The Valen is clad in a full carbon-fiber body and powered by the brand’s 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine with 850ps and 1000Nm of torque from just 2,500rpm. Combined with targeted hardware and extensive software calibration to steering, suspension and braking systems, Valen delivers a driver-focused configuration to match its raw performance, according to Aston Martin.

Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark said, “The latest in a bloodline of limited-production special series models from our bespoke service, Q by Aston Martin, Valen’s world-beating performance required a design to capture the raw motion and unmatched output of our V12 powertrain. With more power, less weight and a spectacular soundtrack, the dramatic design is backed up by equally dramatic performance.”

The Valen features a sharper-shifting 8-speed ZF transmission, which uses race-proven shift strategies developed for Aston Martin’s Vantage GT4 race program, which has reduced Valen’s 0-60mph (96km/h) time to just 3.0 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 214mph (344km/h).

Aston Martin director of vehicle performance Simon Newton commented, “When your basis for a project is the world’s most powerful front-engined production car, you know you’re going to have fun. Valen channels the more overt dynamic purpose of a true sports car and amplifies that energy and focus to further unleash Valen’s potential. Everything we’ve done to the powertrain and chassis has been driven by the same objective: to intensify the character and capability to deliver a truly thrilling experience that’s accessible to all skill levels, but keen drivers will absolutely relish.”

To bring out the best from the V12 powertrain, the company adopts a performance drive mode philosophy: Sport, Sport+ and Track. Careful attention has also been paid to Valen’s throttle mapping, which changes according to drive mode.

The Valen also has weight savings of up to 110kg over the core V12 platform. This was achieved through lightweight motorsport-inspired materials, including carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium and magnesium. An optional lightweight pack featuring machined-from-solid aluminum suspension arms, knuckles and titanium chassis bolts makes a 16.9kg weight saving.

New lightweight magnesium wheels are fitted as standard. These are shod with Aston Martin-tuned Pirelli P Zero R (275/35 ZR21 front, 325/30 ZR21 rear) or P Zero Winter 2 tires (275/35 R21 front, 325/30 R21 rear).

A combination of major hardware changes and targeted software calibration adjustments to the ESP, dampers, steering, camber, and braking system delivers a marked character shift, giving Valen a unique dynamic signature.

Focused front and rear lateral stiffness delivers precise response and confident direction changes. Reduced roll and pitch motions to driver inputs increase the feeling of agility compared with the core V12 platform while preserving a playful handling balance for maximum enjoyment.

There was an intense development focus on the steering, tuned to deliver feel, connection and system stiffness through the chassis. Steering efforts have been tuned for response, allowing Valen to behave like a shorter, lighter car.

Valen also employs a solid-mounted rear subframe together with model-specific springs, helper springs and Bilstein DTX semi-active dampers. Steering calibration maximizes the feeling of agility and exploits the front-end’s limits of grip.

To ensure all points of contact between car and driver have cohesive feel and response, Valen’s brake booster maintains a firm pedal for exceptional precision and complete driver confidence, allowing precise modulation of the 410mm front and 360mm rear carbon ceramic brakes from high and low speeds.

The Valen features a lightweight titanium exhaust system. The system has been developed specifically for the vehicle and features new micro mufflers, ensuring compliance with homologation regulations. The quad exhaust system evokes the design language of a mid-engine hypercar, molded into the form of a front mid-engined supercar, with four tailpipes split between two upper and two lower. The upper exhaust exits are always open, with the lower exits valved, opening depending on drive mode.

Aston Martin EVP and chief creative officer Marek Reichman said, “Valen gave us the opportunity to explore and express more extreme emotions through a new form of language and surface treatment. As such, Valen is a significant departure from what has gone before, with sharply sculpted lines to reflect the aggressive dynamics, an attacking stance that emphasizes the front-engine rear-drive layout and a bespoke interior design that creates a more sporting cockpit environment. Valen is a provocative front-engined supercar exuding increased potency and sporting intent, yet still celebrating the elevated luxury, meticulous detailing and unmistakable design signatures expected of a flagship Aston Martin.”

The powertrain performance of the modern hypercar is now typically shaped as much by the vehicle’s electrical architecture as by its engine. As small-series manufacturers pursue power outputs, acceleration times and throttle response rates once confined to top-tier motorsport, the demand for bespoke, extreme performance in battery engineering has grown sharply. Mahle Powertrain, an engineering consultancy based in Northampton in the UK, has expanded its portfolio to meet that demand, adding high-voltage battery development using Formula 1-grade high-performance cells to a technology capability that already spans internal combustion, hybrid, full-electric and fuel-cell powertrains.

A race-derived battery for a hybrid hypercar program

The company’s first project in this space, almost a decade ago, was the design and manufacture of a very high-specific-performance battery for a 48V mild-hybrid car, designed to recover almost all the braking energy available during the World-harmonized Light-vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) driving cycle. Today the company is actively engaged in developing a battery pack with extreme performance capability, using a Formula 1-grade battery cell. The pack, developed specifically for a limited-run hybrid electric hypercar, can output electrical power at a rate of up to 600bhp (450kW), and stores 4.1kWh of usable energy. The pack is arranged as three modules of 128 cells each, in a 64S2P layout, giving the overall pack a 192S2P architecture, to achieve a system voltage of 800V.

