Yahoo Autos It Really Sounds Like Aston Martin's Mid-Engine Hypercar Isn't Turbocharged
If it isn't already clear, Aston Martin is going totally all-out with its new hypercar collaboration with Red Bull Racing. The company has basically given free reign to engineer Adrian Newey and designer Marek Reichman to create a car that's as fast as a full-bore LMP1 car, and it seems no expense will be spared. Earlier this month, we reported that the AM-RB 001 won't share an engine with any other Aston, and now, it sounds like that engine could be quite special.
We caught up with Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer this past weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to talk about the AM-RB 001 among other things. He didn't confirm too many details, but he dropped some very strong hints about the naure of its powertrain. When asked if the hypercar would be turbocharged, Palmer had this to say:
"I wouldn't take that as a givenbecause remember, we're not so worried about the emissions effect," said Palmer in an interview with Road & Track. "We're not making very many of them–between orders of magnitude between 99 and150–[so] it doesn't dictate the necessity of a downsized engine."
Palmer said that decision to go turbo or not has "been made, but I'm not goingto go into it. We're saving that up for a few weeks time."
Obviously, Palmer didn't confirm anything here, but it sure sounds like the AM-RB 001 will be naturally aspirated, especially when you consider the fact that, as we've reported, its engine is totally bespoke. Aston Martin isn't too worried about emissions now either, since it it intends to put an all-electric Rapide sedan into production. Palmer says this car will be an "offset" that allows the company to keep producing V8s and V12s.
We weren't able to get many more details from Palmer, but he did manage to set our expectations very high for the AM-RB 001. I noted to him that this car has echoes of the McLaren F1, which was also designed by an F1 ace given a virtually unlimited budget.
Palmer said that the McLaren F1 is "the closest parallel" to the AM-RB 001. "I prefer tothink of it as," he continued, "once in a generation, someone does something that goes onto every 14-year-old's bedroom and it happens that the last one was the McLarenF1"
"Hopefully this will be the one of this generation."
Calling this a lofty comparison would be a huge understatement, but you sort of get the sense that Aston and Red Bull might have a shot of pulling it off. What's exciting too is that this will be the first mid-engine Aston ever.
"Whilst you've got 103 years of history to know what [the DB11] should feel like," Palmer said, "this sets the benchmark for what should a mid-engine Aston feel like...we'll be starting the bloodline and defining exactly what that means. It won't feel like a Ferrari, for example."
We should get more official info very soon, but Palmer has done a killer job whetting our collective appetite. I mean, how could you not be excited about a mid-engined, (probably) naturally aspirated Aston that's as good as the McLaren F1?
