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Aston Martin is preparing a coup d’etat for the 8th annual Geneva Auto Show, in the form of the scintillating 2016 Vulcan. True to its rakish looks, the Vulcan is a high-performance machine conceived uniquely for track use, like what Pagani did with the Zonda R, or Ferrari did with the FXX. To further add to the Vulcan’s exclusivity, only 24 of these will be produced, likely an allusion to the 24 Heures du Mans car race that takes place every year in June.
Aston’s press release state clearly that this is the manufacturer’s most exciting creation to date; in other words, this is not your grandfather’s Aston Martin.
In the design sense, the Vulcan step pretty far away from your typical Aston. Yes, it’s still got the long hood and familiar taillights (that recall those seen on the limited-edition One-77 supercar), but the rest does well to provide a window into Aston’s future design language. Indeed, the headlights recall the shape of those found on the DB10 concept, due to make its debut in the next James Bond film, SPECTRE.
To show that the Vulcan is more than just a fancy carbon-fibre body dropped on top of an old Vanquish chassis, a carbon-fibre underbody diffuser has been added, as well as a massive, very race car-like, rear diffuser.
Above that, you’ll find a magnesium torque tube with a carbon fibre prop shaft, as well as ceramic Brembo racing brakes with 360 millimetre discs at the back, and 380 mm items up front. Both the suspension settings and transmission mapping is adjustable; we don’t know for sure, but expect the Vulcan to rely on a six-speed sequential automatic transmission to get the power to the road.
Underneath that big carbon fibre bonnet, however, the Vulcan remains the somewhat old-school alternative to other new hypercars like the McLaren P1 or LaFerrari. For there is no form of electronic assistance for power; just a good ol’ honkin’ big 7.0-litre V12 that Aston claims is good for 800 horsepower.
Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer is confident that the new car maintains the qualities of a “rare and thrilling supercar…engineered to deliver a genuinely bespoke driving experience that draws on (Aston Martin’s) rich heritage”.
“It’s a sports car for true sports car lovers (that) sets a whole new standard in the ultra-high luxury supercar class.”
Said “true sports car lovers” had better have deep pockets; no pricing has been announced, but if the ultra-rare, 1.2 million dollar One-77 (of which only 77 exist) is anything to go by, expect the Vulcan to sit at the 1.5-2 million dollar level.
Of course, those that do have the coin to get one will not only get the car, but the opportunity to attend driver training sessions with the Aston Martin Racing Academy.
