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AM-RB 003: Aston’s LaFerrari
The prize is a big one: the
chance to prove that Gaydon, not
Maranello or Woking, is the
seat of hypercar power
YOUR HANDY ASTON EXPLAINER
⊲ Valkyrie I Aston’s shortcut to mid-engined credibility – a road-legal,
Red Bull-sculpted, £2.5m hypercar with a 1160bhp hybrid V12.⊲ Valkyrie AMR Pro I As above but track-only, the Valkyrie AMR Pro
is the ultimate Valkyrie – all the hybrid V12 glory but without any
road-legal compromises.⊲ AM-RB 003 I Less extreme than Valkyrie but still built around a
carbonfibre tub. Crucially, the wailing V12 is swapped for a more
powerful version of Vanquish’s hybrid-assisted V6. Just 500 will
be built, and it’ll be with us before Vanquish; late 2021/2022.⊲ Vanquish I The new £200k mid-engined Ferrari 488 (now F8
Tributo) and Huracan rival. Aluminium tub, hybrid V6 powertrain.
Due on sale in 2022.communication while leaving an uncluttered forward view – handy when
you’ve performance of this order of magnitude at your disposal.
The daunting job of translating that performance into a road car mere
mortals can understand, explore and enjoy falls to Aston’s weapon’s-grade
development team: ex-Lotus man Matt Becker and hypercar development
ace Chris Goodwin. While the complexity of the project beggars belief
(calibrating the hybrid unit, honing the behaviour of the Flexfoil aero sur-
faces, taming serious downforce for the more varied, less predictable road
environment...) the prize is a big one: the chance to prove that Gaydon,
not Maranello or Woking, is the seat of power when it comes to emerging
hypercar technologies.
Just how serious will AM-RB 003 be? ‘It’s everything we learned from
Valkyrie, the carbon tub and our brand new V6 engine in one car,’ says
Palmer. ‘Sometimes I think “Son of Valkyrie” actually sounds like we’re
diminishing what we’re trying to achieve. We’re pushing very, very hard
with this car – it is everything to us.’Flexing active
bodywork
will trim aero
balanceLeft to right: Valkyrie,
Valkyrie AMR Pro,
AM-RB 003, Vanquish