The most powerful Aston Martin road car to date has broken the lap record for street-legal vehicles at Silverstone. Prior to the V12-powered Valkyrie, the record was held by the Manthey Racing 911 GT2 RS. With professional racer Jonny Cocker behind the wheel, the rear-drive Neunelfer lapped the premier British circuit in 2 minutes 6 seconds.
It bested the 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS by 1.5 seconds, and the limited-run McLaren Senna by 2.5 seconds. Be that as it may, the Aston Martin Valkyrie plays in a different league from Zuffenhausen's rear-engined icon. With a best lap time of 1:56.42 on the Grand Prix version of Silverstone, this fellow bettered the MR GT2 RS by 10 clicks.
It's absolutely insane, but on the other hand, the midship hypercar is not your usual road car. First and foremost, Valkyrie was originally dubbed Nebula, which stands for Newey, Red Bull, and – of course – Aston Martin. Later known as AM-RB 001, the first Aston Martin developed with the one and only Adrian Newey's touch comes with a motorsport-style detachable steering wheel.
Better described as a squircle, this purposeful steering wheel features a central button for starting the incredibly complex powertrain. Pressing it once gives you electrical power. Two more presses later, all systems are ready to rumble. As for the fourth and final press, that starts the electric motor first, with the Cosworth-developed V12 mill following suit.
Admired from the rear of the KERS-infused hypercar, the underbody Venturi tunnels will make jaws drop to the ground. There's also the lack of side mirrors because the aerodynamicists opted for cameras and pillar-mounted screens to improve the aero profile.
Photo: Aston Martin
While it may be faster than a GT2 RS with Manthey Racing bits and pieces and GT3-spec race cars around this circuit, Valkyrie does not hold a candle to Formula 1 cars. Back in 2020, the RB16 and Max Verstappen needed a meager 1 minute 27 seconds. By comparison, the fastest lap of the 2024 season at Silverstone was 1:28 for Carlos Sainz Jr. in the SF-24.
To date, Aston Martin came out with three distinct variations of the Valkyrie. In addition to the gullwing-door coupe, the Gaydon-based manufacturer also developed a butterfly-door spider. As for the most extreme iteration of the Valkyrie, that would be the track-only model.
Revealed with much pomp at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the AMR Pro is limited to 25 units worldwide. It makes a bit more oomph than its road-legal counterpart, with Aston Martin quoting 1,140 horses for the Valkyrie coupe and spider. Peak torque is estimated at 682 pound-feet (925 Newton-meters) of twist.
Capable of revving to 11,100 revolutions per minute, its Cosworth-supplied naturally aspirated V12 is one of the largest in the biz at 6.5 liters. Only the Prancing Horse of Maranello and the Raging Bull of Sant'Agata Bolognese come close with their free-breathing 6.5ers, whereas the BMW Group still makes a 6.75-liter engine with twin snails for the Rolls-Royce Ghost sedan, Cullinan SUV, and Phantom flagship.
On that note, Aston Martin's new lap record at Silverstone wouldn't have been possible without Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 road-legal tires and Darren Turner. He's been with the British marque since 2005. To date, Turner has secured three class wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours for Aston Martin.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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