Aston Martin has unveiled a new track-only version of the Valkyrie, dubbed the AMR Pro edition. The hybrid supercar is showing alongside the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Formula 1 car at the Geneva Motor Show, and was unveiled by racers Christian Horner and Adrian Newey.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie is a street-legal hypercar running on a unique aerodynamic carbon fiber chassis as an "LMP1 car for the road." Designed by Red Bull Racing aerodynamicist Adrian Newey and Aston's lead designer Marek Reichman, the hypercar is stunningly insane and includes aerodynamic devices considered too radical to be legal in F1.
With the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, though, all street legalities are off and the Valkyrie is tuned specifically for track use. Maybe not legal Formula racing, but it's about as F1 as you can get without a prescription.
Technical details on the Valkyrie AMR Pro are a bit sparse, but Aston Martin promises there will be more to come as the bespoke car heads towards market. What is known is that the car weighs only 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) and creates more downforce than it weighs. Changes to the body produce most of this upgrade, the most obvious being the larger front and rear wings and more extensive use of carbon fiber.
Some amenities are also missing from the Valkyrie AMR Pro to lighten its load, including removal of the heater/de-mister, infotainment system, and the glass windscreen and side windows (which are now polycarbonate). Suspension wishbones are also now carbon fiber and seating has been swapped out for moulded racing seats. The exhaust system was likewise lightweighted, no doubt with several street-required components such as a muffler and catalytic converter being reduced or removed.
The 6.5-liter V12 powering the Valkyrie was recalibrated to improve performance by removing several legally-required on-road components (emission controls and the like), and a reprogramming of the Energy Recovery System control software for the hybrid bits means that the car now produces 1,100bhp (820.27 kW). That's better than a 1:1 ratio for power to weight.
Aston Martin says that this makes the Valkyrie AMR Pro capable of 225 mph (362 km/h) and the ability to achieve 3Gs of lateral acceleration. That must create some compelling track times for the new Valkyrie.
"The Aston Martin Valkyrie road car draws extensively from the knowledge I have gained during my career in Formula One, but the AMR Pro version has allowed me to work beyond the constraints of road legality, or indeed practicality," says Red Bull Racing's Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey. "We've told a few of its secrets, but by no means all. I will leave it to the public to ponder the lap time predictions. Suffice to say they're quite impressive."
Aston Martin will build only 25 of the Valkyrie AMR Pro models, with deliveries coming in 2020. If you're wanting one, sorry, but the company says it's already sold them all.
Source: Aston Martin