Aston Martin details ‘masterpiece’ V12
BY RON HAMMERTON | 12th Dec 2018
ASTON Martin has revealed that its Cosworth-developed 6.5-litre V12 “masterpiece” engine for its upcoming hybrid hypercar, the Valkyrie, will pump out 745kW of power and rev to an eye-watering 11,200rpm.
Weighing just 206kg, the normally aspirated, formula one-based engine will be a fully stressed element of the chassis, joining the front and rear sections of the two-seat road racer that is being developed by Aston Martin in league with Red Bull Racing as “the greatest car of the modern era”.
The company has released a video with a soundtrack of the screaming engine that sounds for all the world like the Cosworth F1 engine on which it is based.
The video also points out that the engine will be hooked up to a hybrid powertrain that will take the power figure even higher, with a counter that appears to climb to a figure beyond 2000 horsepower (1500kW).
The hybrid part of the powertrain – said to be an F1-style KERS power booster – is being supplied by Croatia-based Rimac Automobili that is also involved in another hypercar project, Pininfarina’s all-electric Battista.
Selected journalists have been shown the engine being tested on a Cosworth dyno. The engine is already being tested in prototypes in track testing at Aston’s new vehicle development base at Silverstone Raceway.
Valkyrie’s V12 could be the last-hurrah for such big-bore petrol engines at the British company, with electrification the trend for hypercars.
Aston Martin Lagonda president Andy Palmer has described Cosworth’s efforts on the V12 as extraordinary.
“To anyone with a drop of petrol in their blood, a high-revving naturally aspirated V12 is the absolute pinnacle,” he said. “Nothing sounds better or encapsulates the emotion and excitement of the internal combustion engine more completely.
“Despite the apparently insurmountable challenges it presented, there was never any question that the Aston Martin Valkyrie would make do with anything less.
“From the outset the team at Cosworth were unflinching in their commitment to achieving benchmarks which pushed the boundaries of the possible. The result is a quite extraordinary engine. One which I doubt will ever be surpassed.”
Aston says the engine has not only reached its performance goals, but also its emissions targets.
The British company says the V12 will achieve peak power at 10,500rpm before hitting the rev-limiter at 11,200rpm. Peak torque of 740Nm is achieved at 7000rpm.
Most of the engine’s internal components are milled from solid billets. These include the titanium conrods, F1-style pistons and a lightweight steel crankshaft.
The latter starts life as a solid steel bar, 170mm thick and 775mm long. Says Aston: “It is first roughed out, then heat-treated, finish machined, heat treated again, gear ground, final ground and superfinished.
“Upon completion 80 per cent of the original bar has been machined away and some six months have passed, but the end product is a crankshaft that’s an astonishing 50 per cent lighter than that used in the Aston Martin One-77’s V12 – itself a Cosworth-developed evolution of Aston Martin’s series production V12 and, for a time, the world’s most powerful naturally aspirated road car engine.”
Cosworth managing director Bruce Wood described the engine’s development as “a challenge like no other”.
“It’s been a fantastic partnership between Aston Martin, Red Bull and Cosworth with each party bringing a distinct clarity of vision that has proved essential in delivering an internal combustion engine way beyond anything previously seen in a road car application,” he said.
The mid-mounted engine is bolted directly to the Valkyrie’s carbon-fibre tub at the front. The transmission and rear suspension is fixed directly to the engine at the rear, making it an integral part of the chassis, F1 style.
The overall project is being guided by Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey, using F1 technical expertise.
Aston promises that it will reveal details of the hybrid system at a future date. Hopefully, these details will include overall power and performance figures that are expected to show the Valkyrie to be one of the most powerful and fastest cars on the planet.
Just 150 Valkyries will be built, each hand-made in the United Kingdom starting in 2019.
As we have reported, 25 track-only AMR Pro Valkyries will also be built from 2020.
