2007 Aston Martin Db9 Volante on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin and Mercedes will share F1 safety car duties

LONDON — Aston Martin is set to join Mercedes next season as a provider of Formula One's official safety cars, according to media reports on Tuesday. Racefans.net reported that Aston Martin would supply safety and medical cars at 12 of the 23 scheduled races in key markets, with the existing Mercedes cars used at the rest. It said Aston Martin's new DBX SUV, which uses a Mercedes-AMG V8 engine, would be used as a medical car. There was no official confirmation from Aston Martin or Mercedes. Sources indicated to Reuters that the report was accurate, however. Mercedes has been the official provider of the cars, which are deployed in the event of an incident or bad weather to keep the field lapping safely, since 1996 but that deal runs out at the end of this year. A shared supply would make sense for both carmakers, who already have close ties. Aston Martin's executive chairman Lawrence Stroll also owns the Racing Point team, who will race as Aston Martin from next season with four times world champion Sebastian Vettel arriving from Ferrari. Mercedes, a part of Daimler, is set to raise its stake in Aston Martin to up to 20% by 2023. Toto Wolff, principal of the Mercedes factory team, also has a private stake in Aston Martin. Related Video: Motorsports Aston Martin Mercedes-Benz F1

Aston Martin confirms 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 for Valhalla

When the Aston Martin Valhalla hits the scene in 2022 (hopefully), it will be powered by an all-new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 engine that will be fortified and electrified in a hybrid configuration that we don't yet know much about. Interestingly, Aston Martin says the V6's hybrid element will be tuned and sized for each specific vehicle in which it's installed. In the Valhalla, the dry-sump engine will be mounted directly behind the passenger compartment, and its so-called 'hot V' design will allow for relatively compact dimensions. And compact also means lightweight — the automaker says the complete engine weighs less than 440 pounds. Just the fact that the British automaker is investing the engineering effort to produce a new engine is significant. The company hasn't engineered its own in-house powertrain since 1969, when Tadek Marek's 5.3-liter V8 engine found its way under the hood of Aston Martin's aptly named DBS V8. The new 3.0-liter V6 is codenamed TM01 in Marek's honor. With that in mind, we expect this powerplant to serve in various Aston Martin models for a number of years. We look forward to further details in the future, especially the all-important horsepower and torque figures. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the high-resolution image gallery above, where you'll see intricately milled castings along with the engine undergoing dyno testing and running red hot with the lights down low.   Related Video:

Aston Martin and Zagato will offer $7.9M limited edition sold only in pairs

Aston Martin and Zagato are planning to collaborate for a limited production run of a couple of incredible cars it's calling the DBZ Centenary Collection. There will be 19 DB4 GT Zagato Continuation cars and 19 DBS GT Zagatos made. These cars are only to be sold as pairs, meaning you get one DB4 and one DBS (based on the 2019 DBS Superleggera) when you buy. So why are Aston and Zagato doing this? Well, Zagato reaches its 100th anniversary in 2019, so a celebration is clearly in order. Aston Martin and Zagato have quite the storied recent and not-so-recent past. You might remember that Aston unleashed 25 DB4 GT Continuation cars sans Zagato earlier this year. The idea is the same here, but Zagato gets included on this project. Back in 1960, Aston Martin and Zagato had planned to make a 25-car run of Zagato-bodied DB4s. When demand wasn't high enough, it was cut off at 19, which explains why it's making 19 cars today as well. Aston and Zagato created those DB4s to race against others like Ferrari in the '60s, and the Continuation DB4 Zagato will be sold as a race car as well. Set to be built at Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, England, the goal is to make the new car resemble the old as accurately as possible. At the same time, Aston is benefiting from modern engineering to make the car even better looking. So while it still uses a tubular frame and thin-gauge aluminum body panels, Aston also uses digital scanning technology to ensure the bodywork is absolutely perfect in fitment and consistency. Looking at the mechanical side of things, we've got an inline-six engine that makes 380 horsepower hooked up to a four-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential. That's significantly more power than the 331 hp DB4 Continuation that Aston made before. The commitment to looking and feeling the part is there, but we really wonder how the driving experience differs from that of a Zagato from the '60s. That's only the first half of the pair. Wealthy owners will also receive a DBS GT Zagato. It's unclear exactly what that car will look like just yet, because Aston has only provided us with what looks like a rough design sketch. It says we'll see a fresh take on the "double-bubble" roof, new grille and a truncated tail to differentiate it from the run-of-the-mill DBS Superleggera. As a reminder, the DBS Superleggera has a 5.2-liter turbocharged V12 that makes 715 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque.