5 things to know about Aston Martin Valkyrie
1,000-horsepower hypercar looks like Le Mans prototype, creates insane downforce
If you thought the last hypercar onslaught was wild, that being the simultaneous arrival of the LaFerrari, Porsche 918 and McLaren P1, get ready to have your mind blown.
Both Aston Martin and MercedesAMG have Formula 1-inspired, barely road-legal hypercars in the works, and Aston recently released more intel on its offering, the Valkyrie.
There is a lot of new information on the Adrian Newey-designed hypercar, so we’ve broken things down into five easily digestible facts.
1. It will create insane amounts of downforce The Valkyrie’s aerodynamics are the work of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team’s technical director, Adrian Newey. Newey is a bit of a legend in the F1 world, having designed numerous championship-winning F1 cars. In order to keep the exterior styling tidy, Newey designed the Valkyrie to have underbody downforce.
Two huge Venturi Tunnels run up either side of the car and channel air to the huge rear diffuser — a system that Aston says generates extraordinary levels of downforce and negates the need for an ugly wing and other tack-on aero pieces.
2. The cabin looks like one from a Le Mans prototype race car Unlike many Aston Martins, the Valkyrie’s cabin isn’t designed for comfort. The seats are bolted directly to the carbon fibre tub and passengers will sit with a Formula 1-like “feetup” position. The motorsports inspiration continues with standard four-point harnesses and a detachable steering wheel for easier ingress and egress.
A single OLED screen in the F1style steering wheel relays important vehicle information to the driver.
3. The Aston Martin badge is thinner than a strand of human hair Aston Martin found its typical metal wing badge was too heavy for the lightweight Valkyrie, so they put some engineers on the job. The re- sult is a chemical-etched aluminum badge that is just 70 microns thick — 30 per cent thinner than a strand of human hair.
4. It will have more than 1,000 horsepower Aston Martin has already confirmed the Valkyrie will be powered by a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 engine developed by Cosworth, which will be paired with “some sort of electric powertrain to produce over1,000 horsepower.” A bespoke sevenspeed paddle shift transmission developed by supplier Ricardo will also be present. With gobs of downforce and over 1,000 horsepower on tap, Aston Martin is expecting the Valkyrie to be about as fast as a current day LMP1race car.
5. It’s already sold out All 150 examples of the Valkyrie that are going to be built have already been spoken for. That includes prototypes for the car as well, so as far as actual customer cars go, there will actually be less than 150. Rumours say buyers forked over as much as £3 million, or just under $5 million.