Aston Martin revealed their fastest roadster till date, the 2015 V12 Vantage S Roadster. Powered by the colossal 6.0-litre V12 engine and pumping out 565bhp, the car is capable of reaching 324kph and sprinting from 0 to 100kph in only 4.1 seconds. There is an abundance of both top end and low rev torque with 620 Nm available at 5,750 rpm. Crucially, too, low rev torque – measured from just 1,000rpm – starts at a 510 Nm. This shows the Aston Martin engineers’ ability to create a ‘flatter’, yet ‘fatter’, torque curve which supports exceptional driveability and strong pick-up through the gears.
The British marque’s most potent roadster comes with the new Sportshift III 7-speed transmission, which is engineered to exploit the full sporting potential of the V12 engine. This unit, which replaces the six-speed manual gearbox found in the previous V12 Vantage Roadster, is 20 kg lighter than its forebear.
The ‘Sport’ mode, controlled via a button on the centre console, alters throttle response, gearshift speed and timing, and exhaust note to tune the character of the car to the driver’s requirements. For optimum braking performance, it comes with specially-created carbon ceramic discs all round, with near-identical brakes appearing on the GT, the Vanquish. The V12 Vantage S Roadster gets a new lightweight exhaust system, which is borrowed from Aston Martin’s most expensive production model, the One-77 hypercar.
Aston Martin Director of Design, Marek Reichman, said, “The V12 Vantage S Roadster is the mechanical embodiment of our company’s exceptional spirit. Beautiful, powerful and spirited it is as spectacular to listen to as it is to look at. The new roadster is truly a treat for the senses with, underlying all this, the capacity to deliver one of the most dynamic, exciting and stirring driving experiences in our current range.”
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