Specifications

Model: Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS
Engine: 5935cc, 12 cylinders
Power/Torque: 600bhp @ 7000rpm / 501 lb ft @ 5600rpm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Performance: 0-60mph: 3.5sec approx. Top speed: 205mph approx
Price: £150,000 approx
Verdict: The best car Aston Martin has ever made

V12 RS is the most powerful and quickest car ever to sport the Aston Martin wings. If the production version that goes on sale for about £150,000 midway through next year is anywhere near as exciting as this one-off prototype, it will cause an absolute sensation.

On the face of it, the V12 Vantage RS is little more than a standard Vantage with the DB9’s V12 engine shoehorned into it. Okay, the heavily vented bonnet and enlarged rear wing should give a clue, yet they don’t prepare you for this engine being a pure racing unit as powerful as that in the DBR9 racer.

Nobody is talking precise numbers, but there’s general agreement that it produces at least 600bhp. The car also has semi-racing suspension, carbon-ceramic disc brakes and a kerb weight of 3,300lb – some 286lb less than the normal Vantage despite the greater weight of a 6 litre V12 over the 4.3 litre V8. The savings have been made by removing soundproofing, airbags and air-conditioning, and fitting a number of carbon-fibre panels.

The RS has about the same power as Ferrari’s quickest car, the 599GTB, but weighs some 880lb less. So all other things being equal, in a drag race between the Vantage and Ferrari’s fastest, the Italian stallion would be left choking in the dust of this very British bulldog. Again, no numbers are quoted, but 0-60mph in 3.5sec and 0-100mph in 7sec won’t be far from the truth.

There are no electronic safety nets – traction control is provided by your right foot – and if you take liberties with the car it will reward you with the most direct route to a painful encounter with the undergrowth. But treat it well, take charge without abusing it, and you will emerge bursting with pride that you tamed so feral a beast.

David Richards, Aston’s chairman, said he envisaged making just 600 over three years. When the V12 Vantage RS takes its place in the marque’s lineup, it will do so at roughly the same time as the four-door Rapide, which will be the most cossetting and sumptuous Aston ever made. Something is needed at the other end of the scale to balance it out and show that Aston Martin has not gone soft in its old age, and there is no better machine to do that than the one you see before you here.