ICE expertise applied to high-voltage design

Much of the underlying engineering draws on the company’s decades of internal combustion work. Rather than a conventional cold-plate approach, the cells sit in direct contact with a dielectric fluid, delivering more uniform temperatures across the pack and higher sustained power under load. The pack was developed using specialist electro-thermal and structural simulation, with 3D analysis used to optimize coolant flow around the cells to achieve even heat dissipation, using techniques developed over decades, for optimization of ICE cylinder-head coolant flows. Analysis was conducted to ensure that, even under repeated peak performance operation, such as repeated laps of the Nürburgring, the battery cooling system and thermal management strategy were not the limiting factors for the vehicle.

Modular architecture built for reuse

Every element of the pack is tailored to the hypercar’s tightly packaged installation, but the underlying architecture has been designed for reconfiguration. Cell type, module count and geometry can all be adjusted, allowing the same engineering framework to be applied to other high-performance vehicle programs.

The project demonstrates the growing breadth of Mahle Powertrain’s capabilities and its ability to deliver race-derived engineering for the road.

Lawrence Butcher looks at the development of the Mercedes-AMG One road-legal hybrid hypercar

One interesting point is that during the development of AMG One’s powertrain, there was minimal influence from the F1 side of HPP, despite the ongoing development of the racing PU. The ICE and associated systems were effectively frozen at the 2015 specification and later developments were not incorporated.

However, there was one key exception: the MGU-H. During the 2016 Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton suffered MGU-H failures at the Chinese and Russian grands prix. Those failures were traced to a turn-to-turn short, believed to be from a production difficulty in the winding process. “We had fundamentally made it very, very hard to make right,” says Allsopp. “We were too aggressive on the engineering and on how the coils were wound and interacting, so it was not a sufficiently robust, repeatable process.”

Using HPP’s comprehensive fault-management process, a thorough fault analysis followed each race failure, which extended to examining the behavior of everything associated with the motor, including the silicon carbide switches in the power electronics, their switching frequency and the potential effect of that on the coil insulation under extended running. Fundamental design changes were made for the 2017 season. When Allsopp took over the AMG One program, he was determined that the 275 production cars would carry the post-2016 design, not the unit that had failed in race conditions.

The battery pack has the same cell chemistry and design used in Formula 1, configured as the equivalent of four F1 battery modules in parallel. One significant difference from race use is that the AMG One must balance each of its cells on board.

In F1, the battery is removed from the car after each race and the voltage of each cell is checked and aligned. Clearly this is not practical for a road car, so the BMS needed its own balancing capability.

Bringing all the powertrain elements together from a software perspective, with full compliance to the required ASIL standards, was an undertaking in itself. “Looking at the complexity of the software, it was an area we underestimated,” says Allsopp. “We have the benefit in racing that the software is very open and we can architect solutions very quickly. With production controllers, it is not that simple.”

AMG One ended up running a blend of bespoke software solutions developed by HPP (and its partners) and standard road-car elements. Development engineer Adam Munday explains, “We did use some Bosch solutions where we maybe didn’t have the expertise – things like lambda sensor dew-point calculation and a lot of the OBD functions. They are areas where we are not experts, but for someone working on other road-car programs it’s a matter of adapting proven functions with some hardware-specific adjustments.”

The software integration required huge effort and coordination between the various parties within Mercedes, but the result was all of the control units working together harmoniously, tied in with a UI that would be familiar to any Mercedes road-car driver, and a powertrain operating to its full potential, reliably.

Hybrid development

The reliability requirements for the AMG One were rigorous: 5,000km between services and 50,000km between major powertrain services and refreshes. To put this in perspective, the 2015 PU had a total service life of around 5,000km.

Achieving these targets, not just for the powertrain but for the vehicle as a whole, required a blending of motorsport and production-car development approaches. In the motorsport world – particularly in F1, where track running is tightly limited – great reliance is placed on test-bench development, far more so than with road cars. For the AMG One, this entailed two dedicated test cells at Brixworth: one for calibration development, the other capable of full powertrain running, “Dyno seven was dedicated for AMG One use,” says Munday. “For durability running, it was especially useful to run the full car powertrain as a whole.”

Once an initial specification had been derived from the F1 PU, the team worked through multiple iterations, some more significant than others, to prove out each batch of changes. These test iterations “followed our F1 naming convention, starting with B1, 1.1, etc; we ended up at B2.3,” explains Munday.

Allsopp says of the project progression, “Dyno running moved to 24/7. In F1, we track our long-run progress against time. We have a well-defined profile and drive its delivery hour by hour, day by day, relentlessly. All I did was take the same engineering approaches we used in F1, clarified the mission and shared my honest assessment that in reality we were a long way off track versus where we need to be. We then built an aggressive plan and worked tirelessly as a team to get our heads above water.”

This intensive cycle of iteration and running ultimately led to a roadworthy powertrain, though there were nuances in the process, again highlighting how the high-pressure environment of F1 drives creative and concurrent thinking. “We created several phases, because there were some changes we could implement more quickly than others – for example, those related to the NVH and emissions challenges – so we packaged them in phases to prove out the durability of those changes in a controlled manner,” says Allsopp.

