Aston Martin’s hypercar will generate 2 tons of downforce

[Suarez™]

Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing’s long-rumored hypercar is getting closer to destroying streets -- that’s no overstatement. The Wall Street Journal sat down with the folks responsible for the mind-bending creation and shed some interesting light on the car’s direction.

The aerodynamic team has managed to generate around 4,000 pounds of downforce with the model -- so much grip that the car could theoretically drive up the wind tunnel and stay planted. Adding to the team’s aerodynamic bag of tricks, the AM-RB 001 will generate all this downforce without a massive drag-inducing rear wing. Instead, the Aston Martin hypercar ducts air throughout the body and underbody to generate downforce.

Aston Martin will also use an active suspension to further the effects of the downforce. The suspension will rely on computers to help figure out the road surface and adjust the ride height accordingly. This will allow for an extremely low ride height out on the racetrack, while it can be raised to a suitable level for the commute home -- that is, if you plan on commuting in your $3 million road-going race car.

All of these figures mean Aston’s hypercar will hold four gs of lateral acceleration -- a number you’ll only see bested by Formula 1 and Top Fuel race cars. Combine that much grip with the rumored 1,000-hp V12, and we're guessing that the AM-RB 001 will be an absolute missile.

Aston says there will only be 175 built: 150 for the road and 25 slated for race use only. These are apparently going to hit the street in 2019, but if this keeps going on the path predicted, we’ll hopefully see some seat time before then.