IGNITION
The full details on Aston Martin’s Valhalla, BMW’S M240i xdrive, Mclaren’s 765LT Spider and Peugeot’s Le Mans Hypercar contender, plus Richard Tuthill talks about his life and cars
THIS IS THE NEW ASTON MARTIN VALHALLA. NO LONGER A concept, but a real representation of a car you’ll be able to buy in late 2023, with production limited to two years (’24 and ’25), fewer than 1000 units, and the sort of headline stats we’ve come to expect in these crazy times: 937bhp hybrid! Six hundred kilograms of downforce at 155mph! Nordschleife target lap time of 6:30! £700,000! Okay, we’ll stop now.
Such statements have become an everyday part of the rapidly evolving supercar reality. So how do you cut through the noise? How does Aston Martin convince us that this is more than simply another moon-shot to save the company and emulate the incredible successes enjoyed by Ferrari? The key, it turns out, is to put the numbers and even the stunning looks to one side for a moment, sit down and listen to the new CEO, Tobias Moers. The former AMG man does not mess around.
‘Previously there was no engineering philosophy: it was a design company,’ Moers says, almost as though it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. ‘The design department would throw something over the fence and engineering would
by try to make it work. Now there is the chance to challenge each other. To push.’
When we put it to him that Aston Martin has always avoided taking on the likes of Porsche, Ferrari or even his old company, AMG, head-on, he agrees. ‘Now we must,’ he says without blinking. ‘We must chase performance. Become a performance brand. Do people understand what Aston Martin is? I’m not so sure. We will show them.’
The Valhalla is a part of that new ambition, along with a 296 Gtb-rivalling mid-engined Vanquish that will follow and substantial facelifts for the current range that are said to make real changes in an aesthetic and dynamic sense. Back in Geneva 2019 the Valhalla was pitched as ‘Son of Valkyrie’ and featured a new bespoke twin-turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrain and a price of well over £1million. The changes to production spec are pragmatic on the one hand – developing a V6 engine would cost a huge amount of money, resource and time and Euro 7 emissions would be tough to meet with a smaller, higher-revving unit – but also extremely exciting. Adopting the 4-litre flat-plane-crank twin-turbocharged V8 engine from the AMG GT Black Series is a very fine back-up plan, for example. Wouldn’t you agree?
Now read on for some of the detail beneath the headlines.
‘THE FOOTWELLS ARE RAISED FOR AN F1-INSPIRED DRIVING POSITION, THOUGH IT WON’T GO AS FAR AS THE VALKYRIE’
INTERIOR
Aston Martin has yet to show us inside the cockpit of Valhalla but a few key details have emerged. Firstly, the seats are fixed and the car features an adjustable pedal box. Great for keeping weight down, controlling weight distribution and for ingress/egress through the dihedral doors. Second, the footwells are raised for an F1-inspired driving position with low hip-to-heel – although it won’t go as far as the extreme Valkyrie, which literally mimics a single-seater race-car recline. Finally, Aston has revealed that it will introduce a new and unique HMI system with a central touchscreen and all the functionality you would expect, including Apple Carplay and Android Auto. If you’ve driven any recent Aston you’ll realise this is A Very Good Thing, as its borrowed HMI has always been a generation or two out of date. However, it’s also a complex and expensive thing to get right, so something of a gamble. Regardless, if the Valhalla can combine that driving position with the gorgeous racer/bespoke GT cockpit of the recent one-off Victor, it should be a very special place to be.
GEARBOX
Valhalla will benefit from a new eight-speed DCT gearbox with ‘e-reverse’ handled by the electric motors and helping to shave weight from the mechanical package. The gearbox should be a real step forward for Aston and will no doubt make its way into other (frontengined) models, too. With an e-diff and the capability for the EV system and the ICE to run in different ratios simultaneously, Aston claims superb launch acceleration and a peak torque figure of 737lb ft. Valhalla will be able to hit 80mph on pure EV power but the range is limited to just 15km or so. The company predicts a CO2 rating of sub-200g/km, a top speed of 217mph and 0-62mph in 2.5sec.
