Aston Martin and Red Bull will build a hypercar

You might want to sit down and pay attention to this one. Today, Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing have announced they are to work together to build a ‘ground-breaking’ new Aston hypercar.

It’s codenamed ‘AM-RB 001’ – how very Bond – and is said to meld Formula One tech to Aston’s “signature sports car design”. In fact, RB boss Christian Horner reckons it will become the ‘ultimate of all road cars’ when it appears, likely in 2018.

Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey and Aston’s Marek Reichman are the brains behind the new car, which isn’t a track-only special (like the Vulcan), but one built specifically for the road.

At this early stage then, details are naturally thin. Aston reckons it will boast Formula One and LMP1-style performance, with the lofty ambition of posting a lap time around Silverstone quicker than today’s crop of F1 cars. Yikes.

Of course, no engine or drivetrain specifics have been mentioned as yet, but a hybrid could be under consideration. And surely Aston must be thinking about deploying some iteration of that lovely 7.0-litre V12 from the track-only Vulcan?

We’ll find out soon enough - apparently we'll see some fruit of their labours before the year is out. It’ll be grippy, no doubt, with Newey’s F1 expertise pivotal to the AM–RB 001’s likely high levels of downforce, and Reichman’s penmanship put to the extreme.

“We are in the process of developing a hypercar that combines the latest in aerodynamics from F1 and the stunning design language of an Aston Martin sports car,” said Reichman. Are we looking at a real-life version of Aston’s stunning Gran Turismo racer, the DP-100 (pictured above)? We have many fingers crossed...

Newey’s involvement of course brings a long-held desire to build a road-going racecar to fruition. “From the age of six I have had two goals in life,” Newey said. “To be involved in the design of racing cars, and to be involved in the design of a super car. While the former ambition went on to form my career to date, the latter has always bubbled away, resulting in countless sketches and doodles over the years.”

Aston boss Andy Palmer added: “These are exciting times for Aston Martin and arriving hot on the heels of our DB11 launch earlier this month, this new partnership underlines that our brand really is racing again.”

The Aston/RB partnership also brings an Aston Martin badge back to Formula One for the first time since the 1960s – AM logos will adorn this year’s RB12 racers.

So, until we have more, let us know how you think this ‘ultimate’ Aston Martin will pan out.