The outrageous Valkyrie is one of the most bizarre and alien machines you might ever be lucky enough to see on the road, so when Aston Martin announces it's building another hypercar, we pay attention – even if all we get is a charcoal sketch and a few details to work with.
If rumors are correct, the new hypercar will be another collaboration between Aston Martin's design team and F1 aerodynamics genius Adrian Newey, who was responsible for the Valkyrie's mind-boggling underbody aeros – a setup he told us he couldn't run on the Red Bull F1 cars because it was too radical and extreme for F1's restrictive rulebook. I mean, look at the damn thing:
So this new hypercar – dubbed Project 003 for the time being – has the perfect lineage for something truly special, even if it's designed to be a slightly more useable roadster than the Valkyrie, with "more practical concessions to road use, including space for luggage."
There's no official cutoff for the point when supercars become hypercars, but we think it's reasonable to expect around 1,000 horsepower from its new mid-engined, turbocharged hybrid drive system. Electric torque will make it quick off the line, and we'd be surprised if it wasn't well under three seconds on the 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) sprint.
Aston Martin says to expect active aerodynamics and "outstanding levels of downforce in a road-legal car," (we suspect given Newey's involvement that this will be an understatement), as well as active suspension.
Only 500 will be made, in both left- and right-hand drive and, like the Valkyrie, Project 003 looks like it'll be pretty squishy in that narrow cockpit. They'll hit the road in late 2021 if everything goes according to plan.
So it seems things are very busy in Aston-Martin's Gaydon HQ, between getting the Valkyrie finished, going electric with the Rapide E, building gadgeted-out 007 DB5 replicas, striking out into luxury territory with the Lagonda brand, covering the youth market with a new-look Vantage, and getting really crazy with ultra-premium submarine designs and even a VTOL flying car concept – as well as, you know, building actual cars that real people can buy. It certainly seems like a fun and creative year for these guys.
Source: Aston-Martin
