[VIDEO] Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar Driven at Speed!
If the Aston Martin Valkyrie is what the future of speed looks like, then consider us sold.
A new era of speed has arrived. Manufacturers are flexing their technical muscles in order to pump out machines capable of incredible speeds. Most use turbocharging or hybrid power, and often times a combination of both. Not Aston Martin. Aston Martin’s Valkyrie seems almost old-school with a 6.5 liter V12. While the V12 is an older platform, the engine, and the car itself, is far from old fashioned.
James Walker has ordered himself a Valkyrie, and was invited to test out a pre-production version. Thankfully he takes us along as he gets an in-depth tour of the car. Aston Martin’s Chief Engineer for Special Projects, Fraser Dunn, shows Walker how aerodynamics are central to the Valkyrie’s speed.
“The main thing that pertains to the vehicle’s performance is the rear venturis. The rear tunnels here, as you can see are all the way through the car,” notes Dunn. In a way, Dunn also notes how Red Bull F1 designer Adrian Newey could use tricks such as those huge tunnels on this car that could never be used in Formula 1. But formula 1 cars, and especially their tires have a much higher limit and much shorter life than a road tire.
Dunn notes how the limit of the tire actually determined how the car was developed. Rather than a tire rated for load given the cars weight, he says “in this car we have a slightly different scenario where we are yeilding aerodynamic performance that takes you to the limit of the tire.” That aero is however a key factor to the car’s speed. Aero grip, rather than mechanical grip is essential for quick lap times. How quick? Walker was shocked. “So you could use a Michelin Cup 2 (road) tire and it would be LMP2 pace… And that’s without the track pack! I don’t have the words to contextualize how serious that is,” Walker observes.
What that means on track is that even with a standard road tire, this Valkyrie is as fast as a current Le Mans Prototype 2 racer. That’s good news, as the FiA are implementing a hypercar category for racing in future versions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Aston Martin will be competing against many other manufacturers who are making their own road-going hypercar race cars. But the Aston Martin is so far the only one with that glorious monster of a V12.
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