Importantly, a second dyno was available in parallel to focus purely on combustion development. This ability to run combustion and durability programs simultaneously was essential to the compressed timeline. However, what the dyno or simulation could not replicate exactly were the many edge cases that the car would be subjected to in customer hands.

Once mule cars became available, an intensive program of track and road testing began. This encompassed running across a range of conditions, from the European Alps to Portugal and Spain, enabling refinement of the powertrain calibration under real-world conditions. The track-testing element also flagged up potential reliability issues. For example, a weakness was found in the quill shaft connecting the front motors to the front-axle gearbox. Pushed to the limit on track, specifically when running over curbs, it produced oscillating loads that were not captured in any of the previous simulation models.

Elements such as cold-start performance, handling variations in fuel quality, and the full span of duty cycles from slow urban driving to sustained full-performance operation were all worked through, with the findings fed back to the test-bench work at Brixworth.

It was during this phase that the teams at HPP and AMG took their collaboration to a new level, blending elements of the race team’s approach with testing with road-car practice. The contrasts are worth noting. For all its heat of competition, F1 is a relatively controlled environment; the teams know where the cars will run and how the drivers are likely to drive them. The range of unknowns of road-car use were something of an alien environment. “There was quite a difference in expectation of what was done where,” says Allsopp, “and it was a really good conversation with AMG. We were challenging each other about what needed to be done, and actually the middle ground ended up being the right place.”

Bringing AMG One into reality was a protracted process. There’s was a reason no one had successfully tried to run an F1 powertrain on the road before: it’s unbelievably challenging. The first customer deliveries were not made until the end of 2022, which one might think would lead to dissatisfaction. But AMG did something unusual: it took its customers along for the ride. Rather than being shielded from the challenges of the project, customers were brought in early and given full visibility of the development process; they felt invested in it. “They became part of the journey and, later in the program, had great transparency of why there were delays and what we were doing about them. It gave them a unique experience,” says Allsopp.

It’s unlikely anyone is going to try anything similar to the AMG One any time soon; there are few manufacturers that could even contemplate such an undertaking. It was only by blending the huge resources of a company the size of Mercedes with the laser-focused mindset and almost unmatched engineering expertise of HPP in Brixworth that AMG One could become reality.

Related news, Tech Insider: Mercedes-AMG One – Part 1

Lawrence Butcher looks at the development of the Mercedes-AMG One road-legal hybrid hypercar

Until recently, no one had ever successfully built a road car around an F1 engine. There have been close tries, and engines from race cars have ended up fitted to road cars in modified form. Porsche’s Carrera GT took the base engine from the company’s RS Spyder LMP. Going the other way, BMW’s 1980s M12 F1 engine used a road-car block. But taking an unadulterated F1 engine and putting it in a road car had never been done, until Mercedes decided to do the unthinkable. The result? The AMG One.

The genesis of AMG One began in Mercedes’s dominant 2014 and 2015 Formula 1 seasons. The 1.6-liter V6 turbocharged hybrid power unit (PU) that powered Lewis Hamilton to consecutive Drivers’ World Championships was, by any measure, a generational piece of engineering. To celebrate and capitalize on this success, Mercedes and AMG began exploring the concept of a road-legal hypercar using the W06’s powertrain. The main questions: Was it even feasible and, if it were, how much of the F1 PU could survive the transition to the road intact?

Toward the end of 2015, a small group at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth, UK – specifically what is now called the Advanced Technology group – began concept work, sketching out what changes would theoretically be required before the program formally launched in 2017.

Mercedes-AMG’s plan was to produce 275 cars, the highlight of which would be an essentially unmodified F1 PU: the 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 ICE, the MGU-H harvesting energy from the turbocharger, and the MGU-K recovering energy under braking from the rear axle, plus an additional pair of electric motors driving the front axle. The combined system would output over 1,000hp. Getting that package through European road-car homologation was far from easy and pushed even the team at HPP – a group well used to achieving the impossible – to the limit.

Powertrain preservation

Adam Allsopp, currently director of Advanced Technology at Mercedes AMG HPP, was deeply involved in the powertrain development. When the project began, he was engineering director on the Formula 1 program, but in 2018 he became increasingly engaged with the road car before becoming sole program lead in 2019. According to Allsopp, there was an almost single-minded pursuit of keeping the powertrain “pure” and only departing from the racing design where absolutely necessary.

“Wherever we were faced with difficult challenges, if the solution was going to move us away from what the regulation specified for that engine, that troubled me because it felt like we would be watering it down,” he recalls.

Changes to the fundamental ICE architecture were to be avoided wherever possible – a tall order, given that the F1 ICE was entirely optimized to produce maximum power and efficiency within the fuel-flow-limited constraints of the F1 regulations. From the oversquare bore to stroke ratio, injector position, spark plug location, intake port geometry and cam profile, everything was developed for top-end performance and efficiency. But AMG One would be a road car; it needed low-speed manners and, importantly, noise and emissions compliance.

The Advanced Technology team at HPP took the approach of augmentation rather than alteration. Where the F1 architecture created a problem, the team sought solutions that worked around the core design. “It was about protecting those attributes and then trying to work out how you enhance rather than remove,” says Allsopp.

