British Grand Prix fans had the first look at the new Aston Martin Valkyrie as it made its public debut today (13 July) at Silverstone.
Aston Martin high performance test driver Chris Goodwin took to the wheel of the 1,160 bhp hybrid hypercar adorned with a Red Bull-inspired livery. While the has been seen in public previously, it was only as a static display.
“I’ve driven this car around Silverstone for countless hours on the simulator at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s HQ, so to finally drive the Aston Martin Valkyrie here today feels exceptionally special.
“We still have a lot of development work to do but we can now begin to really push the physical testing process and realise the true capabilities of the car.” said Chris Goodwin.
The design of the car comes as a collaboration between Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey and Aston Martin’s Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman and with the technical expertise of Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Aston Martin.
With 150 road-going versions of the 6.5 litre naturally-aspirated V12-powered car to be delivered to customers at the end of the year, today marks an important milestone as the Valkyrie goes in to an extensive physical testing programme.
Adrian Newey, who is racing this weekend in the Masters Historic series, added, “To see the Aston Martin Valkyrie running today, five years from the first moment I started sketching what it might look like, is very emotional.
“With the changing visual angles as it drives past and the noise, it is now doing what it is supposed to do, which is to move and be dynamic. It has been an enormous push from the Team to get it running here today so this is also a special moment for them.”
Marek Reichman, Aston Martin Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, adedd, “We have created a truly unique, beautiful rear mid-engined hypercar in Aston Martin Valkyrie that represents the ultimate fusion of art and technology.
“I am incredibly proud of everybody at Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies to have the Aston Martin Valkyrie run for the first time in public at the British GP.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship will usher in a new era in the 2020/2021 season with the Hypercar class replacing the current top-level LMP1 class.
The team behind the new Valkyrie have said that the race car will ‘draw on all the radical design elements of the road car’.
