ASTON MARTIN'S F1 CAR FOR THE ROAD JUST SHATTERED THE SILVERSTONE LAP RECORD BY 10 SECONDS.
When the Aston Martin Valkyrie Coupe was first conceptualised in 2016 it sounded like something from a science fiction movie. Still, when the first one was eventually ready for customer delivery in November of 2021, the motoring billionaires of the world took notice. Only 150 of these cars were set for production, so they’re rare even in the world of hypercars. Most of the Valkyries seen online have the iconic Slipstream Green paint, which is one of four base colours for the car, options also include Liquid Petroleum, Ethanol Silver, and Maximum Orange. The Aston Martin test unit is in the aforementioned Slipstream Green, and so that’s the one you will keep seeing in the promotional material, like this here video showing the British hypercar snatching a lap record at one of the UK’s most famous racetracks - Silverstone. The Valkyrie is pretty much a Formula 1 car that can be taken on normal roads, it features the best of the trickle-down technology from the Aston Martin Formula One team and that makes it something rather special. This beast of a thing is powered by a 6.5-litre Cosworth V12 with a rev limit capped at a high 11,100 RPM. With the added electric assist, the whole package kicks out a very healthy 828 kW with 900 Nm of torque, and with the car tipping the scales at just 1,270 kg the resulting performance is quite bonkers. The transmission in play is a 7-speed sequential piece with a single clutch system. The hybrid system is partially developed by Rimac, and it boosts power on demand much like KERS technology in F1.
The Valkyrie can hit 100 km/h in a mere 2.6 seconds and it can run on to a top speed over the 400 km/h mark. The car was borne of a partnership between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing and the resulting car was meant to be as close as possible to an F1 car without being restricted to a racetrack. It’s road-legal, making it one of the fastest cars available, but as is usually the case with things like this, there’s also a smaller number headed to production that isn’t road-legal. Like all Aston Martin sports cars, the Valkyrie is built at the headquarters in Gaydon, UK. This is handy as it's close to Silverstone, the UK’s premier racetrack, and so before each Valkyrie is delivered, it gets put through its paces at Silverstone. Logic dictates that a Valkyrie should then be rather rapid around the track, having more laps under the belt than most other hypercars. It was with that in mind that the powers that be at Aston Martin decided to make things official and set about doing an official test session with the aim of becoming the fastest car to lap the track. It did just that recently. The Valkyrien didn’t just beat the record, it absolutely smashed it. The previous production car record was set at 2:06.83 with a Porsche 911 GT2 RS equipped with a Manthey Racing chassis kit and JCR Developments exhaust system. The Aston Martin Valkyrie crossed the timing beams in a time of 01:56:42, shaving a full ten seconds off what the Porsche could manage. For interest’s sake, the fastest F1 car around the track was clocked at 1:27.097, set in 202 by Verstappen in his RB16 car.
Take a look at the YouTube video that shows the stunningly fast Aston Martin Valkyrie blitz the Silverstone race track where all Valkyries undergo a final test session before delivery. We spotted the thing hitting 329 km/h - that's freaking nuts, don't ya think?: Aston Martin Valkyrie breaks Silverstone track record | Aston Martin
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