Friday 18th March 2011

Six Of The Best? Aston's New AMR-One Revs Up

Forget the Spice Girls, this is what happens when twelve become six

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For the past two years the utterly spine-tingling howl of the LMP1 Aston Martins has been one of the aural highlights of the annual pilgrimage to the Circuit de La Sarthe.

Sadly, though, rule changes fro 2011 mean that the glorious old 6.0-litre V12 lump has had to be dumped in favour of a leaner, greener 2.0-litre turbocharged straight six. Still, on the basis of these two mobile phone clips taken by our esteemed editor today, the new motor doesn't sound half bad.

Whether it will sound as good as the old V12 did at 2am along the Le Mans pit straight, however, is another matter entirely.

 

 

[Robmarriott]

Sounds like an electric whisk, nicht gut.

[Parsnip]

It does have a lot to live up to, with its predecessor looking and sounding as good as it did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFxbu69V9k - if that noise doesn't send shivers up your spine and make you smile, you are dead inside.

Fingers crossed that Kronos racing Lola Aston will make it in.

[Garlick]

Parsnip said:

It does have a lot to live up to, with its predecessor looking and sounding as good as it did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFxbu69V9k - if that noise doesn't send shivers up your spine and make you smile, you are dead inside.

The Corvette? Absolutely! Much nicer noise than the Aston IMO

[fatboy69]

Mmmmm. New one sounds a little dull & somewhat un-exciting. The older car? Thats the dogs dangly bits isnt it?

Surely all race cars should sound like that.

More please.

[Parsnip]

Garlick said:

The Corvette? Absolutely! Much nicer noise than the Aston IMO

That is like arguing cake is better than chocolate - both are already as close to perfect as it is possible to be.

Both sound fantastic - the Vette is a proper punch in the stomach as it goes past and the Aston V12 sounds like it is pulling the air to bits. I still think last year's group C start was hard to top for noise, but the Aston and Vette came in a very close joint 2nd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-IVG0Nupfc - I will certainly miss that noise

Edited by Parsnip on Thursday 17th March 16:25

[Riggers]

Parsnip said:

That is like arguing cake is better than chocolate

What about chocolate cake?

[ettore]

Garlick said:

Parsnip said:

It does have a lot to live up to, with its predecessor looking and sounding as good as it did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFxbu69V9k - if that noise doesn't send shivers up your spine and make you smile, you are dead inside.

The Corvette? Absolutely! Much nicer noise than the Aston IMO

Peasant! Corvette is an agricultural, animal noise in comparison. Best I ever heard at Le Mans was the old Ferrari 333SP

[Al 450]

That'll be a no then.

[THHLEEDS]

Unless it has another 6k revs worth of noise, I think its going to be disappointing.

[Garlick]

ettore said:

Peasant!

[robmlufc]

Give it chance! The V12 took a few thousand revs before it unleashed hell.

[moffspeed]

ettore said:

Peasant! Corvette is an agricultural, animal noise in comparison. Best I ever heard at Le Mans was the old Ferrari 333SP

Yep quite agree, although I'd add to that the music of the original Group 44 Jags and, naturally, the Matra V12. Always loved the sound of a Cosworth DFV/DFL on a warm summer's evening also.

The new Aston sounds like a 6R4 Metro - but maybe it will sound a bit more impressive at La Sarthe...

[Craiglamuffin]

This shows how important the sound is to the show. My fave is the Ascari GT3s.

I recommend the otherwise silly Superleague Formula on this basis too (V12s)

[XitUp]

The 'vette does sound better. I was going to say nicer, but it's not.

[dinkel]

Robmarriott said:

Sounds like an electric whisk, nicht gut.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89976

Bernie on the new F1 regs: "I meet people worldwide in all different walks of life - sponsors, promoters and journalists and I think there are two things that are really important for Formula 1," he said. One is Ferrari and second is the noise. People love and get excited about the noise. People who have never been to a Formula 1 race, when they leave you ask them what (they liked) and they say 'the noise'."

Turbos damp the exciting riotish racing sounds we all love so much . . .

[wackojacko]

going to miss the V12 ...... Such an unusual sound.
Still got the Ferrari and Corvette GT1's/2's for aural delight !

[ploz]

Don't think you can judge the Aston yet - when they've got it up to the target 550hp, it'll be sounding completely different. May be not like a V12, but probably much more to peoples taste here.

[Oddball RS]

Booooo, sounds pants and lets hope its more reliable than the rest of the 2 litre cars. (1980's Lancia comes to mind)

[James Dean]

dinkel said:

Stuff Bernie said ...

Might be the best to have come out of his mouth yet.

On another note, people shouldn't be allowed to upload such st videos. We're in 2011, not 1996 anymore.

[Ocho]

At least it's not a diesel...