The eventual addition of port fuel injection alongside the existing direct injection system is a prime example of that approach in action. Rather than revising the combustion chamber, port injection (coupled with some subtle changes to the intake port geometry) improved fuel atomization and mixture preparation at low speeds, and aided stabilization of combustion at idle and light load without touching the high-speed combustion strategy.

Also supporting low-speed running was a redesigned throttle, in which the original barrel throttles were replaced with more traditional butterflies. “At high speed, it’s still got the same combustion philosophy,” Allsopp says. The idea of implementing variable valve timing (banned in F1) was floated to reduce low-speed emissions. However, although this would undoubtedly have helped, it was rejected to protect the DNA of the ICE.

Another tool that could be called upon to help with low-speed emissions compliance was the MGU-K, used to load the engine at low RPM. By harvesting energy from the ICE and directing it into the battery at light throttle, the team could maintain engine load at a point where combustion quality was acceptable. A quirk of this approach is that AMG One will not run its combustion engine if the battery is full, because the MGU-K loading strategy requires somewhere for that harvested energy to go. “It sounds a bit weird and a little bit counterintuitive,” acknowledges Allsopp, “but really it was about using the tools at our disposal to work out how this over-constrained problem could be solved.”

Cold-start emissions were also addressed, partly through catalyst preheating using the car’s high-voltage electrical system, a solution made practical by the available battery capacity. What couldn’t be tackled at source was handled through exhaust aftertreatment.

Electrical hurdles

The purity of purpose applied to the ICE was carried over to the electric machines. Initially, the race- specification MGU-H and MGU-K were simply swapped into the production PU, with two MGU-Ks deployed on the front axle. However, the reality of producing a relatively large run of these motors and ensuring they were fit for road use presented a few challenges.

The rear-mounted MGU-K was kept exactly as on the race car, directly driving the crank. At the front, a pair of MGUs was packaged with reduction gears to create what is referred to as the MGU-Fs. The electric machines run at very high speed: 35,000rpm for the rear and around 50,000rpm at the front. The motors are oil cooled, with two separate cooling circuits; the rotor is cooled using engine oil (and gearbox oil at the front), and the stator by a second loop that also incorporates the inverters.

It was in the motors that one of the project’s biggest hurdles emerged: NVH. Jack Mowat-Maconochie, now head of supply chain for the Advanced Technology group, observes, “In 2018 we started the drive-by noise testing. We knew the engine to be loud, but the electric machines were incredibly loud as well.” So loud, in fact, that they would never pass muster for road use. A solution was needed, but the source of the noise needed to be pinpointed first.

It was established that there were two key culprits: the gears in the front-axle fixed-ratio gearbox, and the electrical characteristics of the electric motors. The first was relatively straightforward to overcome, with detail work on the micro- and macro-geometry of the gears bringing the noise within tolerable margins. A similar process had to be undertaken on the ICE, which features a gear-driven camtrain positioned directly behind the driver, and initially proved a little too aurally aggressive.

The electrical element of the noise problem proved more troublesome and required an almost total rework of the motor architecture. “I was fiercely against changing the motor,” says Allsopp, who felt that doing so would detract from the overall ethos of the car. But the decision was effectively made for the team: “It was actually some of the NVH experts from AMG who said, ‘Look, here’s the data. You might not want to do this, but you will not sell this car with this motor.’ It’s quite hard to argue with that.”

Again, the easy option would have been to move away from the constraints originally set by the regulations, transition to a larger-diameter motor, reduce the RPM and cut the power. Instead, HPP set about reengineering the motor to fulfill the same brief as the original, but in an NVH-compliant way.

The result was an electrical redesign within the same packaging space, moving from a six-slot to a 24-slot architecture, as well as changes such as replacing Litz wire with more conventional windings. Coupled with revised magnet selection, a revised casing and the gear improvements, the result was a system that retained the spirit of the F1 units while meeting the stringent road-car legality requirements.

The new electrical design was also transferred to the rear MGU-K. “They’re identical,” says mechanical engineer Mark Digby. “They use the same rotor, stator and winding setup. They’re just packaged in different external housings to connect to the engine block and front gearbox respectively.” The choice to maintain commonality front and rear was a pragmatic one. “It was done to try to maximize commonality, so we are not making lots of different types of rotors and stators, given we had to produce more than 900 of them,” notes Digby.

From an F1 perspective, a run of this volume counts as mass production and required HPP to find a more efficient manufacturing process than the painstaking, largely manual approach used on F1 PUs. To this end, the engine maker developed automated in-house production capability for the rotors and stators, enabling repeatable production of motors regardless of the quantity required. “We were hand-winding them initially, and that was just not sustainable,” recalls Digby.

To be continued in part 2 … 

Related news, Why the Mercedes-AMG One represents peak ICE technology

As it celebrates five years of Mercedes-Benz ownership, Yasa looks at the period of progress that has helped place its world-leading axial flux electric motor technology at the heart of the next generation of Mercedes-AMG electric performance 

Yasa was founded in 2009 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford by Dr Tim Woolmer, its founder and CTO. Over more than 15 years, the company has developed a proprietary yokeless and segmented armature motor design, which it says offers up to three times the torque density and double the power of conventional radial flux motors, while being around 50% lighter and smaller.

