Less than a decade ago, an automobile having an engine that pumped out 300 horsepower was all it took to earn the moniker of muscle car, along with a certain level of respect on the road. Anything above 500 hp was bonkers, reserved for the likes of McLaren's F1 supercar. Then electric vehicles, Teslas foremost among them, burst out of their city-car-chrysalis. They started dominating the power wars, drag strips, and races like the Pikes Peak Hill Climb—VW smashed the record with the all-electric ID R this year.
But engineers haven't written off the internal combustion engine just yet. The team at Aston Martin has released details on the V12 engine that will breathe life into its upcoming, $3 million Valkyrie hypercar, and the gleaming maze of metal is a beautiful beast.
The 6.5-liter V12 will produce 1,000 horsepower (because excess) and revs to 11,100 rpm. Putting this overall insanity aside, what's remarkable about such figures is that Aston's engineers hit them without resorting to turbochargers. The automaker says it recognizes that turbos offer a ton of benefits, but wanted “an internal combustion engine that sits at the absolute pinnacle for performance, excitement, and emotion,” which it could only get through natural aspiration. And while turbochargers do boost performance, even the very best ones introduce a little lag time before they get fully spooled up pumping air into the cylinders. For the Valkyrie, that was unacceptable.
Do the math, and the engine develops 153.8 horsepower per liter, smashing the gold standard of 100 hp per liter for a naturally aspirated engine that was so remarkable when the McLaren F1 passed it in 1992. Sure, the ridiculously powerful Bugatti Chiron develops 1,500 horsepower from its W16 engine, but it uses four turbos to do it.
While you should admire the simple elegance of the batteries and motors that power electrics, you can't deny the intricate, terrible beauty of the internal combustion engine. Just consider the engineering brilliance needed to harness hundreds of explosions every second, moving air into the combustion chambers and out of the exhaust. Not convinced? Spend a moment gawking at the photos above.
To make this happen, Aston Martin tapped famed engine builder Cosworth for its Formula 1 expertise, particularly for help keeping the engine to a relatively trim 454 pounds. Because the power plant is a structural element of the car (it's the only thing joining the front wheels to the back), it had to be strong at the same time. That explains the titanium connecting rods. The crankshaft is milled from a solid steel bar in a process that takes six months, alternating heat treatments for strengthening, and machining to remove excess material. In the end, 80 percent of the original bar has disappeared.
The Valkyrie itself is designed by Adrian Newey, better known as an F1 guru now working for Red Bull's racing team. (The car is a collaboration between the two companies.) It’s road legal, but very much meant for the track, with a super low chin splitter at the front, high wheel arches crowding a small glass cockpit, and a giant active rear spoiler.
Aston Martin may insist on avoiding turbochargers, but it’s not against all tech. The insane performance figures of this engine, the automaker says, may still be boosted further by a battery hybrid system, which it's not yet ready to discuss. That means that even here, at the pinnacle of the internal combustion engine’s development, the electric motor has a role in the future.
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