Like a Dell factory but what comes out is a LOT more fun: We visit Aston Martin

V12 made in the German factory

A parallel line builds drive trains. The mammoth V8 and V12 engines are made in an Aston Martin factory in Germany – a legacy of the company having been owned by Ford. Aston Martin has recently announced a deal with Mercedes AMG for V8 engines but the 6.0 V12 will continue to be Aston Martin’s own.

John Muirhead from Aston Martin explains that the transmission tube is a lot more than a traditional propshaft.

It’s an aluminium housing for a carbon fibre rod which is very low loss. A traditional propshaft can suck up 30bhp - even with the prodigious amount of power the engines are putting out it’s important that as much as possible makes it to the wheels.

Front crash structure is light and strong

The transmission tube is attached to the gearbox and then the engine attached to the other end. It’s a ballet of men and machines. The powertrain then has the support structures fitted. A mix of cast and extruded aluminium designed for lightness and strength, with small kinks designed to be weak points in the event of a crash so that it deforms predictably as a crumple zone in the event of a crash. The subsections each get suspension mounted and the bottom half of the car lowered onto a trolley.