Say Hello To The 800hp Vulcan: The Most Intense Aston Martin In History

After a couple of weeks of naughty but nice teaser videos, the covers have been lifted off the Aston Martin Vulcan. Take a moment to drink in the track car’s brutal beauty, because none of us were expecting the Vulcan to look quite this astonishing and different.

Aston describes the supercar’s design as hinting at the next generation of its sports cars. To us, this seems like a very brave move, considering the design language probably won’t please all Aston fans. The front-end, for example, with its pinched nose and narrow headlights, reminds us a lot of the face you’d find on a Zenos E10.

The rear, meanwhile, is pure Aston Martin, with its wide haunches and One-77-style rear lights. The huge rear diffuser and dominant rear wing set the race car’s rear off perfectly and help keep the Vulcan suction-mounted to the tarmac.

Now onto the oily bits: the Vulcan’s naturally-aspirated and front mid-engined (the engine is placed between the driver and the front axle) 7.0-litre V12 produces over 800hp (around 50hp more than the One-77) and drives the rear wheels (345/30/19s) via a six-speed sequential gearbox.

The Vulcan also gets pushrod suspension, adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars front and back, and the driver can adjust the ABS and TC systems.

Braking is taken care of by Brembo ceramic racing brake discs (380mm at the front; 360mm at the rear) and Brembo racing callipers. The Vulcan also features an LSD, as well as a carbonfibre monocoque and body to ensure an outrageous power-to-weight figure.

Inside the Vulcan, the carbonfibre theme continues on the dashboard, centre console, door cards and racing wheel, which features buttons for the radio, pit lane, neutral, ABS, TC, fuel, flash and dash. The screen in the driver’s line of sight measures everything from speed and tyre pressures to yaw and G-forces.

At a cost of £1.5m plus taxes (all in, the equivalent of two McLaren P1s or 23 Nissan GT-Rs), the Vulcan will be limited in number to just 24 track-only cars. Buyers are given a ‘unique ownership programme’ which includes fast track training. This includes intensive driver training by Aston Martin racing drivers and the chance to drive the One-77 and GT4 race car. Exclusive track days for owners will start in 2016.

All the performance details (including that power-to-weight figure) will be revealed later this year.