Under Mercedes-Benz ownership, which began in July 2021, Yasa’s axial flux technology has entered a new phase. Joerg Miska, CEO, Yasa, said, “The last five years have been transformational for Yasa. As part of Mercedes-Benz, we have been able to accelerate our technology roadmap, invest in our UK facilities and bring our axial flux motors closer to the next generation of high-performance electric vehicles. We have retained the spirit, agility and engineering curiosity that have always defined YASA, while gaining the scale, support and long-term industrial strength of Mercedes-Benz. That combination is incredibly powerful.”

Major UK investment 

In May 2025, the company officially opened its fully upgraded manufacturing facility in Yarnton, near Oxford. Backed by a £12m (US$15.9m) investment, the high-tech facility has been designed to support higher levels of precision, repeatability, quality and production scale, enabling Yasa to increase capacity beyond 25,000 units per year.

The 60,000ft2  base brings all production processes under one roof and incorporates advanced manufacturing technologies designed specifically for Yasa’s high-tech axial flux motors, including new coil and bar manufacturing cells, CNC coil winding, assembly and impregnation processes, laser stripping and brazing, increased rotor balancing accuracy, stator laser welding and complete stator quality control.

Construction will soon be completed on its brand-new headquarters at Bicester Motion, creating a bespoke state-of-the-art 90,000ft2 facility designed to provide a permanent Oxfordshire home for Yasa’s innovation, engineering, prototyping, development, operations and business support teams.

The past 12 months have also seen Yasa push the boundaries of electric motor power density. In 2025, the company achieved 550kW from a 13.1kg axial flux prototype motor, equivalent to 42kW/kg, before going further with a lighter 12.7kg version producing 750kW short-term peak output and achieving an unofficial power density benchmark of 59kW/kg.

Yasa founder and chief technology officer Dr Tim Woolmer said, “Yasa was founded on a simple but ambitious idea: that there was a better way to build an electric motor. Five years into Mercedes-Benz ownership, that idea has moved into a completely new phase. We are no longer only proving what axial flux technology can do; we are helping to industrialize it for some of the most demanding electric performance applications in the world. That is a major milestone for the whole Yasa team.”

Mercedes-AMG milestones 

Earlier this year, Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe unveiled the first series-production Mercedes-AMG model to feature Yasa axial flux electric motor technology.

Developed around the Mercedes-AMG High Performance Electric Architecture, the new AMG GT 4-Door Coupe uses three compact Yasa axial flux motors, one at the front axle and two at the rear, helping to deliver exceptional power output, repeatable high-performance capability and greater drivetrain packaging flexibility.

Production of the axial flux motors commenced earlier this year at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Berlin-Marienfelde, Germany, establishing the site as a key center for high-performance electric motor technology within the Mercedes-Benz powertrain network.

“The last five years have been transformational for Yasa” – Joerg Miska, CEO, Yasa

The advanced production process brings together next-generation manufacturing techniques developed to support the precision, repeatability and performance demands of Mercedes-AMG. Across around 30,000m2  of production space, three halls and seven production lines, Mercedes-Benz combines highly automated manufacturing processes with laser technology, intelligent control systems, AI-based quality control and the expertise of highly skilled employees.

The process includes around 98 individual manufacturing steps, incorporating 65 processes new to Mercedes-Benz and 35 world-firsts, and has resulted in more than 30 patent applications.

The AMG GT 4-Door Coupe production car follows the Concept AMG GT XX, a pioneering technology program that previewed the performance potential of Yasa axial flux technology. The axial flux technology’s endurance credentials were further highlighted through the Concept AMG GT XX’s long-distance record run at Nardò in Italy, where the vehicle completed the equivalent of driving around the world in less than eight days and broke 25 long-distance records.

EXPLORE: The Concept AMG GT XX, achieved the impossible when it realized the equivalent of circumnavigating the globe in under eight days. APTI finds out how this feat was accomplished

The development of modern propulsion systems is increasingly shaped by diversity. Alongside conventional fuels, hydrogen, methanol and ammonia are moving into sharper focus. For manufacturers, this means testing processes must be safe, flexible and future-ready. Sonplas has developed modular test solutions for fuel-contact components designed to help this transition.

As hydrogen, methanol and ammonia gain relevance alongside conventional fuels, testing strategies must evolve to address new physical properties, safety risks and performance expectations. This shift is driving demand for modular, application-specific test systems capable of replicating real-world operating conditions with high precision.

A key challenge lies in the behavior of fuel-contact components under varying thermodynamic and media-specific conditions. Differences in viscosity, compressibility and reactivity between liquid and gaseous fuels require adaptable test environments. Modern systems must therefore combine hydraulic, mechanical and electronic testing capabilities within a single platform.

From component testing to system understanding

Advanced test systems now go beyond basic functional checks, enabling detailed analysis of flow rates, pressure behavior, leakage and long-term durability across components including valves, injectors, pressure regulators, rails and pumps. For injection systems, precise measurement of injection quantities and dynamic flow characteristics is critical.

One example is pressure-based measurement for injection analysis. Systems such as the IAV Cross Injection Analyzer determine injection rates from pressure changes in a fuel-filled channel, enabling dynamic, reproducible measurements without moving parts, reducing maintenance needs while supporting high-resolution data acquisition and real-time integration into digital test environments.

