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Aston
Martin Bulldog
The
Aston Martin Bulldog was designed by William Towns, this was the pinnacle
of the angular Seventies supercar, with its gullwing doors, ultra-low
roofline (just 43 inches high) and twenty-first century features like
the TV reversing aid. Claimed a 237mph top speed. Twenty-five were planned,
but only one was ever made.
This drivable concept
car was developed to demonstrate the ability of the factory to produce
a supercar for the 80’s. William Towns styled the Bulldog soon
after finishing the AM Lagonda and thus created the ultimate wedge shaped
sportscar - with initial engineering work by AML chief engineer, Mike
Loasby. When Loasby moved to work for DeLorean in 1979, the work to
finish the car was given to Keith Martin who developed the car for the
next three years.
Of special note
were the pair of massive power operated gullwing doors which took the
height of the car from just over a metre to nearly two.
Pirelli P7 tyres
are used all round fitted to Compomotive split-rim alloy wheels. Around
the circumference are fitted with blades to direct cooling air to the
brakes. This feature was later seen on the successful racing Porsche
956 sportscar. Front wheels are shod with 225/50’s whilst rear
wheels have massive 345/35 tyres.
The Aston Martin
Bulldog is powered by a twin Garrett AirResearch turbocharged 5.3 litre
V8 originally with Bosch Fuel Injection. Power output on the test bed
reached in excess of 700 bhp, although installed in the car this would
have been in the region of 650 bhp. Whilst designed to exceed 200 mph,
at the time, a maximum speed of 192 mph was recorded on the MIRA test
track.
This left hand drive
car of both great length and width only seats two occupants. Instrumentation
was provided by the then "state of the art" LED technology
and touch type sensors straight out of the new AM Lagonda. Other features
common to many Aston Martins is Connolly leather, walnut facings and
air conditioning.
Aston
Martin Bulldog at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009
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