RML previews radical 911 upgrade and carbon-bodied V8 Vantage

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 10:33:28 +0000
Automotive

Hypercar-inspired Porsche 911 upgrade package is one of RML's 40th birthday presents

UK engineering firm celebrates 40th anniversary with important reveals from its engineering, bespoke and EV divisions

RML Group – the UK engineering outfit behind a number of successful global motorsport programmes and highly exclusive road cars – will mark its 40th anniversary in 2024 with four important unveilings.

RML was founded in 1984 as a racing team, and has run works motorsport efforts for the likes of Seat, Vauxhall, Aston Martin, Saleen and Chevrolet across multiple series. It also designed the engine for Nissan's striking Deltawing Le Mans racer, engineered customer rally cars for Opel-Vauxhall and raced successfully in the short-lived ASCAR stock racing series in the UK.

In recent years it has become known for highly exclusive road cars including the Aston Martin Vulcan, the Nissan Juke-R and the Ferrari 250 GTO-inspired Short Wheelbase.

The company has not confirmed debut dates for each of its four new projects, but has previewed one in the form of a radical upgrade package for the Porsche 911, with influence from top-flight Le Mans Hypercars.

Codenamed P39, the package has been developed by RML’s Engineering division to “work across the 911 range”, with the promise of enhanced engine and aerodynamic performance to “extend the car’s speed and handling capabilities well beyond standard,” while maintaining full reliability”.

It has not detailed pricing or availability for the ‘P39’ package, but similarly conceived 911 upgrades from the likes of Manthey, Brabus and Techart tend to increase the list price by a significant percentage.

That will be the second of Prodrive's 40th anniversary celebrations. The first, codenamed P40, will be a track day car that "builds on all the company's multi-championship winning experience" with F1-inspired aero addenda and touting "new levels of speed and handling for track-day cars".

Meanwhile, the RML Bespoke division – which was behind the Short Wheelbase sports car from 2022 – is poised to reveal a thoroughly modernised and uprated version of the original Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

The resto-mod take on Aston's 1970s GT car will be sympathetic to the design of the original, RML says, but will wear a lightweight carbonfibre bodyshell and adopt '21st century mechanicals' "to crate one of the world' finest and most capable grand tourers".

The company's Power electronics division is also gearing up to detail its new VarEVolt electric vehicle battery technology, which it says has already "proven itself at the Nürburgring", and is installed in a 'current' Goodwood hillclimb record holder - which is understood to be the McMurtry Spéirling fan car.

Company CEO Michael Mallock said: “RML Group has achieved an enormous amount in the previous 40 years, we are still focused squarely on the future as these product launches show.

“I am excited to bring all of these new high-performance products to market. They are just the beginning of a long product pipeline for us. I look forward to sharing more details on each soon."