Aston Martin Bulldog to Attempt 200 MPH This Week

After completing a 7000-hour long restoration of the original Aston Martin Bulldog concept, Classic Motor Cars over in the United Kingdom are finally ready to push the 40+ year old supercar to its limits. The Bulldog is heading to Machrihanish Airfield later this week to make a proper attempt at a 200 mph top-speed run.

The Aston Martin Bulldog concept first made its debut all the way back in 1979. The car was designed by William Towns, who had just famously designed the Lagonda for Newport Pagnell. Towns’ style surely carried over to the low-slung wedge that is the Bulldog, which looks at home as a product intended for the early 1980s. Aston Martin intended for the Bulldog to go into limited production for 1980, aiming to become both the fastest first production car on sale, and to be the first to hit 200 mph. Aston wasn’t in particularly good financial standing at the time however, and new owner Victor Gauntlett would ax the project before it really got off the ground. That said, one Bulldog concept was constructed, and managed to reach speeds of 191 mph. That would’ve made it the fastest car in the world at the time, but it's cancellation ensured it would be forgotten to history for some time. The Ferrari F40 would ultimately go on to be the first production car to crack 200 mph in 1987.

Classic Motor Cars announced its plans to restore the Bulldog for a top-speed attempt back in February of 2020. The company has been working on and testing the machine ever since, with the most recent shakedown seeing the car exceed 170 mph. The team has tried its best to retain as much of the original engineering intent behind the car as possible, bolstering weaker areas as opposed to outright replacing their design. We’ll get a chance to see how well that has worked on June 6, when the team heads out to Machrihanish Airfield in Scotland for a top speed run. Classic Motor Cars previously announced that Aston Martin factory driver Darren Turner will be behind the wheel for the attempt. It should be a treat to finally watch as that 600-hp, twin-turbocharged V-8 complete a decades-long mission.

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