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The Aston Martin Victor, a privately commissioned one-off car I only just found out about from British friends on social media, might be the coolest vehicle to come out in 2020. I mean, come on: Weird multi-era styling, cashmere headliner, V12... manual transmission?!
The more I look at the more jarring it is. I love it. I mean, I really love it. It’s so delightfully different!
Some British publications and show-goers got to see the Victor in person this week at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace (where people don’t seem too concerned about the coronavirus based on social media pics) but an Aston Martin spokesperson told me there weren’t plans to put out an official press release about the Victor as the owner wants to keep the car “low key.”
Clearly not too low key or the car wouldn’t have been wheeled out at a show, but I have to admit it’s kind of more fun to be surprised by something like this than spending weeks dissecting teaser photos.
I guess AM wasn’t too worried about hyping it anyway, if it’s really only making one, I guess it’s sold out! I did ask what the mystery client paid for the privilege of being the only person to own Aston’s most powerful manual-shift supercar, but the company’s people unsurprisingly declined to share.
Anyway, whoever spent a mint on this elegant monster bought more than just bragging rights. The car is unique, which gets harder to pull off all the time. A document Aston’s rep sent me describes the Victor as “inspired by the Aston Martin V8 Vantage of the ’70s and ’80s.” More specifically: “...the iconic Aston Martin V8 Vantage of the 1970s and ’80s and the ’70s DBS V8 that was developed to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the RHAM/1.”
Here’s what they’re talking about:
Yeah, I was a little confused about how “’70s and ’80s” vibes could be used to describe the same car but I get it after looking at the image. It’s like, designed in the ’70s, modified in the ’80s.
It’s pretty cool the way this aesthetic was ported to a whole new look, and the oily bits (Britishisms are allowed when discussing a custom Aston Martin) are rifled from the coolest parts bin ever:
Naturally aspirated 7.3-liter V12 from the One-77, tuned by Cosworth to a claimed 836 brake horsepower and 599 lb-ft of torque.
Six-speed manual transmission made by Graziano (The UK division of axle authority Dana) with a “bespoke motorsports clutch” that would probably cost more to replace than I’ve spent on car maintenance in my life so far.
Inboard springs and dampers from the track-only Aston Martin Vulcan.
Worked on by the team bringing the Valkyrie hypercar to life.
Finished in “Pentland Green” and satin carbon fiber with a Forest Green interior sewn by fancy leather outfit Conker Bridge of Weir which used cashmere on the headliner. Also: The solid walnut(!) dashboard is Crown cut, whatever that means, and matches the wood shift knob.
I don’t usually get excited about ultra-elite supercars I’ll never see in the skin but I have to say, this thing just sounds incredible. The design is borderline bizarre, but I dig it. And the high-performance/luxury clashes came out really well. At least, based on what we can see in these photos.
Will the world ever see this car again or what? In case we don’t, I’m just going to dump the whole stack of official photos I got. Take your time with these, there’s a lot going on.
The only awesome part about this thing, IMO, is the interior. The exterior looks cool and all but not really for how many zeros there were on the price tag for this thing... Looks like a modified Mustang.
It’s something I expect most of us have done from time to time: sat down and specified our perfect car. And mine would of course be a front-engined, two-seat coupé powered by an enormous, highly tuned but normally aspirated V12 engine, driving through a manual gearbox to the rear wheels alone.
Sadly, in these days of flappy paddled, four-wheel-drive, turbo-hybrid machines, no one makes cars like that any more. Unless, that is, you ask very nicely.
Then, and on the off-chance that you have something like £4 million to spare, you might be able to persuade somebody to create one, just for you. Which is exactly what the Belgian owner of this one-off Aston Martin Victor did.
It was made possible because Aston happened to have a prototype tub from the 2009 One-77 still in store. Its 7.3-litre V12 was sent back to Cosworth with a brief to turn it up to the max; and thus an already hair-raising 750bhp at 7500rpm became 836bhp at nearer 9000rpm.
Its fully rose-jointed pushrod suspension comes from the Vulcan track hypercar, modified so that its geometry and ride height allow it to be road-legal. It has Vulcan carbon-ceramic brakes, too, with modified pads to ensure they work from cold.
While the glasshouse is One-77, the body is all carbonfibre and designed to evoke the spirit of the great V8 Vantage of 1977-1989. However, the car that it reminds me of most is an Aston that started life as a 1970 DBS, began racing in 1974 and went on to compete in wildly modified form at Le Mans in 1977 and 1979, where it earned the name Muncher, due to its exceptional appetite for brake pads.
When I put this to Aston’s Amerpal Singh, who was in charge of engineering the Victor, he replied: “You know about the Muncher? That’s what we called this car all the way through its development!”
It’s fair to say that Silverstone’s little Stowe Circuit doesn’t provide the wide open spaces in which the Victor would most easily show its strengths, even if it were dry, which it most certainly isn’t.
Even so, one can still get a feel for things here and, settling down into the Victor, it all feels remarkably right. The cockpit is unique and beautiful, with the instrument display borrowed from the Valkyrie.
Back to topWe’re ready to go. Carefully. The driver before me spun it twice, doubtless due to the failure of its Michelin Cup 2 tyres to interact with the wet surface, and I will share with you that I did exit turn one at something of an unorthodox angle. But thereafter, it was sublime.
With all the rubber removed from the suspension, the immediacy of its response reminded me more of a race car than something that can be used on the road. And as the surface dried until it was merely damp, so I could get a little heat into the Michelins, I could start to use the car properly.
The noise is frankly ridiculous, in richness, complexity and, most of all, volume. It’s not like hearing some old symphonic Ferrari V12: it’s much more aggressive than that. To my ear, it’s most like the engine that Jaguar used to win the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1988 and 1990; and as that was a 7.0-litre V12, I don’t suppose there’s anything too surprising in that.
The Victor is much less of a handful to drive than I expected. Because it’s so immediate, it’s so well tied down and it provides feel that you don’t find in modern cars (road or race), you always know where you are with it. It’s easy to overwhelm the grip of its street tyres and it’s set up to understeer (a bit too much, being honest), but you can always call on that mighty old V12.
A quick stab of throttle removes grip from one end and restores it at the other; and while the back moves fast, it’s so predictable that you can skid it about like an 800bhp Caterham. Almost. When we were done, three feelings followed me out of the circuit. First, the Victor is one of the most enjoyable cars I’ve ever driven. Second, how easy it would be to create a more affordable supercar conceived on the same purist principles. And third, how sad it is that the likelihood of someone doing so is effectively zero.
09-04-2020, 01:23 PM
