Yahoo Finance How Will the Aston Martin AM-RB 003 Measure Up to the McLaren Senna?
We compare specs on a pair of million-dollar cars, the McLaren Senna and a car tipped to be its rival, the Aston Martin AM-RB 003.
The AM-RB 003, which made its debut at the Geneva auto show earlier this month, was developed in part by the same person as the Senna: British racer Chris Goodwin.
Aston hasn't released a weight target for the 003, but we would be surprised if it could get close to the Senna's svelte figure.
Hypercar buyers have never had it so good. There's plenty of choice for those with the happy ability to spend around a million bucks on a car capable of pacing genuine race cars on track. Aston Martin's forthcoming entry in the segment is set to offer another compelling alternative. We've already told you about the AM-RB 003, which will be given a more traditional name before it goes on sale in 2021. We thought it would be interesting to look at it against the car that Aston's senior engineers cite as its principal benchmark rival, the McLaren Senna.
Of course, if you want a Senna but don't already have one, then it's already too late and you'll have to buy used. McLaren has already sold its full allocation of 500, despite a price of more than $960,000, and has built and delivered the bulk of these to owners. It has also just dropped images and details for the track-only GTR spinoff, but that one, too, has already sold out, despite a price of $1,200,000. Aston Martin says it plans to build 500 of the AM-RB 003, with price expected to be the equivalent of about $1,300,000 at current exchange rates. The good news is, it's not too late to get your name down for one; you can worry about how to afford it later on.
This Time, It's Personal
There's a very obvious link between these two cars: both were developed under the watchful eye of British racer Chris Goodwin. Formerly McLaren's chief test driver, Goodwin jumped ship to Aston Martin in 2017, where he has been charged with leading dynamic tuning of the company's trio of mid-engined cars: the Adrian Newey–designed Valkyrie, the AM-RB 003, and the production version of the Vanquish Vision that will follow it. Unsurprisingly, Goodwin predicts that the 003 will prove to be even faster than the Senna, although he also insists that driver reward is a more important development target than just lap time: "We want cars that are great to drive, but which are also easy to drive," he told C/D at the Geneva auto show. "If you do that, then you unlock so much of the performance, and that's where the lap time comes from."
Of course, in the interest of balance we need to point out that McLaren may well have introduced even quicker models by the time the production 003 makes it to market.
Powertrains
The Senna's minimalist ethos saw pretty much everything removed that didn't make it go faster. As such, it uses a retuned version of McLaren's twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, producing 789 horsepower without any form of electric-motor assistance.
Aston has only released very limited details about the AM-RB 003's powertrain but has said that it will use a hybridized and turbocharged V-6. Interestingly, this is the same layout that Adrian Newey told us last year had been considered for the Valkyrie before the decision was made to use a Cosworth-developed V-12 instead. Aston says it is developing the new powertrain itself, which will be used-in different outputs-in the 003, the Vanquish, and also ultimately in some of the company's front-engined products.
We can expect the AM-RB 003 to get the highest of these power levels, and although there is no official word on what that might be, Aston chief engineer Matt Becker told C/D at Geneva that both the Senna and the Ferrari LaFerrari are benchmark targets. For reference, the Ferrari produced 950 horsepower. Becker also confirmed that Aston is confident it will be able to produce more combined power from the electrically helped V-6 than it would be from a strictly internal-combustion engine of similar weight.
McLaren is also working on a new generation of hybrids. The first of these will be the replacement for the Sports Series, which we hear will also use a downsized V-6 as its prime mover when it launches in 2021. McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt has told C/D that this will send all drive to the rear wheels, but also that the company is actively considering a future all-wheel-drive arrangement using an electrically powered front axle. Given McLaren's greater reluctance to show its hand regarding future product, it's entirely possible we will see a hybridized McLaren with similar performance very close to the launch of the 003.
Chassis and Aerodynamics
Every superfluous ounce has been carved from the McLaren, which weighed just 3030 pounds when we tested one last year. The company admits that the car was designed primarily for track use, with refinement not even making the list of priorities (the 102 decibels we recorded at wide-open throttle is among the highest levels we've seen in a street-legal car). As such, it uses carbon-fiber shell race buckets and has no more luggage space than what you can cram into the passenger footwell.
The AM-RB 003 will use a carbon-fiber tub, but this will be larger than that of the skintight Valkyrie. Aston hasn't released a weight target for the 003, but we would be surprised if it could get close to the Senna's svelte figure while packing the extra mass of a hybrid system. Goodwin and Becker promise that it will be more road-usable than both the Valkyrie and the Senna, with some small amount of luggage space and an active suspension that will be able to offer greater on-road comfort. "We intend to make the dynamic envelope between refinement and performance as broad as we can," Becker told us in Geneva.
The Senna's savage wingwork helps it to produce enormous levels of downforce; McLaren claims it produces 1764 pounds at 155 mph. The AM-RB 003 looks less dramatic in concept form, but we're told that it will incorporate active elements within the rear wing that will be able to alter the shape of the airfoil-aerospace technology-and will help contribute to what is certain to be a huge level of downforce, but also allow the car to alter its aerodynamic behavior in response to corners and road conditions.
The sharp end of the hypercar market moves quickly, and we can expect much else to have happened by the time the production version of the AM-RB 003 eventually emerges. We already know that Lamborghini is planning a hybridized naturally aspirated V-12 for the Aventador replacement, which we will have seen by then; Ferrari is also working on a raft of new hybrid models.
Or, for those looking for something even faster, what about the 1600-hp Koenigsegg Jesko and its targeted 300-mph top speed?
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