Vanquish: Aston Martin’s Ferrari
74 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | APRIL 2019
These factors will challenge the next Vantage and DB11 just as they must
shape the Vanquish, a consideration that serves to illustrate both the enor-
mity of the task Aston’s team is facing (with no major OEM from which to
pilfer parts and thinking, as Porsche can, for example) and the enormous
flexibility this solution will bring to the firm’s technical arsenal.
‘The capacity of this base engine is to an extent dictated by what’s
accepted in some markets, like China,’ continues Szwaj [China taxes
engines over 3.0 litres much more aggressively]. ‘But you need to think of
it as a platform for further development. The base V6 will deliver amazing
performance but it’s also the base of the powertrain in the AM-RB 003
‘Son of Valkyrie’ [more on p82], with a different kind of hybrid system to
deliver the increased power. This is a powertrain we can scale up or down
with a different number of cylinders. With the electrified transmission, we
also have the possibility of all-wheel drive. We are looking at this – we’d be
stupid not to. With everything we have to think about what it means not
just for this car but beyond it, too. We’re seeding the technologies for the
next generation of cars: updated versions of DB11, Vantage and DBS.’
Just as Vanquish’s powertrain demonstrates great flexibility, so the
chassis structure Szwaj is developing promises performance with adapt-
ability. Constructed primarily from bonded aluminium, as Vantage and
DB11 are, the Vanquish will almost certainly use composites in key areas
to reduce weight – a priority given a hybrid system is intrinsically heavier
than an engine alone. ‘For us our bonded structure is a real luxury,’ says
Szwaj. ‘We don’t have hot-joining, we bond, which in itself confers certain
structural advantages. But it also brings far greater flexibility in terms of
materials we can introduce. It’s important for us to expand this parameter
into more exotic and challenging materials – we will push boundaries.
A weight advantage is key as we seek to offset the additional powertrain
weight conferred by the hybrid system – batteries are not light!’
Aston won’t be drawn on just how much additional weight switching to a
hybrid brings, noting that, until performance targets are finalised, the final
battery specification and size could change. ‘It could be a factor of 1.5 to two
[times heavier than an engine alone], but until we firm up those attributesI couldn’t say,’ offers Szwaj. ‘But regardless we have set very challenging
weight targets, and we’ll deliver through the use of materials that will give
us an advantage. But be clear, this is not a marketing exercise. This is about
the right material in the right place for the right function. This is not about
being able to write about a carbon roof in a brochure.’
As Aston Martin merrily puts the engine behind the driver and turns
the world on its head, so its design team has faced a challenge every bit
as daunting as anything on the engineering side: deliver a car that, while
being based on an engineering package quite unlike any other Aston
Martin, nevertheless looks like an Aston Martin. At the same time the
project’s ambitious performance targets also insisted form must be tightly
tethered to function, with no indulgent style-led flourishes that might
corrupt the car’s aerodynamic efficiency.
‘We’re looking at a very aggressive layout for our cooling, and therefore
the aero performance of the car,’ confirms Szwaj. ‘We’ve a great bloodline
from Valkyrie to this car. All the lessons we’ve learned, we’re trying to
implement on this application – it’s fundamental to us.’
All of which is fine until, as designer Miles Nurnberger acknowledges
with a wry grin, you appreciate that ‘Valkyrie is a very unusual piece of car
design, not least because of all the negative space underneath – it’s what’s
not there that really makes up the car’. So much for the obvious option:
design a £200k baby Valkyrie...
Nurnberger: ‘The look and feel is shared with Valkyrie and Son of Valky-
rie. But they differ naturally because there are things you can do at their
price point that you simply can’t do at this price point.’
Put it to Aston’s designers that the result is a little conventional, with
design cues familiar from the Aston’s existing line-up – notably DB11’s
contrasting roof rail – and they give a little while refuting a lot.
‘I suppose this is more like a GT car, with very solid, fulsome forms,’
says Nurnberger. ‘There are echoes of Valkyrie, in the venting of the front
arches for example, but it’s more fluid, more sculpted. There is elegance
here – the direct Red Bull collaborations are extreme beasts. So yes, maybe
it’s more like a GT car in that way. But in all other ways, not so much...’
Certainly Vanquish is a striking form, from the low, almost feline face,
which borrows Valkyrie’s headlight shape, through graceful flanks to a tail
brutally undercut with diffuser tunnels. The message, from your eyes to
your beating heart, is clear: this is an Aston Martin that promises to drive
like no other.
‘The R&D aim is to produce a true mid-engined supercar with a fun-
damental advantage in agility and sportiness,’ confirms Szwaj. ‘Compared
to the cars we already offer it will be clearly differentiated; in how you sit,
cab-forwards, and in its behaviour. We’re creating critical new intellectual
property for Aston Martin and we’re creating a supercar. It’s a great vision
for the future; incredibly exciting. We’re like kids in a candy shop.’■ urn the page for the car Vanquish must topple, Ferrari’s new F8 Tributo TThe message from your eyes to
your beating heart is clear: this
is an Aston that promises to
drive like no other
Wheel not
reinvented; rest
of Aston is