What is Aston Martin up to?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I don’t get the ‘Sir’ bit. I presume this is a jibe, but I don’t get it. I’m not that up on him though.

While talking about all that he’s done to improve the situation around Aston Martin, Stroll stated his staggering demand, According to Auto Car, speaking ahead of Aston’s capital markets day, he said, “I should be knighted for what I’ve done. I’ve saved thousands of jobs and built a new Formula 1 factory with hundreds of millions of investment.”

[Adam43]

Ah, OK. I missed that. Thanks.

[Matador]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I don’t get the ‘Sir’ bit. I presume this is a jibe, but I don’t get it. I’m not that up on him though.

OT. Why not in WEC? I’m very skeptical and not that enamored with an Aston Hypercar after the messing around at the beginning of this rule set, but another entrant is another entrant. I guess the not wanting him in F1 comes from the whole waste Lance is a waste of a seat thing. Not that this is unusual in F1 really, but in sportscar the paddock is built on it.

But overall what’s the beef with him?

Heavy on this part.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

In case anyone is interested, my son will be at the FOS with what he calls 'his' Valkyrie.

Is it a F6C Honda? More important, he had a good time there?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Ah, OK. I missed that. Thanks.

What I am unclear on is whether it is a genuine belief, or if there is an element of tongue-in-cheek.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Is it a F6C Honda? More important, he had a good time there?

Yeah, I think so, although he was stuck in the hypercar paddock most of the time. But he is in Aragon right now.....

[S griffin]

Glad he enjoyed it. What did he think of the Hypercar paddock? Aragon, I heard that's quite a tough circuit, so best of luck to him

[claude2cv]

https://www.autosport.com/wec/news/a...imsa/10519417/


Iinteresting

Sean

[v8supes]

Honestly ive not been this excited for anything WEC related in years. I hope it comes off, that V12 could be INCREDIBLE.

[Aysedasi]

Interesting. As I normally have 'inside knowledge' there, I've not heard of this before.... I've always known it was possible, provided someone came to the table with a lot of cash.....

[broadrun96]

And Heart of Racing can definitely find someone with some money to help Ian James and co play with an extra fancy new toy

And Lance might need a new place to play and race in the future so A plus # equals 5 right

[Aysedasi]

Lance may well be the key.......

[Simmi]

If this comes off, the trajectory of top-level sportscars is just incredible. To add that programme to what is already coming next year. Just unbelievable!

Even if they have their work cut out to be winning races the goodwill for it will be massive.

[tomcug]

I remain skeptical about this project but will keep fingers crossed. Would be crazy to finally see this V12 beast on track BTW I had no idea Multimatic is involved there as well.

[Bobo79]

Originally Posted by tomcug

BTW I had no idea Multimatic is involved there as well.

Pretty sure they did nearly all the development work for both the road and track cars. I don’t think Newey was involved at all with the Pro which is to all intents and purposes is a totally different car to the road car (even the tub is different).

[tomcug]

Good to know, thank you.

[Sodemo]

Assuming then that they do enter the Valkyarie, where does the road design end and the race car design start? Do they strip it down to the tub then design a bespoke racer or do they use current bodywork etc?

[veeten]

Well, they do have over a year to get it ready. And, in that time, there will be changes to it... many that will upset some, but will fit in the present frame of the rules and regs.

First of... the engine. This present one was built to the rules as they were in 2019-22, what they will be building to are the rules post-'23, which involves the BoP, 520kw base, among other things. Trying to down scale an engine of that size and capability will become a losing proposition. Don't be surprised if they chose to go a different direction, either a N/A V8 or a turbo V6/V8.

Don't say you weren't warned...

The basic chassis isn't bad by any respects, it's the drivers compartment that will be slightly changed. Remember, the road car manufacture requirement has, practically, been dropped, so building a racer is a fait accomple, freeing AM up.

You get the picture... the car that was presented years ago will be vastly different to the one we'll be seeing on track in '25.

[broadrun96]

From all comments on it the engine is mentioned and clearly stated to be part of the project but ok, yeah they'll definitely want to change that out for an MB unit of course

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

From all comments on it the engine is mentioned and clearly stated to be part of the project but ok, yeah they'll definitely want to change that out for an MB unit of course

Neil Brown unit?

[veeten]

As you look at many of the offerings in both LMH/LMDh, there are several units that are revisions of previous builds that are still in their "warehouses". AM is no exception, with several V8s that they ran in the past.

[Coach Ep]

Keeping my fingers crossed - for the project to materialize but most of all to hear the sound of a whaling V12 again!

[TF110]

Seems the car is 90% ready. The articles read like the 'Pro' version is the gentleman's defunt (for the time) LMH. With the engine putting out all its goods and maybe some unique aero that needs toned down for the WEC? What's left but to pick up the pieces and finish the work with some Lawrence blessings and a good amount of cash?

[S griffin]

Like the look of it so far. Especially in that colour scheme. Can't wait to see how it goes against the others next year. Either way it's good to have a name like Aston back in the top class

[PhilipR]

Interesting development and great if true. Reported on motorsport.com but no news about it on Sportscar media websites (sportscar 365 and dailysportscar) making me question a little bit the validity of the report.

But like others have posted, not sure how suitable the car is for the revised Hypercar regulations. And a V12 whilst glorious, feels like the wrong engine for such formula. And I remember seeing something somewhere where it was explained why