Any racing enthusiast worth his or her salt will know that Aston Martin has a long heritage of endurance competition. But not quite like this. Firstly, Aston Martin’s about to enter the Nurburgring 24-hour with a four-door saloon, the
Rapide S
. That’s not the biggest news, though, because this particular Rapide S will be powered by a combination of hydrogen and petrol.
Rapide S will retain internal combustion
It won’t be equipped with a fuel cell, though. This particular Rapide will instead use a conventional 6.0-litre V12 petrol engine that’s been modified to allow it to combust hydrogen too. Those modifications include a new hydrogen-specific fuel rail and injectors, an additional ECU to control the hydrogen-powered parts of the system, and a revised intake manifold. As a result, the engine will be able to run on pure gaseous hydrogen, pure petrol, or a combination of both, and the proprietary engine management software will cleverly allow the engine to blend fuels to obtain the optimum balance between efficiency and performance. Oh, and there's the small matter of two turbos to add further oomph, too. Further modifications to the rest of the car include the addition of several hefty hydrogen storage tanks that’ll fill the boot and take the place of the passenger seat.
Aston Martin says that the hydrogen Rapide S will be the first-ever hydrogen-powered car to compete in an international race, as well as the first car to complete a zero-CO2 race-pace lap at the event. It adds that the car will emit “virtually only water” from the exhaust – that ‘virtually’ being a necessary addition as the combustion of nitrogen in air also results in nitrates, which are nasty little blighters, and part of the reason we haven’t seen a greater number of hydrogen combustion engines yet. However, a spokesperson from Aston Martin told us that the vast majority of these will be “catalysed out”, leaving only “trace amounts” to find their way through the Rapide S’s sizeable exhaust pipes. Sounds a bit like where we are at the moment with CO2, then... so does that make it a relevant alternative fuel for a combustion engine? The fullness of time will decide, but for now, we’ll be watching Aston’s N24 entry with interest. If nothing else, Aston deserves a pat on the back for daring to be different.