Lifetime and endurance testing also play a central role, with components subjected to mechanical and electronic stress scenarios to assess wear behavior and failure mechanisms over time; insights essential for validating designs intended for series production.

Simulating real-world conditions

A defining feature of modern test infrastructure is the ability to simulate realistic and extreme environmental conditions. Temperature-controlled test chambers enable testing across a wide range – from -76°F to +302°F (-60°C to 150°C) – while additional parameters such as humidity and ambient pressure can be adjusted to replicate specific operating environments.

The combination of environmental simulation with functional testing allows engineers to identify critical interactions early in the development process.

Complementing physical testing, feasibility studies and pre-validation in dedicated development labs help refine test procedures for new applications. This is especially important when dealing with emerging fuels, where standardized testing protocols may not yet exist.

Safety engineering as a core design principle

The introduction of alternative fuels adds significant complexity to safety engineering. Substances such as hydrogen, methanol and ammonia can form explosive atmospheres under certain conditions, making comprehensive hazard analysis essential.

As a result, modern test systems incorporate explosion protection concepts aligned with international standards such as ATEX and IECEx, alongside functional safety requirements defined by Performance Level (PL) and Safety Integrity Level (SIL).

Safety considerations extend beyond the test bench itself. Infrastructure factors such as ventilation systems, gas detection and facility layout are equally important. Effective solutions require a holistic approach that integrates test system design with the surrounding environment, often supported by early-stage risk assessments and coordination with local authorities.

Hydrogen testing and electrolyzer development

Hydrogen technologies add further complexity, particularly in electrolyzer development, where the focus shifts from individual components to entire systems, including single cells and stacks.

Testing requires combining electrical and fluid-based measurement techniques, assessing electrical performance, efficiency and degradation alongside flow distribution and thermal management – a convergence sometimes described as the merging of electronic and fuel testing.

Emerging test concepts support multiple electrolyser technologies, including PEM (proton exchange membrane), AEL (alkaline electrolysis) and AEM (anion exchange membrane). Modular architectures allow scaling across power classes and varying instrumentation levels, suiting both research and industrial pre-series validation.

Modularity as a strategic advantage

Given the uncertainty surrounding future fuel pathways, flexibility has become a key requirement. Modular test systems enable manufacturers to adapt to changing technologies without the need for entirely new infrastructure. Different test methods – such as flow measurement, leak testing and endurance testing – can be combined within a single system and expanded as requirements evolve.

This approach not only reduces investment risk but also accelerates development cycles. By enabling parallel testing and rapid reconfiguration, modular platforms support faster iteration and more informed decision-making.

Outlook

As propulsion technologies diversify, testing is becoming increasingly central to bridging innovation and industrialization. Generating reliable, application-specific data under realistic conditions is critical for performance, safety and regulatory compliance.

The trend is moving away from standardized solutions toward specialized, adaptable test environments, with modularity, safety integration and cross-disciplinary testing capabilities emerging as defining features of next-generation validation systems.

In recent news, Nio opens new UK R&D center in Oxfordshire

California-based restoration and reimagining specialist Singer has shared further insight into the engine development of the Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe and Cabriolet Reimagined by Singer.

Rob Dickinson, Singer’s founder and creative director, said, “Our services reference the wide-bodied, naturally aspirated cars of the 1980s. The goal was to pursue the ultimate, naturally aspirated G model 911, reimagined for the 21st century in both coupe and cabriolet body styles.

“At the heart of the car, we wanted a remarkable flat-six, with optimized throttle response, the reward of thrilling horsepower at high revs, and prodigious torque throughout the rev range for maximum real-world driver engagement.

“To deliver this mission, we brought together our learnings from the last 15 years of working intimately with the 911 and partnered with Cosworth to bring their experience and capabilities to bear on the development process for a very special engine.”

Heritage and cutting-edge technology 

The restoration process builds on Singer’s long experience with the Porsche 911 and insights from its Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS) services, which developed the company’s first four-valve cylinder head. Singer continues to explore the performance potential of the Type 964 flat-six via ongoing optimization and the development of a revised four-valve cylinder head.

Singer has jointly developed the engine with Cosworth, which has used its experience in variable valve timing, combustion chamber design and intake and exhaust path.

The engine in the Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe and Cabriolet is the first engine restored by Singer to feature variable valve timing, optimizing drivability at low speeds, power at high revs and a more linear torque curve across the entire rev range. It is also the first naturally aspirated engine restored by Singer to use water-cooled cylinder heads combined with air-cooled cylinders and an electrically powered fan, using learnings from the DLS Turbo program.

Cosworth’s hypercar engine expertise has been applied throughout the development process – post-restoration, the engine’s internal components use ultra-low-friction surface coatings derived from top-level motorsport, supporting reliable operation at extreme speeds and loads.

The cylinder head also features fully machined intake and exhaust ports, along with precision-machined combustion chambers, to maximize performance and ensure consistent cylinder-to-cylinder repeatability.

The results

Together, these features enable the 4.0-liter flat-six to produce 420hp and deliver a broader torque curve across a wider range of engine speeds, while also supporting Singer’s expanding international restoration services.

