British Automaker Partners with Red Bull Racing to Create Ultimate Aston Martin
Sterile alphanumeric characters be gone. The hypercar collabo between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing is no longer known as the AM-RB 001. It is now the Valkyrie.
Aston Martin says the Valkyrie takes it name from the Gods. It gets its heritage from decades of Aston Martins whose names start with the letter V, starting with the original Vantage performance variant of the DB2 back in 1951 and continuing with later machines such as the Virage, Vanquish, and the all-out, track-only Vulcan.
There are no hard and fast numbers for the Valkyrie yet, but we assume it will pull and perform just like that – hard and fast. Thanks to an Aston Martin press release, what we do know is that the Valkyrie will be powered by “a new, mid-mounted, high-revving, naturally aspirated V12 engine with the potency to achieve a 1:1 power-to-weight ratio; 1 bhp per kilo of weight.”
Let’s do a little math to take a stab at what kind of numbers the Valkyrie could put out, using the last Aston Martin hypercar, the One-77, as a starting point. The One-77 weighed 1,630 kg (3,594 lbs) and generated 750 horsepower. It’s logical to assume the Valkyrie will outgun and weigh less than the One-77. Even though the Valkyrie will be “built around a lightweight carbon fibre structure,” it’s highly unlikely it will weigh anywhere close to 800 kg. The McLaren P1 tips the scales at 1,547 kg (3,411 lbs); the Koenigsegg One:1 weighs in at 1,360 kg (2,998 lbs). Even if the Valkyrie ends up being lighter, such as 1,200 kilos, given Aston Martin’s stated ratio, the Valkyrie should crank out just as many horsepower. If it’s heavier than that, it’ll just be even more powerful.
Aston Martin (and Red Bull Racing) will only produce 99-150 road-legal Valkyries and 25 track-only versions. Deliveries will start rolling out of Aston Martin’s Gaydon factory in 2018.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
