2014 DP-100 design sketch for Gran Turismo
When I first saw the vague sketch Aston Martin released of
its new halo car during today’s partnering announcement with Red Bull F1, I had
to stare at it for about ten minutes before I figured out which direction it
was pointed. Then it was clear: we (may) have seen this before!
Back in August 2014, Aston Martin debuted the DP-100,
pictured above, which was a one-off design study concept for the Gran Turismo
game. Or was it?
With today’s announcement that Aston Martin will stick its
name on Infiniti’s old Red Bull racing team in F1, they also revealed that the
second century of the British luxury brand will foster a range-topping halo car
aimed at being the fastest road car money can buy, tentatively called the AM-RB
100.
That is, in short, absolutely fan-fucking-tastic. They also teased
what it would look like with a little green sketch of five lines that look
nothing like any current or past Aston Martin production design. So obscure, in
fact, I had to study it for a good ten minutes before I realized it looks just
like a slightly stretched outline of the DP-100 Gran Turismo design study.
Concept AM-RB 100 sketch released today
Now this is all purely speculation on my part, but after
going through the effort of overlaying the teaser image from today with a
concept sketch of the 2014 DP-100, there are some obvious similarities that
suggest the final AM-RB 001 has a good shot at being close in design to the
video game concept.
Merged 2014 DP-100 design sketch with AM-RB 100 outline
sketch, slightly stretched
The notable similarities are in the near-identical wheel
arches, the curvature of the roof line which disappears behind the rear-wheel
arch, the indention surfacing around the door area on the side of the car, and
the pointy stubbed nose peeking out up front. There’s also an identical body
contour line that runs straight through the side of both the DP-100 render and
the new halo car sketch.
The DP-100 also previewed the open-backed front fender that
vortexes the airflow around the car, as well as the new roof-rail design cue
seen on the DB11 revealed in Geneva earlier this month.
And this all sort of makes sense, as the DP-100 video game
design was an opportunity for Aston’s designers to go all-out without
production limitations on something that would essentially be a virtual halo
car. It looks like whatever production halo car Aston is working on will be
extremely close to what we got on our Playstations back in 2014.
DP-100 Gran Turismo render
You can also head over to Autocar to see a much, much better render of what I’m
getting at. I thought I was the first to spot it, but it looks like they
managed to follow the same trail.
Autocar also got a chance to speak to Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer about the
upcoming AM-RB 001 halo car. The key statements about the upcoming car are
Aston’s goals. They’re projecting the hypercar will be faster around
Silverstone than an F1 car, also claiming it will be the fastest production
road car for sale when it debuts later this decade.
Palmer also mentioned that it could steal an
energy-regeneration system from the new Red Bull F1 partnership, but likely
wont go full-hybrid. It will also feature a bespoke engine developed by Aston in
a two-seater, mid-engine layout with “ some baggage space, but you might not
get the golf clubs in there.”
The only design issue I had with the 2014 DP-100 concept was
the small little slits for headlights, so hopefully they find a resolution with
the upcoming AM-RB 001. Beyond that I’m extremely excited to see the final
product, even if we seem to have gotten an early whiff already.
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