When hearing the name Aston Martin most people think of things like classy sports cars, James Bond, interesting racecars and luxurious, British sensibilities. The last thing most think of is a street-going hypercar that could rival names like Koenigsegg and Pagani.
Aston Martin wants to change that, and they want Red Bull Racing to help.
Yes, the Vulcan blew minds when it debuted at Goodwood in 2015, but it’s a track-only brute. If the $2.6 million Vulcan is a brute, then the AM-RB 001 – a terrible name that I’m hoping will change once the car is ready to be revealed – will be a colossus. Aston is claiming that the new car will lap Silverstone faster than a F1 car, and there is reason to believe this is more than marketing hyperbole.
Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman says, “Unconstrained by F1 regulations, we have a unique chance to create a car in its most efficient form that will represent the ultimate fusion of art and technology.”
Aston may give the project creative and aesthetic direction, but Red Bull will provide the ace up the sleeve for development. Adrian Newey, designer of ten championship-winning Formula One cars during his thirty years of design, most recently for Red Bull Racing, is finally fulfilling a lifelong dream of designing a super car. Expect that he will stop at nothing to make a huge splash in the super car pond.
Aston Martin has only released one vague drawing of the future car, and that glimpse didn’t reveal much of anything, but with the creative mind behind the DB11, Vulcan and One-77 holding the artistic pen and the world’s winningest F1 designer providing the aerodynamic prowess, my imagination is running wild.
We should see the pre-production car before the end of the year, with deliveries expected to begin in 2018.
