Hypercar a new milestone

Aston Martin's $2.5 million One-77 has the most powerful naturally aspirated road car engine in the world. Photo / Supplied

Aston Martin says another milestone has been reached in creating its new $2.5 million One-77 hypercar.

As part of the engineering sign-off process, the car's engine has been certified as developing 560kW and 750Nm, making it the most powerful naturally aspirated road car engine in the world today.

The 7.3-litre V12 unit is being built with input from legendary engine-builders Cosworth, which also provides engines for Formula One teams Lotus, Virgin, Williams and HRT.

The car is now in the latter stages of the sign-off process, which has included hot and cold extreme-weather testing, as well as many punishing laps of the Nurburgring circuit.

Aston Martin chief Dr Ulrich Bez says: "The One-77 is approaching a production reality and, of course, there is considerable excitement in the project.

"Now the next steps are all about details and refinement to complete the composition. I know the final car will demonstrate what the Aston Martin team is capable of."

Deliveries of the One-77 are expected to begin early next year. Aston claims that about half of the production run of 177 cars have already been sold.