Aston Martin Valen Photo by Aston Martin

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There’s absolutely no mystery whom Aston Martin is targeting when it calls its new Valen “the world’s most powerful front-engined production car,” if for no other reason than there’s not a lot of other front-engined supercars. In fact, there’s only one real competitor, Ferrari’s 12Cilindri.

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And, if Aston isn’t telling fibs on its spec sheet, the Valen really will be another step forward in front-engined silliness. For one thing, the Valen’s big-boost, twice-turbocharged V12 boasts 19 horses more than the Prancing Horse, 838-hp in all. And its 737 pound-feet of maximum torque positively blows away Maranello’s naturally-aspirated V12 that can only muster 500 lb-ft. It all adds up to a top speed of 345 kilometres an hour, 5 km/h up on the Ferrari. Oh, the 12Cilindri can accelerate a little more quickly to 100 kilometres an hour, but that probably has more to do with the efficacy of Italian Launch Control than anything engine related.

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And, as if that doesn’t make the Valen special enough, Aston Martin says it body is made of carbon fibre, just part of the reason — along with a titanium exhaust system — that it weighs a whopping 110 kilograms (220 pounds) less than other 12-cylinder-powered Astons. There’s even a special package that uses machined-from-solid aluminum suspension arms and replaces all the chassis bolts with titanium versions that generates a 16.9-kilo weight loss all by its own self.

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The project, the latest special from Aston Martin’s bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, is the result of Aston Martin’s newly formed Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) Department. Says CEO, Adrian Hallmark, “The latest in a bloodline of limited production special series models from our bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, Valen’s world-beating performance required a design to capture the raw motion and unmatched output of our V12 powertrain. With more power, less weight, and a spectacular soundtrack, the dramatic design is backed up by equally dramatic performance.”

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Reinforcing its track-oriented bona fides, Valen gains an even more focused Track mode along with Sport and Sport+. And contrary to what you might think, it’s the Track mode that gets the most progressive throttle response. As Aston Martin Director of Vehicle Performance, Simon Newton, explains “For spirited road driving in Sport and Sport+ modes the throttle pedal uses a shorter map to deliver more throttle earlier in its travel, while Track mode trades that urgency for a longer and more progressive delivery when on-limit precision is the priority.” What he’s trying to say is that Sport and Sport+ deliver cheap thrills, but Track delivers the millimetre-by-millimetre precision required when s#!t gets serious.

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