Aston Martin has continued the flow of technology from its racing teams back into its road car division with the announcement of an up-spec, limited AMR edition of its Rapide four-door luxury sports sedan that features a juiced-up 595-hp naturally aspirated V12 engine.
The AMR tag stands for Aston Martin Racing, and the new Rapide AMR joins the recent DB11 AMR and Vantage AMR in wearing the race team colors as a special edition.
It's a fair old upgrade. Bigger inlet manifolds, a corresponding increase in airflow and a tune-up combine to bump the power up some 50-odd horses to 595 hp (444 kW), with 465 lb-ft (630 Nm) of torque. All naturally aspirated and noisy, just like the punters want. Top speed will be 205 mph (330 km/h), which is pretty impressive for a four-door, and will help mightily if you're late on the school run.
The wheels get upgraded to 21-inch forged monsters, the first time Aston Martin's gone that big, wrapped in high-performance Michelin Super Sport hoops.
Brakes are savage lightweight carbon ceramic jobs, the front discs measuring 400 mm. The suspension has been lowered 1 cm (0.4 in) and the three-stage adaptive damping has been "thoroughly re-engineered" over many long laps at the Nurburgring with a view to making the car more "focused, agile and dynamic."
The big visual change is the addition of a funky, aerodynamic body kit that adds considerable aggression and raciness to the overall look.
It begins with a new grille above a carbon front splitter. The hood (or bonnet, since she's a Brit) gets a pair of chunky vents, there's carbon skirting down the sides, and the rear spoiler and diffuser come in carbon. It makes the standard Rapide S look incredibly pedestrian and understated in comparison.
The interior gets a bit of a youth injection as well, with lurid striping on the ceiling and seats, and a conspicuously carbon cover on the entire center console.
Only 210 Rapide AMRs will be built, and they'll go on sale everywhere but Russia and China, for some reason. Pricing starts at £194,950 in the UK, US$240,000 in the US and €229,950 in Germany from Q4 this year.
Source: Aston Martin