The engine is capable of revving beyond 8,000rpm, and owners can specify an optimized 6-speed manual gearbox that sends power to the rear wheels. A raised gear shifter with an exposed mechanism is also available, as well as a new titanium exhaust system that improves gas flow and enhances the engine’s characteristic sound.

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Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) account for the largest share of consumer interest in the UK market, leading Europe’s shift toward electrified mobility, according to new data from Imagin.Studio’s European EV Pulse Report

Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have contributed to renewed volatility in global oil markets, pushing fuel prices higher and accelerating consumer interest in electric vehicles.

Imagin.Studio’s report shows that BEVs made up 45% of all vehicle searches in April 2026, overtaking combustion vehicles (35%). This is a significant increase from the same period in 2025, when BEVs accounted for 33% of searches and combustion vehicles made up 43% of total market searches.

Electric demand surges past gasoline

Across Europe, BEVs have only just edged ahead of gasoline. The UK, by contrast, is already ahead of the curve, positioning itself as one of the most advanced EV markets, at least in interest. Combined, electrified vehicles now represent 65% of all UK searches, firmly aligning with the wider European shift. As BEV interest rises sharply year-on-year, searches for hybrid vehicles remain steady at 21%.

The report, based on 300 million image views across the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, shows that in April 2026, there was an average 9% increase in the overall share of searches for electric and hybrid vehicles across all the major European markets compared with April 2025. Taken together, electrified powertrains now dominate consumer attention.

Fuel-price volatility and uncertainty reshape buyer priorities

The rise in EV interest comes against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical uncertainty and rising fuel costs, which have placed additional pressure on household budgets across Europe.

As fuel prices increase, many consumers appear to be reassessing the long-term cost of ownership, with electric vehicles increasingly viewed as a more stable and predictable alternative. While multiple factors influence purchasing decisions, the data suggests that external economic pressures, particularly fuel-price sensitivity, are accelerating the shift toward electrification.

EV interest varies across European markets

While the UK shows strong growth in EV interest, search levels vary significantly by country. These regional differences highlight how infrastructure, incentives and affordability continue to shape the pace of EV adoption across Europe.

Despite BEVs leading in search demand in the UK, adoption still lags behind interest. In 2026, electric vehicles accounted for 23.4% of total car sales, highlighting a significant gap between what consumers explore and what they ultimately purchase.

This suggests that although interest is strong, barriers such as cost, charging access and clarity around options continue to influence final decisions.

Commenting on the findings, Imagin.Studio CEO Martijn Versteegen said, “Crossing the point where electric vehicles generate more consumer interest than combustion engines is a significant milestone for the European market. It shows that electrification is no longer a future ambition but a present reality in the minds of car buyers. However, interest alone does not guarantee adoption.

“Consumers are becoming more engaged with EVs, but they are also more discerning. Economic uncertainty and rising fuel costs are clearly influencing behavior, but buyers still need confidence in what they are choosing.

“What’s particularly encouraging is that this growth is being driven from two directions. Many existing BEV drivers are choosing to stay electric when replacing their vehicles. This shows high satisfaction with the technology. At the same time, we’re seeing fresh interest from drivers who are moving away from petrol and diesel, exploring electric options for the first time.

“As the number of available electric models continues to grow, the challenge for the industry is to present these vehicles in a way that is clear, transparent and easy to understand. Helping consumers compare options, visualize specifications and explore features digitally will be critical in turning this growing interest into meaningful action.”

In Formula 1, engineering, reliability and performance are inseparable. Even relatively small components can determine whether a car finishes a race. In some cases, a single component failure can end a race instantly. One such example is the sealing system in the hydraulic actuator of the limited-slip differential used in modern F1 drivetrains.

The limited-slip differential clutch pack plays a central role in torque distribution across the rear axle. By controlling the difference in wheel speed between the rear wheels, the system maximizes traction and stability through cornering. The hydraulic actuator responsible for this function must operate precisely under rapidly changing loads.

In this actuator, sealing integrity is critical. Any significant leakage can lead to a loss of hydraulic pressure, preventing the clutch from functioning as intended and potentially forcing the car to retire from the race.

Operating conditions inside the actuator are demanding. Temperatures can reach approximately 150°C, while system pressures range from 5 to 250 bar. At the same time, the seal must tolerate aggressive transmission fluids and repeated mechanical loading throughout race distances. Components must maintain dimensional stability, resist wear and sustain sealing force despite thermal cycling, pressure variation and chemical exposure.

It is this challenge that the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team sought to address when partnering with Greene Tweed on advanced sealing solutions for its limited-slip differential clutch pack.

Engineering limits in real track conditions

Motorsport environments often expose the limits of theoretical design assumptions. While simulation and material data can provide valuable guidance, component behavior may differ when operating within a complete system. This is due to the complex interaction of thermal, mechanical and chemical conditions, which directly influence stresses and material behavior.

In a Formula 1 drivetrain, thermal loads, hydraulic pressure, mechanical motion and fluid interaction occur simultaneously within tightly packaged assemblies. These factors influence friction, wear patterns and long-term dimensional stability, particularly for sealing components.

As a result, validation under representative operating conditions becomes essential. Dynamic testing allows engineers to observe how materials respond over time, identify potential failure modes and refine designs before deployment on track.

