One of the big reasons why it's exciting when manufacturers unveil racing->ke447 versions of existing supercars->ke177 is that it makes us excited for the road-going versions of the cars all over again. The internet tends not to light up in quite the same way when a racing team reveals a new track machine that isn't based on a road car. And this is what made the 2016 Aston Martin Vulcan interesting -- it's a track car that isn't based on a road car but looks as though it should be. And now word from Aston Martin->ke13 is that the car looks so much like something that should be used on the road that Aston's customers are putting serious pressure on the automaker to build one.

This makes sense; the market niche Vulcan occupies is otherwise populated solely by cars that are made in both racing and road versions. A 2015 Ferrari FXX K or 2016 McLaren P1 GTR owner could drive his track machine all day and then head home in his LaFerrari or P1, respectively -- road version of the racers -- and it seems that Vulcan->ke5079 buyers wish to do the same, so Aston is looking into it.

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Why it matters

None of this means that a road-going Vulcan is a done deal. Unlike the Vulcan's competitors, the Vulcan wasn't in any way designed to be used for both road and track use; it is a track-only machine and converting it will be significantly more work than it would have been if Aston Martin had at all anticipated this demand. Simon Croft, the Vulcan project manager, has said that the Vulcan was meant essentially to be an engineering showcase, and not a halo car in the traditional sense, and that this is why no contingency exists for making it road-legal. But it still seems downright strange that nobody at Aston Martin saw this coming.

2016 Aston Martin Vulcan

Read our full review here.