Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS

Aston Martin has squeezed its biggest engine into its smallest coupe to create the V12 Vantage RS. As the RS badge indicates, it's a lighter, faster, less compromising version of the Vantage. Aston Martin unveiled the stripped out coupe as a concept last night (11 December), but it's almost certain to make production.

Aston’s engineers deserve massive credit for managing to shoehorn this 600bhp block in there. The engine is a development of the DBRS9’s – Aston’s ‘gentleman racer’, one rung down from the Le Mans winning DBR9 – but boosted to give a nice round 600 horses. The engine is dry-sumped and features forged pistons and conrods. Peak power arrives at 6250rpm, while 509lb ft is available at 5000rpm.

To shave a few kilos, the boot lid and louvred bonnet are carbonfibre, although this is offset by a heavier engine than the regular V8. Aston says the RS weighs ‘under 1600kg’, but officials wouldn’t be drawn on specifics. A regular V8 Vantage is 1630kg. Either way, this special Vantage is some way off the weight of its nemesis, the 1375kg 911 GT3 RS.

Aston’s boss, Dr Ulrich Bez, was in charge of Porsche R&D when a certain 993 RS was rolling out of Stuttgart. The ‘RS’ script on the brake callipers looks suspiciously Porsche-esque, and a Harm Lagaay was there last night: he’s the man who penned the 993-generation 911.

But for Aston RS is not ‘rennsport’ (which is German for motorsport). Instead it stands for ‘road sport’, signifying that the Vantage RS is a road car that can be used on the track, rather than being an all-out track day racer.