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Cosworth briefly crows that Aston Valkyrie's 6.5L V12 has record horsepower

It's only natural that Cosworth would want the world to know that it's building the world's most powerful naturally-aspirated engine for the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro. The timing of when the world should know about it, that's at issue. Yesterday the English engine maker's official Twitter account posted a picture of the barely-there coupe and the line, "We're famous for breaking records and our latest engine, the Aston Martin Valkyrie 6.5-litre V12, will be the world's most powerful naturally aspirated road engine with 1,130bhp." Two tags accompanied the post, #Cosworth and #AstonMartinValkyrie. About 90 minutes later, the tweet disappeared. The likely issue is that Cosworth got ahead of Aston Martin's official confirmation of Valkyrie outputs, something we're more used to from patent offices and Chinese model makers. The question is what output is Cosworth really talking about, and which car. All of last year, however, various reports had the street-legal Valkyrie making 1,130 hp. A Road & Track report attributed "nearly 1,000 hp" coming from the NA V12, the remaining 130 from a kinetic energy recovery system working the front axle. Hence, we're not sure if Cosworth's talking about its own engine alone at 1,130 hp, or its engine with the KERS. But then there's this: At the launch of the Valkyrie AMR Pro during the Geneva Motor Show this year, Aston Martin said the track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro would enjoy "a combined power output of more than 1100 bhp — more than the Valkyrie road car and a figure than comfortably exceeds the magic 1:1 power-to-weight ratio." The truth's a mystery for now, which is just as Aston Martin would want it. If Cosworth's engine really does make 1,130 hp on its own, that would be monstrous, and it would mean the automaker's been playing a serious game of English understatement. Even if Cosworth included the hybrid help, however, an NA V12 with 1,000 ponies would take the crown. The only competition is the 6.5-liter V12 in the Ferrari 812 Superfast, and that's 211 horses adrift. The quad-digit figures expected from Mercedes-AMG Project One and McLaren Speedtail require turbochargers, as does the just-teased V8 going into the Shelby Tuatara. With the first of 150 Valkyrie road car deliveries scheduled for next year, we probably don't have that much longer to wait to find out. Related Video:

Inside the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, the company's secret museum

The Aston Martin Heritage Trust Museum has been in existence since 2002. It houses the official archives of the Aston Martin Lagonda Company, as well as those of the Aston Martin Owners Club, at the behest of which the Museum was founded back in 1998. It also houses a rotating collection of distinctive and historically significant Aston Martin vehicles, cherry picked from a century of the automaker's exquisite existence. Unfortunately for those besotted with the brand, as I am, the AHMT is located on the periphery of the exurbs of nowhere, in a restored 14th century barn on a dirt road, blocks off the river in the wee Midlands village of Drayton St. Leonard. An address is not published. The only indication that you might be in the right place is an almost intentionally innocuous government tourism placard, placed somewhat near the turnoff. "We used to maybe get a hundred visitors a year before they put up the sign," says AMHT Curator Donna Bannister, an American of equally mysterious provenance. "Now we get almost a hundred per month." Lucky are the souls who find the AMHT (my cabby wasn't among them; I had to walk a bit), because it houses, in its cramped Middle Aged quarters, some real treasures. Greeting me when I entered was a bare-metal-nosed 1921 A3, the oldest existing Aston Martin in the world, which was bought at auction in 2000 and restored to driving condition via the generous underwriting of Sheik Nasser of Kuwait, who is apparently a huge AM collector. "It won Kop Hill in 1923," Bannister says. "We recently took it back there, and to the Windsor Concours d'Elegance. Of course the Royals are big fans of the Aston brand." There's also a 1934 Ulster BLB 684, the only remaining one in a 2+2 configuration. This car is a driver as well. "Club members can hire it out," Bannister says. "Though because it's quite difficult to drive – it has the clutch in the center, and the gas and brake on either side – only a few do." There is a passel of more recent notables, like the 2000 V12 Vanquish cutaway, an auto show maquette meant to demonstrate the fruits of Ford's huge investment in the brand at the start of this century. There's a pre-production, gloss white 2013 Vanquish Volante, which was used for photos and promotion as well, but never registered due to some inconsistencies in the paint. There are display engines from the DB4GT, the Lagonda V8, and the twin-supercharged Vantage (swoon!).

Aston Martin to replace Rapide with DBX crossover, Lagonda sedan

Aston Martin is known best for two-door coupes and convertibles, but it has a history with other body styles. And it looks like Aston's future includes more versatile door configurations. Speaking with Car and Driver at the New York Auto Show, the company's new CEO Andy Palmer reveals a two-pronged plan to replace the four-door Rapide. One will be a new Lagonda sedan; the other a production version of the DBX crossover concept. Detailing the overall strategy for the British automaker, Palmer said, "First is replacing the entire sports car range; second is the DBX, and that appeals to a different set of audiences; and the third is the sports sedan, which will carry [the Lagonda] badge." The Lagonda, Palmer revealed, will not be the Taraf we've already seen. Although sales of that model are expanding beyond its initial Middle Eastern market, it won't be coming to North America due to US crash-testing requirements and the vehicle's short production run. The next Lagonda sedan, however, is more likely to reach these shores. The DBX meanwhile is slated to switch to four doors from the coupe-like profile of the concept, but keep similar overall dimensions and that sleek roofline – albeit modified to make it more accommodating. The crossover will also replace the concept's electric powertrain with a more conventional engine. And while we wouldn't rule out the name carrying over, we wouldn't be surprised to see the DBX adopt another handle on the road to production.