V12V top speed

[V12VQuantum]

Morning,

Had my 2009 VH era V12V on the runway at Elvington yesterday. Possible the first time in its life it has been that fast.

Held up well! Not the fastest - some modded 911's and a few stock Ferrari's going some way over 200mph, but nothing fell off (the same can't be said for a TVR and a couple of McLarens).

I hit 165mph for the mile, and 179mph for 1.25 miles. It was still pulling, so pretty sure the 190 theoretical top speed would have been hit with enough space to stay flat out. Equally, I think a top quality driver could have pulled through the gears better than me and got a bit more out of it.

Made me wonder - has anyone on here hit that magic 190mph in theirs?

Now I'm half tempted to see if there's any decent mods to make it faster whilst maintaining the Aston character (I love the exhaust note as is), and have another run in the future.

[Graze01]

Quantum

that sounds like fun

ive not got anywhere close to that - but haven't had an airfield to try it on

good idea though!

Graze

[LTP]

Graze01 said:

Quantum

that sounds like fun

ive not got anywhere close to that - but haven't had an airfield to try it on

good idea though!

Graze

I've seen various TV programmes featuring the outback, Graeme. Don't you have some stupidly long, straight, tarmac highways miles from civilisation?

[JohnG1]

V12VQuantum said:

Morning,

Had my 2009 VH era V12V on the runway at Elvington yesterday. Possible the first time in its life it has been that fast.

Held up well! Not the fastest - some modded 911's and a few stock Ferrari's going some way over 200mph, but nothing fell off (the same can't be said for a TVR and a couple of McLarens).

I hit 165mph for the mile, and 179mph for 1.25 miles. It was still pulling, so pretty sure the 190 theoretical top speed would have been hit with enough space to stay flat out. Equally, I think a top quality driver could have pulled through the gears better than me and got a bit more out of it.

Made me wonder - has anyone on here hit that magic 190mph in theirs?

Now I'm half tempted to see if there's any decent mods to make it faster whilst maintaining the Aston character (I love the exhaust note as is), and have another run in the future.

Gears makes very little difference.

At Millbrook you can do the Aston Martin experience. With a V12V you can go through the gears and run the standing mile around 165. Or go 1st to 6th and end the standing mile at around 165.

That's what you get with the gearing and the torque. Everyone gets about the same...

[Minglar]

JohnG1 said:

V12VQuantum said:

Morning,

Had my 2009 VH era V12V on the runway at Elvington yesterday. Possible the first time in its life it has been that fast.

Held up well! Not the fastest - some modded 911's and a few stock Ferrari's going some way over 200mph, but nothing fell off (the same can't be said for a TVR and a couple of McLarens).

I hit 165mph for the mile, and 179mph for 1.25 miles. It was still pulling, so pretty sure the 190 theoretical top speed would have been hit with enough space to stay flat out. Equally, I think a top quality driver could have pulled through the gears better than me and got a bit more out of it.

Made me wonder - has anyone on here hit that magic 190mph in theirs?

Now I'm half tempted to see if there's any decent mods to make it faster whilst maintaining the Aston character (I love the exhaust note as is), and have another run in the future.

Gears makes very little difference.

At Millbrook you can do the Aston Martin experience. With a V12V you can go through the gears and run the standing mile around 165. Or go 1st to 6th and end the standing mile at around 165.

That's what you get with the gearing and the torque. Everyone gets about the same...

I guess that was a few years ago John? I am not sure but I don’t think you can do the AM PDC in any of the previous generation cars now. It was certainly the case when I did it five years ago. They couldn’t even provide a previous generation (2017 onwards) manual V8 Vantage let alone an original six speed V12V. So I did it in a DBSS. What a beast. The car was a bit twitchy at the start as getting the power down is not easy, but I got it to 175mph on the mile straight before I had to slow down. As for Gaydon generation six speed V12V I have no reason to doubt it will hit its claimed top speed if you have enough room, but I think I would prefer to try it in someone elses car rather than my own. Fifteen years on they are still very special cars and absolutely all you really need on our congested, pot holed and speed camera infested roads. BRM.

[V12VQuantum]

Fair point on the gearing. I mashed into fifth instead of third on one run, and still hit 172 or something like that. Incredible power.

[Graze01]

LTP said:

I've seen various TV programmes featuring the outback, Graeme. Don't you have some stupidly long, straight, tarmac highways miles from civilisation?

yes the problem is they are "...miles from civilisation"

and we suffer the same sort of nanny state policing I hear mentioned in the UK!

Graeme

[JohnG1]

Graze01 said:

LTP said:

I've seen various TV programmes featuring the outback, Graeme. Don't you have some stupidly long, straight, tarmac highways miles from civilisation?

yes the problem is they are "...miles from civilisation"

and we suffer the same sort of nanny state policing I hear mentioned in the UK!

Graeme

AU plod worse. RBT and war on speed certainly in inhabited NSW.

