Most fast cars fight the air. This one was drawn around it.
150 coupés. A V12 at 11,100 rpm. Grip made from air.
For most of the history of the fast road car, the formula was simple. More power, less weight, and a wing where the air could be persuaded to help.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie started somewhere else. In July 2016, at its headquarters in Gaydon, Aston Martin showed a full-size model that had a codename instead of a name: AM-RB 001. The initials told the story. Aston Martin, and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the engineering company of a Formula One team whose design work was led by Adrian Newey.
The car became the Valkyrie in March 2017. The ambition behind it was not a faster supercar. It was to take the way a racing car breathes, holds the road and seats its driver, and carry that thinking as far onto the road as the law would allow.
What happens when a road car is designed from the floor up, by people who think about air before they think about bodywork?
The first customer car was completed in November 2021. Aston Martin went on to build 150 coupés, the car in these photographs among them: white, with a red line over the roof, black wheels and red calipers.
From the side the shape explains itself. A cockpit like a droplet, wheels pushed to the corners, and between them more space than bodywork.
Air, Not Wings
The floor is the car's most important surface.
Most road cars treat the air as something to get out of the way. The Valkyrie treats it as a material.
Aston Martin describes an aerodynamic body and an open underfloor designed to maximise downforce. The principle is the one that shaped Formula One's ground-effect cars, and it is simpler than it sounds. Narrow a river and the water runs faster. Draw air through a narrowing channel beneath a car and it does the same: it speeds up, its pressure falls, and the higher pressure above presses the car onto the road.
The Valkyrie draws that air through great channels either side of the cockpit. Which is why, head-on, you can almost see through it.
A floor only works at the right height, so the suspension is active. Double wishbones at each corner carry active dampers and active ride-height actuators, run by a 200-bar hydraulic system that holds the car where the air needs it.
At the back, the air leaves through a diffuser that sweeps up behind the rear wheels, beneath a wing and either side of the exhausts.
Most cars move through the air. This one is built around it.
The V12 That Wanted More
A naturally aspirated engine, in an age of turbochargers.
Behind the cockpit sits a 6.5-litre V12, built by Cosworth, its cylinders set at 65 degrees, with no turbocharger at all. Aston Martin lists an all-alloy, quad-overhead-cam, 48-valve engine that revs to 11,100 rpm, a figure more familiar from racing engines than road cars.
The engine is not mounted in the car. It is part of it. Aston Martin says the V12 and the gearbox casing act as stressed members of the structure, and the rear suspension is carried on the gearbox casing itself. The exhaust is made of Inconel, a nickel alloy chosen for its strength at very high temperatures.
Between the engine and the seven-speed gearbox sits a 120 kW electric motor, fed by a 1.2 kWh battery. It adds a short boost on demand, smooths each gear change, helps the car pull away, and drives it backwards, so the gearbox needs no reverse gear of its own.
Two numbers, and which one to read
Anyone reading about the Valkyrie meets two very different figures.
In March 2019, during development, Aston Martin announced 1,000 bhp from the V12 at 10,500 rpm and 1,160 bhp combined with the hybrid system, with 900 Nm of torque.
The specification Aston Martin publishes today for the coupé is lower: 1,001 bhp from the V12 at 10,600 rpm and 780 Nm, and 1,055 PS combined with the energy-recovery button pressed and the battery charged, with 880 Nm at 7,000 rpm.
The first was a development figure. The second describes the car as built. When they disagree, read the second.
Five Things It Does Differently
The Valkyrie's character comes less from any single number than from a set of decisions few road cars would make.
The engine is part of the chassis
The V12 and the gearbox casing carry loads, as they do in a racing car, instead of sitting on mounts inside a separate structure. The rear suspension is attached to the gearbox casing.
Reverse is electric
The electric motor between engine and gearbox drives the car backwards, which saves the weight and space of a reverse gear.
Cameras instead of mirrors
There are no door mirrors. Cameras in the car's flanks feed screens at the base of each windscreen pillar. An air intake sits where the rear window would be, so there is no interior mirror either.
You sit with your feet raised
The seats are fixed directly to the carbon structure, reclined, feet up, as in a racing prototype. It is the steering column that adjusts, for tilt and reach.
It listens for you
With a V12 this close behind the cabin, Aston Martin fitted an external microphone, so the driver can still hear the sirens of the world outside.
A Cockpit, Not A Cabin
Getting in is the first lesson.
The coupé's doors are cut from the roof and lift away with part of it. You step over the sill and lower yourself in.
Inside, almost everything is structure. Exposed carbon fibre, two seats set close together, six-point harnesses, and the sense of sitting in the car rather than on it.
The steering wheel carries the display and most of the controls, as it would in a racing car.
At each side, a screen takes the place of the door mirror.
The Detail At The Corners
The Valkyrie stops on carbon-ceramic discs, 420 mm at the front and 385 mm at the rear, each gripped by a six-piston caliper. Its wheels, 20 inches at the front and 21 at the rear, are held by a single central nut and wear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres.
Even the smallest surfaces are worked. Where the body opens to let air in or out, the opening is lined in exposed carbon fibre, the material of the whole structure beneath.
Three Valkyries
The Valkyrie was built in three forms, 275 cars in all.
- The coupé, the car in these pages: 150 built.
