RE: Aston Martin's David King: PH Meets

RE: Aston Martin's David King: PH Meets

Tuesday 21st March 2017

Aston Martin's David King: PH Meets

Head of the Valkyrie project, heavily involved with the AMR cars and a manual fan too - PH chats with David King



David King may not be a familiar Aston name to many, but he's been a very busy man of late. As Vice President and Chief Special Operations Officer he has headed up the Valkyrie project and been integral to the introduction of the AMR products as well. Hence he was a man in demand at Geneva! In our few minutes with him at the Palexpo we discussed the Valkyrie and the AMR cars of course, but also the future for both manuals and hybrids in the Aston line up, plus what the 911 GT3 RS has to do with Aston Martins... Enjoy!


Just seven Vantage AMR Pros will be made
Just seven Vantage AMR Pros will be made
What has been learnt from the GT8 and GT12 to be taken into the Vantage AMR Pro projects? They are both recently launched track ready projects.
"The Vantage is a little bit of what we learned on those cars but it's also directly coming out of the GTE race car. The idea was to create a tribute for the drivers' championship last year, which means it does have some direct content: it's a got a WEC rear wing on it, and it's got a WEC bonnet on it and it's got a 500hp V8 with some WEC tuning in it. It's not strictly a WEC engine though, of course."

What sort of stuff has been changed for the engine then? Are there tweaks to the internals as well as electronics and the like?
"Yes! So it's got a strengthened block from the WEC car, it's got new cams, an entirely new intake system and a new exhaust. It's not emissions capable as a road car, so we're selling it as a track only car. We've announced we're only going to build a run of seven as track-only cars, but it's capable through a third party of being Single Vehicle Approved (time to call Lanzante then! - MB) certainly in the UK; it would go on the road fairly easily. As a manufacturer we can't do it because it doesn't meet emissions.

"So really the idea was to take the brand we've created called Aston Martin Racing and all the successes we've had - particularly when we've stuck with GT racing - over the last few years, and use the power of that brand more in the mainstream, in the production versions of cars. Because what we've learnt from the GT8 and GT12 is that a) we know how to make hardcore road cars that are track day capable b) that there are some customers out there who want them and c) that there will continue to be a market for them.

King is involved with the GT racing programme too
King is involved with the GT racing programme too
"And having got a foot in the door, we can now make that a more permanent part of our range. How better than to the use the AMR acronym as our performance brand for the road cars? The intention is then that we will do that on two levels - the Vantage is an AMR Pro with serious tuning, lightweighting, a hardcore car, and then base AMR - like the Rapide - is a bit of body tweaking, a tweak of performance, adding some nice colour and trim features - a bit more like an AMG Line kind of car. And that base AMR we will roll out across the whole range; the hardcore stuff, the AMR Pros, we'll be quite selective on and might be a future equivalent of a GT8 or a Vulcan, stuff like that."

And is the Rapide AMR limited production also?
"Yeah. So our bosses decided the production volume, and said we were going to make 210 of them which coincides with the vehicle's top speed. That does also mean it's classed as the fastest four-door car in the world I think. The speed comes more from the aero tweaks than the power (now up to 600hp - MB) actually."

A slightly broader question off the back of the AMR debuts: do you still see manual gearboxes having a future in fast Astons? There's been a bit of a resurgence recently, and Aston has of course been involved with cars like the V12 Vantage S.

"Massively, yeah. Andy (Palmer) ended his speech this morning saying that there will always be three pedals and a stick available in an Aston. It was great for him to say that because, however good the paddleshifts and automatics become - they might be the most efficient, or fastest around a track - you are losing that interaction with the vehicle. So it's a commitment Andy has made and I'm happy to oblige."

Manuals are staying in Astons - hurrah!
Manuals are staying in Astons - hurrah!
And on the automatic side, are you planning on sticking with the eight-speed ZF and the Speedshift automated manual? Or do you see a point where it will be auto only? Perhaps a dual-clutch?
(At this point the Aston PR spokesperson who is also present interjects to say that the question took the interview into "muddy waters" that couldn't be discussed; nothing further was mentioned of it, but the comment should provide additional context to David King's answer when he gets to it - MB)

"I would say for the eight-speed speed though, the improvement in driveability, speed of shift and the dynamics of the gearbox have been dramatic over the years. I think the threat of the DCTs to the automatic manufacturers has really upped their game, creating competition in the market. If you drive a DB11 you wouldn't want for anything else really."

OK, excellent. I suppose we should talk about the Valkyrie as well...
"I suppose we should talk about my life's work, yes!"

There's a lot to get through! It's a very exciting project - how far into it are we now?
"We're pretty well advanced in the virtual world, so it exists pretty much complete in CAD; we're running optimisation simulation on that at the moment, digital assemblies and things like that. We're getting to the point where we'll soon be releasing major parts for tooling and then we'll be building prototypes starting from the end of the year. It will be a big year of testing next year as we gear up for production in 2019. That's working with a Formula 1 team, doing dynamic simulation, doing aero simulation to a level far beyond what we would go with a road car; it's really pretty amazing. Our job is to realise Adrian Newey's vision, to perfection - that's what he's after."

