Adamastor project: first Portuguese supercar to be unveiled in the first half of 2024

The Adamastor project, which will result in the first Portuguese supercar, is gathering momentum and is quickly closing in on its public debut, still scheduled for the first half of 2024.

Built at Adamastor’s facilities in Perafita (Porto), the supercar will be produced in strictly limited numbers: just 25 units per year. Ricardo Quintas, the brand’s founder and chief executive, is positioning Adamastor against top-tier rivals such as Aston Martin with the Valkyrie, as well as Pagani, Koenigsegg and Rimac.

Ambition is clearly not in short supply for this young Portuguese manufacturer, which took its first steps in 2019 with the Adamastor P003RL prototype-one we had the chance to drive. Since then, however, almost everything has changed.

The company has reshaped its market positioning and confirmed its intention to establish itself as a low-volume supercar maker, capable of developing a “machine” that can perform just as convincingly on track as it does on open roads.

Benchmark aerodynamics

To deliver that goal, Adamastor brought in a specialist team across three key areas: engineering, design and production. In total, the Adamastor organisation currently comprises 14 people.

Even so, aerodynamics sits at the heart of the entire programme, shaping every other aspect of the supercar, which the brand says was “sculpted by the air”.

According to Adamastor, this is a case where “function defined the form”, with the “design process” being “entirely led by the person responsible for aerodynamics”.

Based on Siemens NX CAD software, the design department developed, with complete creative freedom, the elaborate bodywork of the new Adamastor with a view to the best efficiency and superior performance in sporty driving.

Adamastor

Once the base layout had been established, the team at Adamastor’s engineering centre focused on defining the packaging space required for the main components.

All aerodynamic surfaces are made from carbon fibre, and the car’s underside has been shaped to create a Venturi effect (the primary downforce generator, making it possible to dispense with other elements such as ailerons). All of this was refined using CFD simulation (computational fluid dynamics).

Results surprise

In the simulator environment, this aerodynamic development work is already paying off. Adamastor claims the Portuguese supercar exceeds the downforce figures of 2021 Formula 3 and Formula 2 single-seaters, as well as some LMP2 endurance prototypes, despite not using an oversized rear wing.

As for drag coefficient, Adamastor also states that performance has even surpassed that of a 2021 Formula 1 car.

More than 100 chassis versions

From there, using simulation software, Adamastor has already completed more than 30,000 test laps to fine-tune and evolve the supercar’s performance, developing chassis behaviour and dynamics across a wide range of real-world use scenarios.

To put it into perspective, the chassis alone went through more than 100 iterations before the Adamastor team arrived at the configuration it considered “perfect”.

On paper, Adamastor’s first model could scarcely be more promising. Now all that remains is to wait for its introduction to the world.