AERODYNAMICS
When Tobias Moers says he wants to turn Aston Martin into a performance brand, you sense that the Nürburgring will form a central part of that strategy. The Valhalla, he says, will be capable of lapping the Ring in under 6 minutes 30 seconds. No question it has the power to do so, but aero will also play an important role. An active front splitter and rear spoiler, plus powerful underfloor venturis will combine to deliver 600kg of downforce at 150mph. By way of comparison, the Mclaren Senna is said to produce 800kg at 155mph in Race mode, so although the claim is impressive it’s not as other-worldly as those made for the extraordinary Valkyrie. At the recent launch of the car at Aston’s F1 facility it was telling that less time was devoted to the ‘beauty’ of the car than the performance potential. That said, whilst Aston Martin’s design-led philosophy is being challenged, there’s no question that from function the design team has really delivered in terms of the aesthetic, too. The roof scoop/intake and top-exit exhausts are just two of the details that mix in a bit of raw aggression and engineering efficiency with typical Aston Martin design flair.
POWER UNIT
The ambitious plan for a home-grown twin-turbo V6 engine has been ripped up and Valhalla will once again lean on Aston’s technical partnership with Mercedes-amg. However, rather than just boost up the existing 4-litre twin-turbo V8 from the Vantage, Aston will utilise a ‘bespoke’ version of the flat-plane-crank unit found in the AMG GT Black Series. It produces 740bhp, revs to 7200rpm and drives the rear wheels only. Moers and the team wouldn’t be drawn on the exact changes in specification over the Black Series application, but said it was considerably more than just an ECU tune. The engines will even be built in a new production facility within the Gaydon factory. This mighty V8 will be enhanced by a 150KW/400V battery hybrid system featuring a motor on each axle and capable of delivering up to 201bhp, although the combined peak power of the drivetrain is rated at 937bhp. The pure EV mode will send power only to the front wheels (we’re already planning a drag race with a Cygnet) but as you ramp up through the drive modes the rear axle will get an electrical boost, too. Depending on the dynamic situation, up to 100 per cent of the electric boost can go to the rear wheels, but clearly the four-wheel-drive system will help with traction and on-limit behaviour.
CHASSIS
As with the One-77, Vulcan and Valkyrie, Aston has turned to Multimatic to develop a new carbonfibre tub for the Valhalla. Despite the car originally being billed ‘Son of Valkyrie’ this new structure is unrelated to Adrian Newey’s creation. Which isn’t to say it’s not pretty trick in its own right. At the front it features pushrod-operated suspension with inboard springs and dampers and at the rear there’s a multi-link design. It also adopts Multimatic’s Variable Spring Rate and Adaptive Spool Valve (ASV) damper units, allowing for a ‘dramatically lower’ Track mode and a front axle lift system. This sounds much like the system employed by Ford on the GT supercar (with partner Multimatic), whereby in Track mode the coil spring is hydraulically locked-out and only the torsion bar acts as a spring. This enables high-downforce capability without crazy spring rates that would impact other drive modes.
VERDICT
Aston’s mid-engined supercar programme has been an on-off affair since former CEO Andy Palmer triumphantly pulled the wraps off the Valhalla and Vanquish concepts at the Geneva motor show in 2019. But they were little more than concepts, show-stand dressing to tempt investors ahead of the company’s doomed IPO.
When Lawrence Stroll gained control and appointed Tobias Moers, the pair immediately put the mid-engined cars on hold until they could work out how, and if, they could bring them to market in a crowded sector fighting for the attention of a relatively small number of customers. Nine months on and Valhalla is their interpretation of Palmer’s vision.
The close association with AMG that Moers brings will undoubtedly smooth the process,
BRAKES/TYRES
The combination of carbon ceramic matrix brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres shouldn’t come as a huge shock to anyone. It’s become the industry standard and, with Moers background at AMG, it’s no surprise that he’s brought Michelin in as a supplier. Yet, it is significant. A bespoke compound and construction programme with Michelin is extremely expensive and in the past Aston Martin has simply not had the money or, perhaps more accurately, not been prepared to assign that level of investment to the tyre development. With Valhalla, things are different. The prototype wears 295/30 ZR20 front tyres and 325/30 ZR21 rears and although it’s still extremely early in the development phase, the key thing is that Aston Martin has committed to a bespoke tyre programme. It’s decisions like these that reinforce the sense that Valhalla and the company as a whole are undergoing a sea change in philosophy. Previously Aston has settled for a solid, competitive option. Now it wants only the best and is chasing marginal gains everywhere.