Our stock of fresh superlatives has already been depleted by the performance claims Aston Martin is making for the forthcoming Valkyrie AMR Pro. Based on the company?s early numbers, this track-only special is going to make any garden-variety hypercar seem barely more exciting than an overloaded minivan. We?re told to expect more than 1100 horsepower, less than 2200 pounds of mass, and?insiders say?the ability to generate more than its own weight in downforce. Yet the reality might end up being even more viscerally thrilling than those numbers suggest.
At the Geneva auto show, we got the chance to talk about the Valkyrie with the two senior executives jointly leading the project, Red Bull Racing?s Adrian Newey and Aston Martin?s creative director, Marek Reichman. The achievements section of Newey?s résumé takes up several closely typed pages; the 59-year-old Brit is the most successful Formula 1 designer of all time, having scored no fewer than 10 constructors? championships with Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull Racing. The Valkyrie is the result of his long-held desire to create the ultimate street-legal performance car, but the track-only AMR Pro that was shown in concept form at Geneva will have an even blacker heart and will be unfettered by the restrictions normally applied to race cars.
Newey casually let slip that it could well end up bettering the extraordinary claimed figures. ?The downforce we?re quoting is obviously early days,? he said. ?We?re very early in...