Valkyrie still on track for 2019 launch
Valkyrie still on track for 2019 launch
Which elements of the car is Aston solely responsible for? And what will Red Bull contribute?
"So we are the vehicle manufacturer; we're responsible for signing it off, for testing it, building it to our standards. We're also engineering many of the typical road car type things like doors that open and close, seals, windscreen wipers, electronics and interior trim. Adrian's got the lead on the overall concept."

What about the engine? Is it entirely bespoke for this car?
"Yes, it's a unique V12 for this car, built by Cosworth. It will be the highest revving engine in a road car and it's a beautiful thing - Cosworth are doing a great job. We will release some more details on that later."

Are customers at the moment existing customers who have worked their way up? Or conquests from other manufacturers?
"While we would never talk about specific customers, I would say that it's certainly brought in some new clients as well as our existing loyal base."
(Here again the PR spokesperson extends the point to say that the more focused road cars have also brought a "different subset" of buyers to the Aston brand - MB)

"People that... you know, hardcore GT3 RS drivers that would never have looked at an Aston before are now seeing cars like the GT8 and stuff like that and they're coming on board. That's quite pleasing for me! It's not that we're looking to change the whole image of the company, but there's an important subset of our buyers that after that hardcore type of car - we're now able to cater to them, as well as traditional, more understated GTs. The GT8 is about as lairy a road car as you'll find and yet not in a chavvy sort of way. There's still a class about it."

We probably should discuss hybrid technology also...
"The Valkyrie's a hybrid!"

Could AMR extras extend to used cars too?
Could AMR extras extend to used cars too?
Yes it is! We have a link to go on then. Where do you see hybrid technology being incorporated into the rest of the Aston range? If at all?
"The only thing related to alternative powertrains that we've publically declared at the moment is our intention to make a battery electric Rapide. So beyond that we'd be dipping into stuff that we haven't talked about yet. But, you know, Andy Palmer's a battery-electric guy through and through, that's his focus for us. That isn't to say that hybrid won't have a role to play for us, but I think everyone recognises that hybrids are fairly transitionary technology now, and they're compromised."

Do you think with the AMR cars that there is a likely to be one at a time, or a series of models available? Once Audi only had one RS product on sale at a time, and now that's changed.
"I think on the base AMR you will see continual availability across most of the range eventually. For the AMR Pros I think they will be very limited production cars, with the opportunity from those to spin off a range of AMR accessories too. Our accessory range is a little (pauses) comfort and convenience orientated at the moment. There's a whole world out there; the tuner market is doing very nicely at the moment."

OK, so I suppose you could have a suspension or a power kit if you didn't want a full model?
"Yes, that kind of thing. We have a whole car park of current Vantages out there - a great car, it's quite affordable now. I'm speculating now, but I'd like to think we could offer a kind of track day upgrade kit for those cars, parts that boost performance at a reasonable price."

 

Author
Discussion

V8 FOU

Original Poster:

2,970 posts

146 months

Tuesday 21st March 2017
quotequote all
Track day upgrades - reasonable price...hmmmm

Looks good though. Very interesting how he sees the autoboxes are the way forward, rather than a dct.

Scooby P1

2,616 posts

228 months

Tuesday 21st March 2017
quotequote all
Rapide AMR was the best car at Geneva. Fell for it immediately.

All the rest was too predictable or samey. 600bhp 4 seater littered with alcantara. Lovely thing.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 21st March 2017
quotequote all
It still amazes me, given what Porsche, Ferrari, Mclaren et-al have been doing for years, that it's taken AML this long to officially leverage anything from there racing team. I put together a concept Vantage back in 2006 (when the car was still very fresh and sort after) that took it's styling and component leads from the race cars to make a "GT-3" type road car. Eventually of course, AML have done things like the N24 series, but it's all quite low key and not brilliantly tied to the race teams success and excellent brand image.

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Tuesday 21st March 2017
quotequote all
Wow that rapide is stunning.

idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
No relation as far as I am aware, but serious double take moment when an article pops up with your name on it.

David King.

Oddball RS

1,757 posts

217 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
Love the wheels, much better than the previous diamond cut things.

AdamV8V

1,379 posts

155 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
idiotgap said:
No relation as far as I am aware, but serious double take moment when an article pops up with your name on it.
Try being called Adam Johnson...

noell35

3,170 posts

147 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
Q1. If I order one and it comes in the wrong colour what are my options?

Richard-390a0

2,223 posts

90 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
noell35 said:
Q1. If I order one and it comes in the wrong colour what are my options?
clap

idiotgap

2,112 posts

132 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2017
quotequote all
AdamV8V said:
idiotgap said:
No relation as far as I am aware, but serious double take moment when an article pops up with your name on it.
Try being called Adam Johnson...
You'll be pleased to know I'd never heard of him, so your name may not be as tarnished as all that.