When Aston Martin announced last summer that they were teaming up with Red Bull to build a hypercar, I was stoked. What a great combination of highly respected names in the moto world. It was a no-brainer. But then I started to learn more about the car and the plans for it, and suddenly I became fascinated by it. The most important goal they were shooting for was a perfect power to weight ratio of one to one (one horsepower for every kilogram). At the time, they didn’t release many details on the specifics. But that’s changed now.
Confirmed reports are coming out regarding what exactly Aston Martin and Red Bull have planned for the code-named AM-RB 001. And let me tell you, it’s as good or better than anyone could’ve hoped for. As good as the collaboration between Red Bull and Aston Martin is, now they’ve added in the mad geniuses at Rimac and Cosworth! That’s right, powering the AM-RB-001 will be a 6.5L V12 built by the high-performance engineering firm, Cosworth. Exact horsepower numbers weren’t released yet but considering their background in producing engines for Formula 1 cars, and just about every other form of motorsport, it should definitely be plenty powerful.
When they first released information about the car nothing was mentioned regarding if it would be a hybrid or not. Matter of fact, they only mentioned that it would have a naturally aspirated V12. But now we know they are in fact planning on making this beast a hybrid. To ensure they have the best technology in the business they didn’t contact Mr. Musk, but instead the geniuses behind the Rimac Concept One. The AM-RB 001 will feature a special battery pack designed by Rimac. How I interpret that is the AM-RB could potentially have the lightning fast acceleration of the Rimac Concept One combined with the stellar overall performance of the Cosworth V12, which of course would be one hell of a combination.
A few other details were released; such as key electrical equipment that’s been developed by Bosch. Electronic stability control, traction control and even the ECU will all be custom-built just for the AM-RB. Although the car is estimated to weigh somewhere in the incredibly lightweight 2200-2400lb range, it’s still going to have well over 1,000hp. With all that horsepower, you need to have to have an equal amount of stopping power. So they contacted Alcon and Surface Transforms, yet another high-end supplier, to have a custom set of high-performance brakes built.
It’s clearly obvious that Aston Martin and Red Bull are not playing around with the AM-RB 001. It’s looking like they will spare no expense when it comes to getting the best equipment and technology available for this hypercar. The even commissioned Ricardo to custom build a seven-speed paddle-shifted gearbox for the car. Ricardo is the company responsible for the dual clutch monster transmission in the Bugatti Chiron. The mastermind behind the AM-RB project is Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey. He told reporters that getting the right people for each aspect of the car will result in a far better car than would be possible had it been developed 100% in-house.
I don’t know about you, but I think that was an incredibly cool thing to say. Rather than claiming they’re the best at everything, they find the people who are the best at one thing and combine all the knowledge together for one spectacular car. It’s brilliant really. When we first reported on the AM-RB 001 last summer, only 99 examples would be made, plus an additional 25 track only models. But according to the latest release, that number has jumped up to 150 plus the 25 track cars. Which is great news, at least for the .1% that can afford the price tag that’s estimated somewhere between $2.5 and $4 million. Nothing yet on when exactly we can expect to see the AM-RB 001 in action. But one thing is for sure, when it does hit the hypercar scene, it’s going to do so with a serious bang.
Photos: Motor1