Development of the sealing solution

Addressing the demands of the differential actuator requires a sealing architecture capable of consistent performance across wide ranges of pressures, temperatures and dynamic conditions.

For this application, engineers selected a metal spring-energized sealing design. The configuration combines a C-shaped polymer jacket with an internal corrosion-resistant metal spring, ensuring consistent sealing force regardless of system pressure. This architecture helps sustain contact between the seal and the mating surface as pressure and temperature fluctuate.

The sealing jacket is manufactured from a specialized PTFE-based material engineered to balance several performance requirements. Improved material strength supports dimensional stability under pressure, while wear resistance contributes to long operational life. Low creep relaxation helps preserve sealing force over time, and low friction properties support smooth actuator movement.

Together, these characteristics allow the sealing assembly to operate effectively within the actuator’s demanding environment. The spring-energized seal maintains an effective sealing force under conditions where system pressure is low, while the polymer jacket provides chemical compatibility, low friction and durability.

Dynamic testing and design refinement

Although seal pedigree, modeling, and material data can help guide early design decisions, physical validation ultimately determines whether a component is suitable for high-performance applications.

To replicate operational conditions as closely as possible, engineers conducted validation testing on a dynamic transmission test rig. This environment reproduced realistic pressure cycling, temperature exposure and mechanical loading similar to those experienced in a working drivetrain.

Testing provided insights into how the sealing assembly behaved under sustained dynamic loads, particularly the effects of pressure fluctuations and thermal cycling on deformation and long-term stability. These conditions could not be fully captured through static testing alone.

Engineers adjusted the sealing configuration to improve resistance to deformation under high pressure and elevated temperature conditions. Through this iterative testing and design refinement, the team qualified the sealing system for use in demanding motorsport conditions.

Enabling system evolution and packaging

Reliable sealing performance can influence broader system design decisions. In high-performance vehicles, engineers continuously seek opportunities to improve packaging efficiency while maintaining reliability.

By delivering consistent sealing performance under extreme thermal, pressure and fluid conditions, the solution increased confidence in system reliability. This enabled engineers to develop a more compact differential architecture without compromising performance.

Improved reliability margins supported packaging optimization and weight reduction – both critical factors in Formula 1 performance.

The sealing solution has been successfully deployed in McLaren’s Formula 1 cars since the 2022 season, demonstrating sustained reliability under real race conditions. Ongoing refinements have strengthened system performance and supported continued drivetrain development, culminating in a next-generation system and seal assembly qualified for the 2026 season.

Engineering considerations for high-pressure motorsport systems

The development of sealing solutions for high-performance motorsport applications highlights several broader engineering principles.

First, sealing performance directly influences system reliability. In hydraulic control systems, even small leaks can disrupt pressure regulation and compromise overall functionality. Seal integrity and efficiency must therefore be treated as a primary design parameter.

Second, validation under combined operating stressors is essential. Factors such as thermal loads, pressure variation, mechanical movement and chemical exposure interact in ways that cannot always be predicted through simulation alone. Dynamic testing provides critical insight into how a seal assembly behaves within realistic system environments.

Finally, close collaboration between system engineers and seal design engineers can significantly accelerate development. Early engagement allows sealing technology to be effectively integrated into the system architecture rather than treated as a late-stage component selection.

In high-performance environments such as Formula 1, where marginal gains and reliability determine race outcomes, these collaborative engineering approaches between Greene Tweed and the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team help ensure that every component performs. Crucially, the lessons learned extend beyond motorsport, informing sealing design strategies in industries such as aerospace, energy and advanced manufacturing, where reliability under extreme conditions is critical.

Barbuck, an AI-powered platform that extracts customer insight from sales conversations, and Generational have released their latest insights, revealing what EV buyers really want to know when they call about buying their next car.

Using advanced, data-secure voice analytics, Barbuck recently analyzed approximately 500 real used-EV sales calls from automotive retailers across the UK to understand the questions customers ask most often.

The analysis reveals that among these EV-focused calls, 31% of callers asked about vehicle performance, health or maintenance; that 49% asked about warranty coverage; and that 34% of calls contained questions focused specifically on battery health, range or mileage.

The data highlights the growing demand for clarity and transparency among EV buyers, particularly regarding the long-term reliability of batteries, which remain the most valuable yet least understood component.

In the used EV market, as consumers become more aware of the importance of testing, battery health analysis and transparent reporting are emerging as critical trust signals that help drive faster and more confident sales.

Oliver Phillpott, CEO of Generational, said, “These findings from Barbuck underline how EV buyers are asking the right questions – and given we’re seeing this consistently across the market, the industry must be ready with the right answers.

“At its core, battery health transparency is about data driving confidence. When customers understand the true condition of an EV, they can buy with certainty and dealers can sell faster. Together with Barbuck, we’re helping the industry turn every question into an opportunity to build trust and momentum in the used EV market.”

Elly Harron, managing director of Barbuck, added, “Every call tells a story not just about who’s calling, but why. Our platform analyses the language of thousands of conversations to uncover the real questions buyers ask, the FAQs sales teams need to answer better, and the marketing messages that actually drive conversions. We’re helping dealers spot lost sales, improve consistency and give customers the clarity they’re already asking for.”

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