Want to get your hands on the supercar being jointly developed by Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing? Too bad, because they’ve all been spoken for already. Little wonder, since 450 potential customers potential customers had already expressed their interest for the limited run hypercar.
Codenamed AM-RB 001, the project was first announced at the beginning of the 2016 Formula One World Championship in Australia earlier this year as part of an “innovation partnership” between the two British performance powerhouses. In the months since, we’ve received observed a slow but steady trickle of information coming out about the project.
Now that the season has come to an end, the two have extended their relationship for another year. The deal, brokered by Aston CEO Andy Palmer who did the same for Infiniti when serving as its chairman, will see the British automaker’s logo appear on the victorious F1 team’s cars for another year. But of greater interest is what they are cooking for the road.
Here’s what we know so far. For one, it will pack a naturally aspirated V12 engine, likely displacing between 6.0 (like in most of Aston’s road cars) and 7.0 (like the track-only Vulcan) liters that will drive the rear wheels. It will also pack a KERS-style hybrid assist that will help deliver approximately 1,000 horsepower. In a vehicle weighing just 1,000 kg, that should be more than enough to break all the records in a fashion we’ve not seen since the debut of the legendary McLaren F1.
Despite Formula 1-like levels of lateral grip and some 4,000 pounds of downforce, it’s still expected to top 250 miles per hour (400 km/h) and sprint from zero to 60 (96 km/h) in less than three seconds. An active suspension will take care of handling all that power, while the aerodynamically optimized bodywork designed by Aston’s chief designer Marek Reichman and Red Bull’s legendary chief engineer Adrian Newey will feature powered gullwing doors.
Of course, all that tech and capability will come at a cost, and the sticker price is tipped to hover around the $3 million mark. Only 150 street-legal examples will be made and deliveries should start in early 2019, instead of 2018 as originally planned. There will, however, be an additional 25 track-bound examples, which will follow the same formula that transformed the McLaren P1 to the P1 GTR and LaFerrari to the FXX K – and, you can rest assured, fetch an even higher sum.