Raw And Ready!
Aston Martin has been on quite a run lately. Its ultra-exclusive Q division first delivered us the sick Valour, then the hardcore Valiant, both with equipped with six-speed manuals. Now, they’re turning up the volume with their most extreme ‘V’ car yet, the Valen – the most powerful front-engine production car ever!
To get that title, they actually had to break their own record. The Vanquish held the title with 824 horsepower, but the Valen’s reworked 5.2 litre twin-turbo V12 is now king with 838 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque!
The 8 speed ZF auto onboard gets its shift capabilities from the Vantage GT4 race program, which helps this thing gun from zero to 60 in just 3 seconds flat (three tenths quicker than the Vanquish), and hit a top speed of 344 km/h!
While most auto makers are slapping electric motors onto combustion engines to gain power, Aston has gone the other way, chasing numbers through weight and displacement instead.
The Valen is 110 kg lighter than other Astons, with carbon fibre body panels accounting for 25 kg of that weight loss, and magnesium wheels shaving an additional 6 kg off mass. It even loses its rear window to lighten the load, so you’ll have to rely on a camera-fed mirror to see behind!
The rest of the body is also function-heavy: slim recessed headlamps, a single-vent bonnet, and side skirts that double as vents, all keep the waistline in check.
To maximize cabin sound, Aston routes the exhaust in the middle of the rear end, near the tail lights. It’s uncommon for a front-engine car, and those exposed quad exhausts give off a raw, sinister vibe, along with the Satin Andromeda Red paint that switches from red to orange to black depending on the light!
Estimated to cost roughly $2.7 million, only 150 will be made. Aston isn’t about moving volume on these, they want to show their front-engine V12 monster can still scare without electrical assist. Now that is a feature – and a flex!
