RE: Aston Martin Vulcan: You Know You Want To

RE: Aston Martin Vulcan: You Know You Want To

Thursday 16th March 2017

Aston Martin Vulcan: You Know You Want To

Missed out on a Vulcan? Killing time while you await your Valkyrie? There's a pre-owned Aston with your name on it!



Yes, yes - Vulcan and Valkyrie are taken from the gods and all that. But they're also names of menacing cold war bombers designed to deliver the means of our mutually assured destruction. The Vulcan we know about as a Cold War workhorse, held at constant readiness to deliver nuclear payloads into the heart of enemy territory if the signal was given. The XB-70 Valkyrie never made production but prototypes of this six-engined, delta-winged, Mach 3 monster pushed the boundaries of speed, active aerodynamics and advanced materials in spectacular fashion. Which is appropriate, given its Aston Martin namesake promises to do the same for hypercars.


The Vulcan meanwhile was a little more crude by comparison. Noisy, brutish but undeniably effective it's become an icon of British engineering might. Again, that kind of works in the Aston Martin context doesn't it.

You didn't just buy an Aston Martin Vulcan for your £1.5m (plus taxes) though. You bought into a programme of training, events and super exclusive track days to enjoy with your fellow owners. Raising the question what happens if you're the purchaser of a pre-owned one? Are you buying a really expensive lump of carbon and metal you can't actually do much with, like those semi-restored Cold War jets that do 'fast taxi' runs on disused airfields but never (intentionally at least) take to the air?

It's a question raised by the appearance of a Vulcan at Aston Martin Bristol. Price, inevitably, is POA. Whatever that number ends up totalling will it also get you access to the programme of events original owners bought into? We put a call into Aston Martin to find out. The happy news is, yes, buying into this car also gets you the outstanding balance of the Vulcan programme. There would be certain operating costs - think storage, transport, prep and suchlike - if you wanted to fully join the fun. Impressive as a static exhibit or not you'd like to think any potential buyer would sign up to the full deal, right?


With the recent confirmation of the AMR products like the track-only Vantage AMR Pro factory support to run cars like this is assured too. Our man said the plan is for exclusive track days where Vantage AMR owners can run their cars alongside customer race cars. Meanwhile the Vulcan owners can expect exclusive sessions for their cars, to eventually be joined by the 25 'faster than an LMP1 car' track Valkyries as and when they are built.

Track days where you can only attend if you drive a car called Vulcan or Valkyrie? That's why you might want to, whatever the price turns out to be.


ASTON MARTIN VULCAN
Price
: POA
Why you should: The lewd and relatively crude alternative to a Valkyrie you can buy now
Why you shouldn't: Neither road nor race legal does it have relevance beyond posing power?

See the original advert here





Author
Discussion

Mikeeb

Original Poster:

405 posts

117 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
I'm surprised no-one has tried to get one through an SVA test yet

only1ian

684 posts

193 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
Thats incorrect the Vulcan can be made road legal! I attended the launch event in Abu Dhabi last year. For an extra 500000 of her majestys finest pounds a road legal pack is available. Couldnt get a firm answer as to if it was globally road legal or just in abu dhabi but its not a track only toy and if you have deep pockets anything is possible.

Martin_Hx

3,951 posts

197 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
I'm sure we would all want to #drool

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
So bad, it's good. Wouldn't pick up a date in it, but defo a cool one for the Harrods grand prix (with road mods).

McAndy

12,336 posts

176 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
Mikeeb said:
I'm surprised no-one has tried to get one through an SVA test yet
It's in process, possibly with RML.

PurpleAki

1,601 posts

86 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
You know you want to?

No, I don't. I really don't.

marcosgt

11,011 posts

175 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
McAndy said:
It's in process, possibly with RML.
I had a feeling I'd read about that being done in an issue of Evo not that long ago...

M

McAndy

12,336 posts

176 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
marcosgt said:
I had a feeling I'd read about that being done in an issue of Evo not that long ago...

