Aston Martin’s secretive hypercar that it announced last year to be designed and engineered in collaboration with Red Bull using Formula 1 expertise and technology, and previously known as the AM-RB 001, now has a name: Valkyrie.
The official moniker taps into Norse mythology, with Valkyries being a silent female angel tasked with taking the worthy slain in battle to the paradise of the gods, Valhalla. It also continues Aston Martin’s tradition of giving their cars a name starting with the letter V such as Vantage, Vulcan, Virage, Vanquish,…..Rapide.
Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer, says: “The Aston Martin Valkyrie is an incredibly special car that demands an equally remarkable name; an uncompromising car that leaves nothing in reserve. The connotations of power and honour, of being chosen by the Gods are so evocative, and so pertinent to a car that only a fortunate few will ever experience.”
But aside from new name along with the teaser video and the unique angles it allows us to see of the car’s exterior, we still don’t really know all that much about it - or at least, nothing technically new has been revealed.
We know Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer at the Red Bull F1 team, will be having quite a big hand in the development of the car’s powertrain and aerodynamics, hence the Valkyrie’s almost 2040s race car look liberties taken with active aerodynamics.
Nearly all of the car’s downforce will be generated by the car’s underbody, leaving the top portion nearly uncorrupted by embellishments like wings, strakes, and inlets. Mounted amidships is a high-revving atmospheric V12 which will be augmented somehow with an electric motor and energy recovery system.
Supposedly, the production version of the car will boast similar performance to a present-day LMP1 Le Mans race car. Speaking of which, upon its release slated for 2018, there are plans to only build between 99 and 150 examples with accordingly astronomical prices tags and/or rigorous owner selection process.
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