RE: Aston Red Bull hypercar confirmed

RE: Aston Red Bull hypercar confirmed

Tuesday 5th July 2016

Aston Red Bull hypercar confirmed

The AM-RB 001 has been officially unveiled in Gaydon and, yes, it really will be as fast as an LMP1 car



When Aston Martin and Red Bull first announced collaboration on an ultra high-performance car earlier this year it's fair to say that the details didn't go much beyond "cutting edge F1 technology with Aston Martin's signature sports car design." Many smelled vapour, or at least suspected any finished car would be several years away.


Now, much sooner than anticipated, the car has been unveiled - or at least something that's close to the finished version. And, although we still can't bring you numbers, for the simple fact that very few have been released, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the production AM-RB 001 is going to be the fastest car in the world. Adrian Newey, Red Bull's Chief Technology Officer and the man who started the whole project, confirms the track-only variant will be as fast as an LMP1 racer. And that its road-going sister will be only slightly slower. "There will be differences, but they will be closely related," Newey told us when we spoke to him and Aston's Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman about the car last week.

That's an astonishing claim, but one the two companies are confident on delivering with the AM-RB 001's aero-sculpted design. That means that the ultimate version of the 001 will have to be around 20 seconds a lap quicker around the full Silverstone circuit than a McLaren P1 or Porsche 918.

Much of that will be down to the extraordinary aerodynamics of the car. The central teardrop passenger compartment makes it look like a Group C racer, but we're assured this is big enough for two occupants (apparently a photograph exists of Aston CEO Andy Palmer and the 6'4" Reichman sitting next to each other in the original design buck), but the rest of the car is as much about what isn't there as what is. There's a central underfloor keel with huge channels behind the front wheels. The rear incorporates an integrated wing element - we're told the car will have active aerodynamics - and what looks like a single exhaust tailpipe at the base of the rear screen.


Power will come from a naturally-aspirated, mid-mounted V12 engine which will drive the rear wheels only, and will possibly work in conjunction with a KERS-style hybrid assistance system. "The honest truth is that we are evaluating a whole load of potential solutions," Newey said, "it's fair to say that clearly hybrids offer a lot of opportunities, it's how we use those opportunities and whether they are necessary or whether you can do it purely mechanically." Whichever solution emerges from the simulator as the quickest will be the one adopted. There are no power or weight figures, but we're betting that the engine will produce at least as much as the 800hp V12 that is fitted to the Aston Martin Vulcan and that - to deliver on the performance claim - the track-only version of the car will have to weigh around a ton.

The joint project began nearly two years ago with Newey admitting it is substantially based on work he began before the partnership with Aston and that it owes something to the radical Red Bull X-1 he designed for Gran Turismo 5. According to Marek Reichman around 100 will be built, with deliveries starting either late next year or early 2018, and the road-legal version set to probably make up about three quarters of sales. There's no official word on the price tag - if Aston thinks you're a genuine prospect you can probably find out - but our steer from the inside is that the finished car will be between £2,000,000 and £3,000,000, with the slump in the value of sterling probably pushing it towards the higher figure. Despite that, the company says it already has 350 expressions of "serious interest" with several potential buyers apparently interested in purchasing both a road and a track spec version.

 

 

 

 

Author
Discussion

Hackney

Original Poster:

6,811 posts

207 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Did Newey also confirm when he'd borrowed the Pagani design guide?

swimd

350 posts

120 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Hackney said:
Did Newey also confirm when he'd borrowed the Pagani design guide?
My thoughts exactly... looks like a Pagani and Ferrari P4/5 had a baby.

RobGT81

5,227 posts

185 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Pressure on JLR to actually build a hypercar now?

AshBurrows

2,552 posts

161 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Holy freakin' moly! Love it.

Turquoise

1,457 posts

96 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
That does absolutely nothing for me. Rather have the one off GT12 roadster.

Soov535

35,829 posts

270 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
yikes

British Beef

2,192 posts

164 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
20 Seconds faster than a P1 around Silverstone!!!

How much off that time is down to racing slicks vs road legal tyres?

McAndy

12,338 posts

176 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
An intriguing set of performance claims, but not particularly pleasant to behold.

dom9

8,040 posts

208 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Will follow the development of this car with interest.

Having an NA V12 is big draw for me and I love the old Group C car lines.

Sounds like it could be a seminal car if it's that much faster than P1/ LF/ 918 smile

LP670

819 posts

125 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
i was hoping for something closer to the red bull x2010 car that was featured in gran turismo.

ISO51200

1,270 posts

193 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Your inside steer should also tell you they are all sold already

Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Excellent

sumpoil

431 posts

163 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
I guess the owners of these will get the chauffeur to follow in the Phantom in order to fulfill any load carrying duties? biggrin .... I assume this is meant to be a road car?

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Sorry, but my BULLSH*T radar is bonging off the scale!


"fits 2 adults, a V12, some hybrid stuff" and yet it looks to have a SIGNIFICANTLY smaller package envelope than a 918/P1/LaLa, due to the underfloor channels required and low roof line. Where exactly are you going to put all those oily bits to actually make it work?

"Quicker than an F1 car" er, seriously unlikely, even given free rein without regs, and as anyone who has driven a very quick single seater with massive aero will testify, they make TERRIBLE road cars. P1/918/LaLa all took significant performance compromises on-board in order to make the decent to drive on the road

Tyres - this is the big one, it won't be quicker than an F1 car on ROAD LEGAL tyres

Secret "Adrian Newey" sauce - yes he's a pretty dam good race car designer, but even he can't brake the laws of physics. A "practical" road car can never be F1 car low, which is what is required to make underfloor ground effect aero work. Low drag isn't enough, you need the massive ratio of downforce to mass that an F1 car has to pull high G.

Road Car Homologation - er, just looking at that styling buck (which is what it is) i can already see probably 20 issues that won't pass series homologation.


Finally, why are AML messing around with stuff like this? Spend the money on what you really need for a long term future, namely the DB11 and new Vantage. Hows about making THOSE cars class leading instead of settling for the usual "that'll do" standard??

dom9

8,040 posts

208 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
sumpoil said:
I guess the owners of these will get the chauffeur to follow in the PhantomRapide in order to fulfill any load carrying duties? biggrin .... I assume this is meant to be a road car?
EFA Shirley wink

Gandahar

9,600 posts

127 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
The difference between the driver ability to drive a car and the purchasers ability to buy it has never been greater.

Perhaps the cost figures in an ex F1 chauffeur?

I'd rather have a B road and one of these.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/09/15/hemm...



How much aero is on that car compared to Adrians?

It would be more fun.


Fun. Fun is completely missing from this car as it tries for stats and records frown






Edited by Gandahar on Tuesday 5th July 14:35

Muzzer79

9,806 posts

186 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
I'm sure it's very, very fast, but it's not exactly pretty is it?

If I was dropping £2-£3m on a car, I'd want my knees to wobble at least a little bit every time I opened the garage.

Maybe time (and a final version in the...carbon) will be kinder to it

Bahnstormer

934 posts

245 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
I'll stick with my Reliant Rialto....much better frontal area/ CD Factor !!!!!

Fetchez la vache

5,568 posts

213 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
They should call it the Aston Wunderbar.
Anything...
AM-RB 001 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, even with a plumb voice.

vtecyo

2,122 posts

128 months

Tuesday 5th July 2016
quotequote all
Turquoise said:
That does absolutely nothing for me. Rather have the one off GT12 roadster.
Agreed. Take a race car, put some indicators on it and call a press conference.

Boring.