M
Yep. The same issue as the Lanzante F1/P1 GTRs, I think.

coppice

8,561 posts

143 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
Proof positive that you can fool some of the people all of the time. I really know I don't want to - what's the point? Road car - even if you could convert it you'd look a prize dick driving such a cartoon cliche of a sports car. Racing car? Not really , for all the boasts about its pace it isn't even eligible to race- just to drive on a track day in company with the Eurotrash , teenaged Middle East lads and kleptocrats at whom this silly car is aimed .

Evilex

512 posts

103 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
Valkyrie? Are they really naming them after V-bombers?
Given what happened to one of the two Valkyrie prototypes (an escorting F104 got caught in a vortex from its wing and dragged into it, destroying both), I'd suggest that it's a name of ill-omen.
Better yet, call it "Damien" and be done with it.

Where do they go after Valkyrie ? Lancer (after the B1) Mitsubishi have that! Aardvark? (F-111)

LeighW

4,360 posts

187 months

Thursday 16th March 2017
quotequote all
PurpleAki said:
You know you want to?

No, I don't. I really don't.
Me neither. I don't know if it's just me getting old, but I'm a child of the eighties and had a big poster of a Countach on my bedroom wall, it was a car that I drooled over, and still do. For some reason, this, and a lot of these new fussily designed super/hyper/whatever cars just leave me cold.

AussieFozzy

136 posts

127 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
Dont get me wrong i love the Vulcan and all but even if i had the money i wouldn't be so sure about the purchase.
Especially when you can have a Vantage GT3 for a pittance (compared to the Vulcan) with some spare change to go actual racing.
You could also push the GT3 as hard as you like knowing that if you bin it you wont have to sell the holiday home in order to pay for repairs.

lord trumpton

7,320 posts

125 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
Nah, it's far too silly looking for me

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
reminds me of this:


Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
AussieFozzy said:
You could also push the GT3 as hard as you like knowing that if you bin it you wont have to sell the holiday home in order to pay for repairs.
Not sure about that... Even modest touring cars have eye-watering parts bills, let alone full-fat GT3 racers. Wipe the front corner off a GT3 car and you're probably looking at £40-50k of parts.

PurpleAki

1,601 posts

86 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
LeighW said:
PurpleAki said:
You know you want to?

No, I don't. I really don't.
Me neither. I don't know if it's just me getting old, but I'm a child of the eighties and had a big poster of a Countach on my bedroom wall, it was a car that I drooled over, and still do. For some reason, this, and a lot of these new fussily designed super/hyper/whatever cars just leave me cold.
We are a similar age then.

This and the Valkyrie leave me absolutely cold. Both ugly, compromised & pointless.

spikyone

1,413 posts

99 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
coppice said:
Proof positive that you can fool some of the people all of the time. I really know I don't want to - what's the point? Road car - even if you could convert it you'd look a prize dick driving such a cartoon cliche of a sports car. Racing car? Not really , for all the boasts about its pace it isn't even eligible to race- just to drive on a track day in company with the Eurotrash , teenaged Middle East lads and kleptocrats at whom this silly car is aimed .
It really does get rather "mumsnet" round here sometimes. This isn't much different from someone buying a Radical or an Atom, it's just a bit more expensive. Couldn't give a monkeys whether someone else thinks I'd look like a prize dick if I could afford to drive it. You only get one life and if you spend it not doing stuff you enjoy because someone else thinks it's uncool, you're going to have a lot of regrets. The Vulcan looks like an awesome piece of kit and I'd sell a vital body part to drive it once...

witt

12 posts

180 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all

Ferrari have been doing this for a while now with their XX programmes?
Just saying

P4ROT

1,219 posts

192 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
I should think, having been in the extremely small pool of buyers selected, the owner has made a smart business decision in buying and selling on; especially so, considering the way the 'Rare Car Market' is at the moment...

Cold

15,207 posts

89 months

Friday 17th March 2017
quotequote all
Evilex said:
Valkyrie? Are they really naming them after V-bombers?
Given what happened to one of the two Valkyrie prototypes (an escorting F104 got caught in a vortex from its wing and dragged into it, destroying both), I'd suggest that it's a name of ill-omen.
Better yet, call it "Damien" and be done with it.

Where do they go after Valkyrie ? Lancer (after the B1) Mitsubishi have that! Aardvark? (F-111)
Nice, but ultimately pointless, rant. They are not named after aeroplanes.