Aston Martin’s Insane Vulcan Race Car Will Soon Be Streetable

An independent company is offering conversions of the $2.3 million supercar.

byBen Keeshin|
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According to Autocar, Aston Martin has given British engineering company RML permission to create a conversion kit for its extremely-limited edition Vulcan supercar that will allow the track-only beast to tread on the streets. In short: seven liters of Anglo-V12 terror might be coming to an interstate near you—and may the Lord have mercy on your ears.

When the Vulcan was conceived it was meant to represent the pinnacle of Aston Martin performance. As such, David King and the Aston Martin special projects team were loosed from the constraints of a road-going production car—obstacles like limits on emissions, ride height, noise, and crash-worthiness. In order to be the whooping, be-winged, splitter-dragging monster it is, the Vulcan was built to serve a single master: speed. But a certain number of the 24 Vulcan owners worldwide have expressed interest in expanding their track-star's habitat. With factory blessing, Northamptonshire, England-based engineering firm RML is developing a package of modifications that will allow the car to be road-certified in many, if not all, countries. The work will include virtual crash-testing and any necessary structural reinforcements, drivability enhancements like a raised ride height and more relaxed gear ratios, plus comfort-boosting features added at a customer's request.

In terms of limits, Aston is asking only that RML keep all track-safety equipment, like the roll-cage, intact; the idea is to expand the Vulcan's capabilities, not trade one type of driving for another. No pricing has been announced, but figure on anything up to half-a-million dollars (still no likely trouble for the average Vulcan owner). I am crossing myself as I write this in hopes that the folks at RML will be able to be US DOT regulations—I must see a Vulcan on a Westchester on-ramp before I die. And if that death is in fact the result of simultaneous, Vulcan-related rupturing of the eardrums, heart, and retinae, well, one can only dream of such mortal glory.

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