[JohnG1]

Minglar said:

JohnG1 said:

V12VQuantum said:

Morning,

Had my 2009 VH era V12V on the runway at Elvington yesterday. Possible the first time in its life it has been that fast.

Held up well! Not the fastest - some modded 911's and a few stock Ferrari's going some way over 200mph, but nothing fell off (the same can't be said for a TVR and a couple of McLarens).

I hit 165mph for the mile, and 179mph for 1.25 miles. It was still pulling, so pretty sure the 190 theoretical top speed would have been hit with enough space to stay flat out. Equally, I think a top quality driver could have pulled through the gears better than me and got a bit more out of it.

Made me wonder - has anyone on here hit that magic 190mph in theirs?

Now I'm half tempted to see if there's any decent mods to make it faster whilst maintaining the Aston character (I love the exhaust note as is), and have another run in the future.

Gears makes very little difference.

At Millbrook you can do the Aston Martin experience. With a V12V you can go through the gears and run the standing mile around 165. Or go 1st to 6th and end the standing mile at around 165.

That's what you get with the gearing and the torque. Everyone gets about the same...

I guess that was a few years ago John? I am not sure but I don’t think you can do the AM PDC in any of the previous generation cars now. It was certainly the case when I did it five years ago. They couldn’t even provide a previous generation (2017 onwards) manual V8 Vantage let alone an original six speed V12V. So I did it in a DBSS. What a beast. The car was a bit twitchy at the start as getting the power down is not easy, but I got it to 175mph on the mile straight before I had to slow down. As for Gaydon generation six speed V12V I have no reason to doubt it will hit its claimed top speed if you have enough room, but I think I would prefer to try it in someone elses car rather than my own. Fifteen years on they are still very special cars and absolutely all you really need on our congested, pot holed and speed camera infested roads. BRM.

Millbrook used dealer demo cars. Hence all the cars went to Millbrook for some Italian maintenance before entering the dealer network for sale as "one careful owner"...


Mine was an apology for the death trap of the V8V fuel tank i have written about on here and was I think 2012

[CitySlicker]

On a long, straight, desert, private road I managed 306kph in my V12VRS sport shift. I recall the gearing quite short on the car so above 250kph the rate of acceleration falls off fairly quickly. The book says 320kph top speed, I don't doubt it but you'll need a lot of space to actually achieve it.

[Jon39]

JohnG1 said:

Mine was an apology for the death trap of the V8V fuel tank i have written about on here and was I think 2012

I tried to find the topic that you have referred to John, but without success.
If you can produce a link, I would be interested to read (possibly re-read).

Thank you.

[JohnG1]

Jon39 said:

JohnG1 said:

Mine was an apology for the death trap of the V8V fuel tank i have written about on here and was I think 2012

I tried to find the topic that you have referred to John, but without success.
If you can produce a link, I would be interested to read (possibly re-read).

Thank you.

I don't have a link. Try Google maybe?

Short version, the first couple of model years of V8V 4.3 had a petrol tank breather mechanism to vent fumes from the petrol tank into the inlet manifold.

Drive hard. Get the engine warm. Fill the tank to full.

Drive hard around some corners. The engine will cut out.

AML sent a Gaydon engineer to sit with me until I proved it to him.

Then I got a new petrol tank. New catalytic convertors and other stuff fixed by AML.

No documentation provided. All done in a semi-covert manner.

It's a design fault.

A lovely chap on here, I think he was called OceanTools pointed me in the right direction.

The V8V should have been recalled. The second or third model year the fuel tank design was replaced and the problem engineered out.

[Jon39]

JohnG1 said:

I don't have a link. Try Google maybe?

Short version, the first couple of model years of V8V 4.3 had a petrol tank breather mechanism to vent fumes from the petrol tank into the inlet manifold.

Drive hard. Get the engine warm. Fill the tank to full.

Drive hard around some corners. The engine will cut out.

AML sent a Gaydon engineer to sit with me until I proved it to him.

Then I got a new petrol tank. New catalytic convertors and other stuff fixed by AML.

No documentation provided. All done in a semi-covert manner.

It's a design fault.

A lovely chap on here, I think he was called OceanTools pointed me in the right direction.

The V8V should have been recalled. The second or third model year the fuel tank design was replaced and the problem engineered out.

Thank you John.

When I asked my question to you, I wondered whether your car might have been connected with the other aspect that you mentioned.
ie. One owner dealer demonstrator cars being used at Millbrook, then subsequently sold.

Presumably the fault that you encountered, must presumably have affected many other early model cars.

[JohnG1]

It is a design fault.

My V8 registration started AF06, so if you have an 06 plate V8V that has not had the fuel tank replaced it can be detrimental to continuation of life...

Mine cut out completely as I approached a 90° right hand corner at speed with a solidly built dry stone wall in front.

I managed to get the clutch down and restart the motor, standing on the brakes, sweating.

A brush with mortality...