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Pushing the boundaries of performance to the limit
The pressures at which supercar engines operate have almost doubled over the last decade so cars such as the Aston Martin Vulcan are what help keep Castrol EDGE pushing the boundaries of performance
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Aston Martin’s Vulcan is all about the resolute pursuit of performance. Without compromise. It is about reaching – and exceeding – limits, from what it is made of and how it looks, to the carefully chosen components and equipment that make it as capable as it is.
Like the oil, for example. When Aston Martin test driver, Darren Turner, is pushing a Vulcan to the ‘Vmax’ he needs to know his oil will perform at the same level as his engine. The intense pressures that a modern engine works under can be the same as the pressures generated by five family saloons balanced on a stiletto heel. And the only thing preventing a massive mechanical meltdown is a barely visible film of Castrol’s strongest, most advanced oil ever: Castrol EDGE boosted with TITANIUM FST™.
Behind the wheel, you’d never know. All you have to do is drive while, beneath the bonnet, this extreme performance oil is reducing friction. Castrol EDGE starts strong and stays strong, whether it’s in the car you use for the school run on a cold winter morning, or out on track, in one of the world’s most extreme supercars.
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To demonstrate just how effectively Castrol EDGE boosted with TITANIUM FST™ can handle the extreme performance of a car like the £1.8m Vulcan, Castrol EDGE invited Aston Martin to take part in this fourth Titanium Trial: Clone Rivals.
The Vulcan is a limited edition, all-carbon fibre Aston Martin supercar, created exclusively for the track and just 24 will ever be made. In Aston’s own words, it is their “most intense and exhilarating creation to date.”Clone Rivals is a truly groundbreaking concept that takes the principle of ultimate competition and rewrites its very meaning. When you’re already the best of the best, who – or what – comes close enough to challenge?
Simple: Castrol EDGE challenged Aston Martin – and Darren Turner – to take himself on, in the same car. How? By enlisting a world class team of experts to create a Clone Rival to go race against; a virtual reality version of Darren Turner, in a virtual Aston Martin Vulcan, on a virtual race track versus: the real thing. Castrol worked with ground breaking VR specialists, REWIND, who spent three months developing a custom simulator to map acclaimed Spanish racetrack, Ascari. This was a truly authentic Trial, allowing Turner to race a genuine, cloned version of himself.
And the difference between the two? The bottom line is, this double Le Mans winner’s heart beat 33% faster when he was pushing the real Vulcan to the limits. Could this be put down to the pressure of seeing the VR version of himself in his rear view mirrors? Possibly so, given that Darren was a scant 1.1 seconds faster on track than he was in the simulator...
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The Vulcan’s race car looks are matched by race car levels of performance. A normally-aspirated, 7.0 litre, V12 engine develops over 800bhp, making this limited edition Aston Martin one of the ultimate track cars ever, and easily capable of topping 200mph, flat out. Brembo carbon ceramic brakes; a six-speed sequential gearbox; adjustable front & rear dampers and a limited slip differential help to complete the race track experience.
And in the latest, adrenalin-fuelled Titanium Trial, this is the level of performance to which Castrol EDGE boosted with TITANIUM FST™ has been pushed, too.
One of the longest running debates in racing is whether it’s the car that does the winning, or the driver. On the one hand, a so-so driver is unlikely to ever get the most out of a car that is the class of the field; at the same time, how much difference can a world class driver make in a car that just isn’t up to the job? As a rule, the sensible conclusion is you should always be looking for the perfect ‘package’. Even the best car and the best driver need the best tyres available, the most efficient aerodynamics, the best brakes and so on.
And for over 115 years, Castrol has been driven by the restless spirit of innovation and a determination to constantly push the boundaries of what is possible, with one singular and constant goal. To develop the best engine oils possible.
Castrol EDGE boosted with TITANIUM FST™ is Castrol’s most technologically advanced engine oil yet. The chosen oil for the Aston Martin Vulcan.
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