2001 - Aston Martin Db7 on 2040-cars

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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:

Aston Martin Vantage with a manual transmission due next year

In 2016, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer told Car and Driver that that Aston Martin would continue to offer manual transmissions and will always have at least one hand-shaker in the lineup. For the keepers of the dying manual light, it's been a long wait since the V12 Vantage S went out of production last year, but dawn will break over Gaydon in summer 2019. Aston Martin chief engineer Matt Becker told Road & Track at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that there'd be a stick shift in the V8 Vantage by "this time next year." That might seem like a long wait when there are already prototypes on the road, but the small company has a large engineering job. The Mercedes-AMG 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 sitting in the Vantage's engine bay has never been paired with a manual gearbox, so Aston Martin has to create the software and the driveline hardware from scratch to make it work. On top of that, the company wants to make sure the package delivers the thrills the row-your-own crowd seeks. Becker said the car won't be a pushover, tuned so that "It reminds you that you have to know how to drive." Depending on uptake, one could hope that the DB11 using the same Mercedes-AMG engine would also undergo a manual transformation. Road & Track didn't get the details on what kind of transmission we could expect. We figure the options are a traditional six-speed, a Corvette-style seven-speed, a Porsche-style seven-speed, or the dogleg seven-speed used last in this year's V12 Vantage V600, of which there were only 14 units. Speculation on product plans puts the manual transmission first in the V8 Vantage pipeline, followed by a Vantage roadster and a V12 Vantage. Other models will certainly fill out the portfolio, Becker saying this first Vantage "is the starting point." Having applied the hardcore AMR moniker to the Valkyrie AMR Pro, DB11 AMR, and Rapide AMR, the Vantage seems a lock for the same extreme makeover. Related Video:

You can't buy an Aston Martin GT8, but you can configure one

Aston Martin launched an online configurator for the Vantage GT8, a limited-edition sports car that will be sold in other markets. The GT8, revealed last month, is arguably the ultimate version of the Vantage to date: all the extreme aero from the previous GT12, but with less mass up front. Its atmospheric 4.7-liter V8 engine churns out 446 horsepower through a six-speed manual or a seven-speed automatic to the rear wheels. The overall package represents the most direct translation we've seen of Aston Martin Racing's victorious racers to the road. And with turbo power enveloping the factory at Gaydon (and the AMG engine workshop in Germany), it may be the last of the great naturally aspirated Astons ever. The company will make 150 copies. The configurator offers a choice of 35 exterior colors, along with eight "accent packs," four special racing-inspired liveries, a quartet of wheel choices, six colors of brake caliper, a whole mess of carbon-fiber exterior components, and an aggressive aero kit. On aesthetic grounds alone, we'd be inclined to leave off those oversized wings, spec most of the carbon trim pieces, go with a subdued shade of green, and just the right amount of red to make it pop. Waste a few minutes (or hours) with the web tool and see how you'd spec yours. Related Video: