GP Racing - UK (2020-04)

IF ADRIAN

NEWEY

DESIGNED A

ROAD CAR...

WORDSDAMIEN SMITH

PICTURESRED BULL CONTENT POOL

Adrian Newey describes the Aston MartinValkyrie

as “an innovative piece of engineering art”. That statement

says so much about his whole approach to automotive

design, whether he’s sitting at his famously old-school

drawing board sketching out Red Bull’s latest Formula 1

car, or something like this: an astonishingpiece of design

and engineering created with a suitably route-one aim of

being the fastest road car ever made.

It’s no secret the Valkyrie wasborn from Christian

Horner’s desperation to hangon to the employment of his

friend, who was being courted heavily by Ferrari at the start

of the hybrid era before the Valkyrie project was conceived.

Red Bull’s technical director has been at the team since

2006, by far his longest stint in one place – and naturally,

being the creative man he is, Newey was getting itchy

feet. Horner knew he needed something extra, to keep the

architect of Red Bull’s F1 success away from Maranello.

It was over apub lunch with, among others, Aston

Martin’s own creative guru Marek Reichman that a plan

was hatched: to take everything Newey had learned from

F1 and put it into something that could run legally on the

road. Red Bull Advanced Technologies spunout of that pub

conversation along with an AstonMartin partnership, to

provide the road car production know-how that would be

vital for such a project to jump from Newey’s drawing board

and into reality. Code-named AM-RB 001, the project was

announced to the world at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.

The problem with road cars is Newey’s tendency

towards ‘no compromise’. That isn’t always practical to

meet stringent real-world safety and emissions regulations,

and it has been said Newey’s interest has inevitably drifted

in the time it has taken to bring the car to fruition. Still,

from the concept stage, hegave it his best shot to create

something pure in form.

Key partners were signed to contribute specialist know-

how, just as they would in a racing team. Cosworth built

and developed the 6.5-litre V12 engine. Originally, it was

planned to be six litres – but that left the engine short of the

cool 1000bhp target (numbers matter in this game), so up

went the capacity to hit that mark. Combined with an F1-

style kinetic energy recoverypower boost system developed

by electric supercar specialist Rimac, the Valkyrie actually

boasts a peak output of 1160bhp at 10,500rpm and an

equally monumental 664lb ft of torque at 6000rpm – the

most potent powertrain ever committed to the public road.

A V12? Not very F1 in this small-capacity turbo era, but

then Newey never was a fan of that. As Cosworth managing

director Bruce Wood explained: “When the sole objective is

the driving experience you can’t beat a naturally aspirated

V12.” Even modern turbos have a small modicum of lag –

and they can never sound as wondrous as a 12-cylinder at

full bark – so Newey went large. Nocompromise.

The chassis is allcarbonfibre and is very much the

...it would be a

no-compromise

work ofextreme

performance art.

Like the Aston

MartinValkyrie,

in fact – could

this be the

fastest road-

legal car ever?

GP RACING APRIL 2020 31

The Aston MartinValkyrie

alongsideRed Bull’s 2020

F1 challenger, the RB16, at

Silverstone earlier this year

IF ADRIAN

NEWEY

DESIGNED A

ROAD CAR...

WORDSDAMIEN SMITH

PICTURESRED BULL CONTENT POOL

Adrian Newey describes the Aston MartinValkyrie

as “an innovative piece of engineering art”. That statement

says so much about his whole approach to automotive

design, whether he’s sitting at his famously old-school

drawing board sketching out Red Bull’s latest Formula 1

car, or something like this: an astonishingpiece of design

and engineering created with a suitably route-one aim of

being the fastest road car ever made.

It’s no secret the Valkyrie wasborn from Christian

Horner’s desperation to hangon to the employment of his

friend, who was being courted heavily by Ferrari at the start

of the hybrid era before the Valkyrie project was conceived.

Red Bull’s technical director has been at the team since

2006, by far his longest stint in one place – and naturally,

being the creative man he is, Newey was getting itchy

feet. Horner knew he needed something extra, to keep the

architect of Red Bull’s F1 success away from Maranello.

It was over apub lunch with, among others, Aston

Martin’s own creative guru Marek Reichman that a plan

was hatched: to take everything Newey had learned from

F1 and put it into something that could run legally on the

road. Red Bull Advanced Technologies spunout of that pub

conversation along with an AstonMartin partnership, to

provide the road car production know-how that would be

vital for such a project to jump from Newey’s drawing board

and into reality. Code-named AM-RB 001, the project was

announced to the world at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.

The problem with road cars is Newey’s tendency

towards ‘no compromise’. That isn’t always practical to

meet stringent real-world safety and emissions regulations,

and it has been said Newey’s interest has inevitably drifted

in the time it has taken to bring the car to fruition. Still,

from the concept stage, hegave it his best shot to create

something pure in form.

Key partners were signed to contribute specialist know-

how, just as they would in a racing team. Cosworth built

and developed the 6.5-litre V12 engine. Originally, it was

planned to be six litres – but that left the engine short of the

cool 1000bhp target (numbers matter in this game), so up

went the capacity to hit that mark. Combined with an F1-

style kinetic energy recoverypower boost system developed

by electric supercar specialist Rimac, the Valkyrie actually

boasts a peak output of 1160bhp at 10,500rpm and an

equally monumental 664lb ft of torque at 6000rpm – the

most potent powertrain ever committed to the public road.

A V12? Not very F1 in this small-capacity turbo era, but

then Newey never was a fan of that. As Cosworth managing

director Bruce Wood explained: “When the sole objective is

the driving experience you can’t beat a naturally aspirated

V12.” Even modern turbos have a small modicum of lag –

and they can never sound as wondrous as a 12-cylinder at

full bark – so Newey went large. Nocompromise.

The chassis is allcarbonfibre and is very much the

...it would be a

no-compromise

work ofextreme

performance art.

Like the Aston

Martin Valkyrie,

in fact – could

this be the

fastest road-

legal car ever?

GP RACING APRIL 2020 31

The Aston MartinValkyrie
alongsideRed Bull’s 2020
F1 challenger, the RB16, at
Silverstone earlier this year