The world media has been full of the news that Aston Martin has teamed up with Red Bull to produce a hypercar codenamed AM-RB 001.
With the full unveiling of the concept at the company’s headquarters in Gaydon, England, Aston Martin has set an arrival date for the production version of 2018 and revealed that a maximum of 150 will be built, as well as 25 track-only versions.
Aston has revealed it will be powered by a naturally aspirated, V12 and the power-to-weight ratio is reputed to be one brake horsepower per each kilogram of weight. No definitive figures have come from Aston Martin, but it would be a fairly safe bet that the power will be around 600 kW.
To keep the weight down to 600 kg, a carbon-fiber structure will be used and expertise in carbon-fiber will from both the Red Bull Formula One team and one of the world’s leading racecar designers, Adrian Newey.
“I’ve always been adamant that the AM-RB 001 should be a true road car that’s also capable of extreme performance on track, and this means it really has to be a car of two characters,” said Newey. “That’s the secret we’re trying to put into this car – the technology that allows it to be docile and comfortable, but with immense outright capabilities.”
The significant power output will be sent to the bitumen via a “clean-sheet design” transmission, while the suspension system will also be closely related to racing technology. In the interests of weight-saving, the production car will drive only the rear wheels.
No mention of hybrid power systems was made at the release, indicating that Aston Martin has bucked the hypercar design set by McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche, all of which use hybrid technology in their fastest road cars to date.
Aston Martin’s chief creative officer Marek Reichman explained, “By definition the objectives we’ve set for the car ensures there has never been an Aston Martin – or any car, actually – quite like the AM-RB 001. The shared challenge has been finding that magical tipping point where we achieve the most efficient engineering solutions and the most beautiful styling solutions without any compromises.”
Both track and road versions of the AM-RB 001 will be built in Aston Martin’s specialized facility that was purpose-built for the construction of the company’s ultra-exclusive One-77 in 2012.
Aston Martin says the finished product will be able to lap a Formula One track as fast as a current F1 car – if not faster.
Along with all the design details hinted at, but not confirmed, the price is expected to be between 5 and 10 million dollars. Since Aston Martin has not turned a profit for at least five years, they will need to sell a lot of them!
