After 40 years of storage, the Aston Martin Bulldog sets its sights on breaking the 200 mph barrier. This one-off concept car was meant to be the start of a limited production run of mid-engine Aston Martin production cars. With a claimed top speed of over 200 mph, the bulldog concept fell short during testing, and the programme was cancelled due to cost.
Thanks to a full restoration that’s currently in progress, the Bulldog is setting its sights on redemption.
In the 1980s, Aston Martin wanted to prove to the world that it was a world-class engineering outfit that could build cars of any calibre. The construction of a mid-engine supercar seemed like a logical choice, and project K-9 was started. Powered by an electronic fuel-injected twin-turbo 5.3-litre V8 engine, Aston Martin claimed the Bulldog produced well over 650 bhp however no official figures exist.
The Bulldog was named after Aston Martin managing director Alan Curtis’s Scotts Aviation Bulldog airplane and dubbed K-9 internally after the robotic dog featured in the Doctor Who TV series. The plan was to showcase the engineering prowess of Aston Martin’s new engineering facility in Newport Pagnell and claim the coveted title of world’s fastest production car.
Thanks to its powerful engine and aerodynamic exterior, Aston Martin claimed the Bulldog could reach a top speed of 237 mph. Sadly it fell short in testing with a top speed of only 192 mph.
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Today the only Aston Martin Bulldog in existence is being restored with the plan to go for 200 mph again. Aston Martin test driver Darren Turner has even agreed to pilot this 40-year-old car to unknown speeds.
After 40 years of storage, the Aston Martin Bulldog is set for redemption, and we cannot wait to see if it will finally break the 200 mph barrier.
Source: thespeedjournal