed the car used by James Bond.
Sam Holgate's designed the car used by James Bond.

Sam's drawing was one of a handful of sketches that illustrated design concepts for the new Vantage - which was unveiled last month and will be launched next year - but his sketch was the one that caught their eye and would go on to join the exclusive club of cars driven by Bond.

Sam said: "At the time we were only a couple of weeks into working on the clay model and it was really early days but they'd decided they wanted to use it and they wanted 10 cars built by June.

"This was back in the February so the time was really tight. It was quite incredible to get from the sketches to 10 moving cars in that time.

The Aston Martin Vantage, which Sam Holgate helped design

"It was an amazing challenge. When I did that car I think I was 28, which is relatively young to have designed a car.

"I'm quite lucky that the team I work with and the director I work with are very good at giving people a chance. It's more about the idea that's important, not how much experience you've got.

"So I'm lucky that my boss has shown a lot of faith in me.

"It was an eventful couple of months and I learned an incredible amount working on those cars."

Sam was lucky enough to be invited to the premiere of the new Bond Film at the Royal Albert Hall in London in October and recalls seeing his car on the big screen for the first time.

He said: "It was incredible really. It's difficult to put into words, but it's an amazing feeling.

"You see the car unveiled in that shot where Q is presenting the car. It's the sort of thing that makes your hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

"I've been a fan of the franchise for many years and I can remember watching all the Bond films when I was younger and now I'm part of it. It was an incredible thing to do.

"It was a bizarre experience to see it on the big screen and quite surreal in many ways, but I'm incredibly grateful for it and glad to have had that experience."

The Aston Martin DB10, which Sam Holgate helped design
The Aston Martin DB10, which Sam Holgate helped design

Although designing a new set of wheels for James Bond will undoubtedly be remembered by Sam as a career highlight, since joining Aston Martin seven years ago, fresh from Coventry University, he has been lucky enough to work on other big projects.

Just a few years into his job Sam, who now lives in Kenilworth with his wife Hayley, designed the stunning Aston Martin CC100 Speedster Concept, which was revealed at the 2013 Nürburgring 24 hour race.

More recently, after polishing off the design of the Bond car, Sam was called upon to work on one of the prestige firm's most important new cars, the Vantage, which shares similar design cues with the DB10 Bond car and is likely to become a regular sight on roads next year.

He said: "It's very exciting for me because when I joined Aston Martin the Vantage was the car I desperately wanted to work on.

"As a production car it's probably one of the best-proportioned cars you could ever get the chance to work on.

"I can't wait to see it on the road. That's going to be an incredible moment.

"My previous two cars, the DB10 and the CC100, were brilliant cars to work on but they're one or two-off cars, you very rarely get to see them on the road.

"So I'm super-excited to see the new Vantage, even if it's just in a car park at Sainsbury's, to see it in a real environment and realise someone has spent their money on it and gone out of their way to buy your design, that'll be a very special moment."

Sam Holgate designing Aston Martin models
Sam Holgate designing Aston Martin models

Two years ago Aston Martin set off in an ambitious new direction, which will see the brand launch a new car every year for seven years and take the historic marque beyond solely car design and into other luxury products, such as boats.

The new designs to emerge from this project will begin life in Sam's studio, which means he and his colleagues will have their work cut out.

Sam said: "The opportunities have massively grown in the time that I've been here and it's going to be a really exciting time to come."