If the Aston Martin Valkyrie wasn’t crazy enough, good news! Red Bull and Aston Martin are building a louder, faster, track-only model called the Valkyrie AMR Pro. The AMR Pro model sheds weight and tweaks everything to provide performance that Red Bull claims will rival an Formula One car or a top-class Le Mans prototype.
The AMR Pro is what happens when you unleash the likes of infamous Red Bull F1 designer Adrian Newey on a project free from racing series’ regulations and road car concerns. Newey said in Red Bull’s release on the car:
While it is endowed with extraordinary performance, it has always been vitally important to me that the Valkyrie functions well as a true road car, and that naturally comes with some constraints. However, with the track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro we have the freedom to create an extreme evolution that makes no such concessions.
In other words, this car is all of our ridiculous engineering dreams come true. We all want to see how insane racing designers can make a car, but usually cost concerns and regulations added in the name of keeping race cars competitive with each other get in the way. Not so much here. This is Newey and friends’ private playground of a car design, and we couldn’t be happier about that.
Naturally, we’re giddy to hear that they further recalibrated the Valkyrie’s naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine for more power and torque, and even giddier to hear what it sounds like through a significantly lightened exhaust. Output for the car’s Rimac Energy Recovery System will remain the same but its control systems will be reprogrammed for optimum track output.
Because they don’t have to muffle the engine note for track use or worry about any emissions control devices, we’re in to hear maximum V12 ridiculousness should we ever encounter a Valkyrie AMR Pro in real life. Red Bull didn’t release any revised power or torque figures for the car just yet, so we’ll have to wait and see how much it will make.
Every single surface of the Valkyrie was reconsidered and optimized aerodynamically for the AMR Pro version, according to Red Bull. The end result was a significant gain in downforce compared to the regular Valkyrie, thanks in no short part to larger front and rear wing elements as well as active aerodynamic controls that were tweaked for track use.
Items that are just unnecessary weight for track use, such as the onboard infotainment screen and heater, have been stripped out or replaced with more lightweight versions. The car’s polycarbonate windshield has heater elements in it that are much lighter than keeping the blower for visibility in muggy conditions, for example. Lighter polycarbonate windows and carbon fiber are used all around the car.
It also includes new suspension uprights and carbon fiber wishbones that you really don’t want to accidentally whack into a tire wall. The interior puts the driver in a racing bucket seat.
It rides on smaller 18-inch wheels than the road-car version, but this enables it to use the same spec Michelin racing tires as LMP1 racers from the World Endurance Championship. You know, the top class from Le Mans that became too expensive to go on in its current form. That one.
The Valkyrie AMR Pro also gets Formula One-inspired carbon brakes to bring its insane speeds to a halt.
Red Bull expects it to reach a top speed of around 250 mph and be able to pull 3.3 G of force in corners, and braking forces of up to 3.5 g. While those aren’t as hardcore as the near-fighter-pilot forces that a full-on, top-class race car achieves, Red Bull says their simulations suggest that the Valkyrie AMR Pro will be able to meet an F1 or LMP1 race cars on pace.
Owners will have access to the same training facilities as the Red Bull Racing drivers to cope with the additional strain the car puts on their bodies. This will include simulator time, on-track instruction and physical fitness programs. The car itself will have its own dedicated track events for owners to show up and drive.
Only 25 obscenely lucky rich dudes will get to own the most insane Aston Martin ever built for public consumption, and sadly, all of these have been spoken for already. Womp womp. Deliveries start in 2020, so you’ll have to wait at least that long to fork over your firstborn child if a used one comes up for sale.