Aston Martin will race at this year’s 24 Hours of Nurburging in a unique Rapid S that will be partially powered by hydrogen. The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapid S continues to be powered by the same V12 unit, but with turbocharger and an ability to run on hydrogen, petrol or a combination of the two.
This Rapid S will be the first hydrogen-powered car to compete in an international event as well as the first zero CO2 emission sports car to set a lap a race pace. Of course the majority of the event will be run on gasoline, but Aston Martin hopes to complete at least one lap of the ‘Ring’ on pure hydrogen.
The car has been fitted with four carbonfibre hydrogen fuel tanks – two next to the driver and two in the car’s trunk that can in total hold around 7.7 pounds of hydrogen. The British carmaker is yet to divulge performance figures of the racer – the standard model develops 550bhp with zero to hundred time well under five seconds.
