New Aston Martin AMR Range Will Bring Extreme Race Cars To The Road

Which Aston Martin would you like to see get the AMR treatment?

Billed as a race car for the road, the Aston Martin Valkyrie will be the most extreme car in the company’s line-up when it launches next year. Now, Aston Martin wants to apply this concept to some of its existing models. At this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the automaker announced its new AMR range, which aims to strengthen the connection between Aston Martin’s race cars and road cars, bringing “enhanced performance, sharper dynamics and a more powerful design language”.

Eventually, every model in the Aston Martin range will get the AMR (which stands for 'Aston Martin Racing') treatment, but for now the company has revealed the Rapide AMR and the Vantage AMR Pro at Geneva. AMR cars will be developed at Aston Martin’s main branch, whereas AMR Pro models will developed by the Aston Martin Advanced Operations department. For the Rapide, the AMR model features a tuned version of the base car’s naturally aspirated 6.0-liter V12 with a new quad exhaust that produces 592 horsepower. Capable of a top speed of 210 mph, Aston Martin says the Rapide AMR is now “world’s fastest and most thrilling four-door.”

Once a sleek sedan, the Rapide AMR looks much more menacing, sporting a Stirling Green paintjob which is the AMR’s signature color with vibrant lime green accents, along with a dramatic full height grille and new 20 inch alloys. Other details include a new front splitter, side sills, rear diffuser and an aero flip on the rear decklid. Inside, the cabin is trimmed in Dark Knight Alcantara with Lime Green accents along with carbon fiber seats, center stack, and center console. Unsurprisingly, the extreme Vantage AMR Pro looks even more striking. A track-only car, the 500-HP engine is derived from Aston Martin Racing’s GT4 race car, making its the most powerful V8 Vantage ever.

It also has the same paint scheme, hood and rear wing as the World Endurance Championship winning race car. Other body modifications include a new splitter, fenders, side skirts, and rear diffuser. Additional upgrades include adjustable suspension, and center-lock wheels with Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires. Inside, the cabin isn’t drastically different to the Rapide AMR, but being a race-spec car it also has a fitted roll cage. Unsurprisingly, Aston Martin’s AMR cars aren’t going to be mass produced. While prices haven’t been announced, the company only intends to build 210 examples of the Rapide AMR. The Vantage AMR Pro will be even rarer, with only seven going into production.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro Will Be Even More Extreme Than We Thought

Don’t forget this is a car Aston Martin has already claimed will be cable of setting faster lap times than a Formula One car.

The Valkyrie promises to be one of the most extreme cars Aston Martin has ever built, but the track-only AMR Pro version will take it to the next level. Developed in collaboration with Red Bull Racing, Aston Martin claims the Valkyrie AMR Pro will be capable of setting lap times faster than Formula One and LMP cars. It could even beat the all-time Nurburgring lap record set by the Porsche 919 . This has already set an extremely high precedent, but a new report by

Autocar

suggests the final production car will further exceed these expectations when it arrives in 2020.

Earlier this year, Aston Martin claimed the Valkyrie AMR Pro will have a combined output of over 1,100 hp, weigh 2,204 pounds, and generate more than its own weight in downforce, but the production car could surpass these figures. “The downforce we are quoting is obviously early days,” Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey, who has led the car’s development alongside Aston creative director Marek Reichman, said. “The model you see now is effectively the ideas that stand behind the project given over to Marek’s team to interpret. It will, of course, change quite a lot from that.”

Yes, that means the Valkyrie AMR Pro could be even faster and more extreme than we were initially led to believe. Like the Valkyrie road car, Aston Martin’s track monster will be powered by a naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V12 and Energy Recovery System, but Newey revealed the Valkyrie was nearly fitted with a completely different engine. “I spent a lot of time looking at different power units,” he said. “The obvious choices were a V6 – either single or twin-turbo – or a high-revving, naturally aspirated V12.”

“In the end, I came to the conclusion that it should be the V12 because of what that allowed us to do in terms of structural mounting, because it’s a very well-balanced engine with good NVH characteristics. With a turbo, you need intercoolers; by the time you’ve put those on, the weight is fairly similar. Technically, the V12 was marginally superior, but it was a close call.”

Only 25 examples of the Valkyrie AMR Pro are being built, with customer deliveries starting in 2020. We can’t wait to see how this incredible car evolves between now and then.

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