- The Spider, the open version, shown in August 2021: 85 built.
- The AMR Pro, a track-only car without the hybrid system, revealed in 2018: 40 built.
In 2025 the story came full circle. A racing version, the Valkyrie AMR-LMH, entered the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship with the Heart of Racing team and took Aston Martin back to the top class at Le Mans. It kept a modified version of the Cosworth V12, without the road car's hybrid system.
What Collectors Look At
Two cars with the same name are rarely the same car.
With so few made, every Valkyrie is known, and each is judged on its own history as much as on the model's reputation. Five questions come up again and again.
Which Valkyrie is it?
Coupé, Spider and AMR Pro differ in rarity, in purpose, and in whether they can be driven on the road at all.
How was it specified?
Paint, graphics, interior and options chosen at the factory, including bespoke work. A white car with a red stripe and a car in racing green are, to a collector, different propositions.
How has it been used?
Many are driven very little. Mileage matters, and so does how the car has been kept between drives.
Who has looked after it?
A car this complex depends on its maker for maintenance and software. The service history shows how it has been cared for.
What came with it?
The documents and accessories delivered with the car, and a clear record of who has owned it.
The Valkyrie will not be the last road car shaped by racing engineers. It may be among the last to do it with a naturally aspirated V12 that revs to 11,100 rpm.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Aston Martin |
| Model | Valkyrie (coupé) |
| Development partner | Red Bull Advanced Technologies |
| Shown | July 2016, as AM-RB 001; named Valkyrie in March 2017 |
| First customer car | November 2021 |
| Production | 150 coupés, 85 Spiders, 40 AMR Pros (track only) |
| Structure | Carbon fibre, with aluminium inserts; carbon fibre body panels |
| Engine | 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12, 65°, built by Cosworth |
| Maximum engine speed | 11,100 rpm |
| Engine power | 1,001 bhp at 10,600 rpm |
| Engine torque | 780 Nm at 7,000 rpm |
| Hybrid system | 120 kW electric motor between engine and gearbox; 1.2 kWh battery |
| Combined peak power | 1,055 PS, with the energy-recovery button pressed, subject to battery charge |
| Combined peak torque | 880 Nm at 7,000 rpm |
| Announced in 2019 | 1,160 bhp and 900 Nm combined, during development |
| Transmission | 7-speed sequential, rear-mounted, shift-by-wire, electric reverse |
| Layout | Mid-rear engine, rear-wheel drive, open differential |
| Suspension | Double wishbones, active dampers and active ride height, front and rear |
| Brakes | Carbon-ceramic discs, 420 mm front and 385 mm rear, six-piston calipers |
| Wheels and tyres | 20 in front, 21 in rear; Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 |
| Exhaust | Inconel, 6-2-1 configuration |
| Fuel consumption | 24.08 l/100 km combined (WLTP) |
Frequently Asked Questions
How powerful is the Aston Martin Valkyrie?
Aston Martin's published specification for the coupé gives 1,001 bhp from the 6.5-litre V12 at 10,600 rpm and a combined peak of 1,055 PS with the hybrid system, with 880 Nm of torque. The 1,160 bhp often quoted was announced in 2019, during development.
How many Aston Martin Valkyries were made?
150 coupés, 85 Spiders and 40 track-only AMR Pros: 275 cars in all.
Is the Aston Martin Valkyrie a hybrid?
Yes. A 120 kW electric motor between the V12 and the gearbox, fed by a 1.2 kWh battery, adds a power boost, smooths gear changes, helps the car pull away and drives it in reverse. The track-only AMR Pro and the racing AMR-LMH do without it.
Who designed the Aston Martin Valkyrie?
Aston Martin developed the Valkyrie with Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the engineering company of the Red Bull Formula One team, where the work was led by Adrian Newey. Cosworth built its V12.
How does the Valkyrie make downforce?
Largely from its floor. Air drawn through channels either side of the cockpit speeds up and loses pressure, so the car is pressed onto the road. Active ride-height control keeps the floor at the height where this works best.
Why does the Valkyrie have no rear window or door mirrors?
An air intake sits where the rear window would be. Cameras in the car's flanks replace the door mirrors, with screens at the base of each windscreen pillar.
What is the difference between the Valkyrie coupé, Spider and AMR Pro?
The coupé, whose doors lift away with part of the roof, is the road car most often meant by the name; 150 were built. The Spider is the open version, with 85 built. The AMR Pro is a track-only car without the hybrid system, with 40 built.
Sources
- Aston Martin: Aston Martin Valkyrie: the published specification of the coupé, including engine, hybrid system, transmission, suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres, and the external microphone.
- Aston Martin, "Aston Martin Valkyrie: the ultimate hybrid powertrain for the ultimate hypercar", 1 March 2019: the figures announced during development, and the engine and gearbox as stressed members.
- Aston Martin Valkyrie, Wikipedia: the 2016 reveal at Gaydon, the naming, the start of production in November 2021 and the numbers built.
- GTPlanet, "Aston Martin Reveals Valkyrie's Interior in New Official Images": the camera mirrors, the roof intake and the seating position.
- The Drive, on Aston Martin's two-car Valkyrie entry for Le Mans, June 2024: the Valkyrie AMR-LMH, the Heart of Racing team and the race car's engine without the hybrid system.