Last month we announced a new series of one-off supercars from Danish company HBH, starting with a mid-engined development of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage. In a fuller interview with the men behind HBH (Jesper Hermann, Christian Brandt and Torben Hartvig), Classic Driver learns more about the technical issues involved…

“To develop a supercar from scratch would be a very cost-intensive process,” explains HBH. “Hence you see Mr. Glickenhaus basing his fantastic P4/5 project on the Ferrari Enzo, and likewise the New Lancia Stratos is based on the Ferrari F430 Scuderia.

“We, on the other hand, have chosen the Aston Martin V12 Vantage as our starting point – for both engineering and design reasons. Technically, the car is easy to work with due to the modular way in which it is built and this is important because, while the P4/5 and New Stratos keep the architecture of their donor cars, our AM Vantage-based car takes things further.

“We will start by stripping the car, right down to the passenger cell, as the first step in the process of developing it from a front-mid-engined GT to a full-blooded, mid-engined, twin-supercharged supercar. While the passenger cell will be left untouched, we’ll be building entirely new front and rear aluminium chassis frames to accommodate the V12 engine in its new, central position.

“The development of the car requires modern, industry-standard CAD software, in the first place to create a precise, 3D model of the car. We will then construct and test everything in CAD before actually building the prototype. When it comes to the body panels, however, Aston Martin tradition almost dictates that they are hand-crafted in aluminium. The moulds for the body panels will be milled using the CAD data – but the panels themselves will be made by hand.

“But it’s the engine, of course, that is the pivot of the whole project. This is the engine that until 2010 was used in both the Aston Martin road cars and the Le Mans race cars. To achieve pure-bred supercar performance, we are creating a twin-supercharger solution in a similar layout to the 1997 Vantage, raising maximum power from 510 to 675HP – and transmitting it to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transaxle gearbox.

“Since the interior of the car will be 95% unchanged from the donor, the feeling of quality when sitting in the HBH supercar will be equal to that of an Aston Martin. Likewise, the ‘technical’ quality will match the donor car. We want to differentiate ourselves from various projects we have seen over the years, where all the effort went on the chassis and engine and hence interior quality was only 80%. We firmly believe that a client for this kind of supercar will want the highest quality, both inside and out. This is not a garage project. It is simply that we are focusing on this one car instead of setting up production facilities and implementing a worldwide sales and distribution network. We expect to design, develop and produce a car which will be seen as a milestone, even in the eyes of an Aston Martin enthusiast.

“As for the cost, which is something we will only discuss with a client, we don’t see it as expensive. Yes, for most people the amount of money you need to purchase a car like this seems a lot – but there is a difference between a lot of money and ‘expensive’. The client will get a fantastic car and everybody else will have the joy of seeing, hearing and reading about it. And who knows – if the client decides to produce a limited series, he will be getting 50% of the design and production rights, as well as the car itself. That could make it a very attractive proposition to the right customer."

For further information, visit www.hbhint.com.

Text: Classic Driver
Photos: HBH