Despite being rivals in F1, Red Bull’s aerodynamicist Adrian Newey worked with Aston Martin for a unique project that ended in 2020. The Briton has been in touch with Aston Martin since 2018 to develop a hypercar named Valkyrie that would probably hit the tracks sometime in 2025.
And what is interesting about this $3,000,000 mega project is that Newey almost bankrupted Aston Martin for the same. According to dailysportscar.com, the hypercar series uses engines with 1000 bhp and a 6.5 liter V12 to power the car to the 670 bhp.
And when it comes to the Valkyrie in particular, it is a unique hypercar. As per karenable.com, a Cosworth-supplied 6.5 liter V12 hybrid that produces 1,000 horsepower powers the Valkyrie. And that is not it, as a bespoke seven-speed paddle-shift transmission is also attached to the same.
Valkyrie will debut in 2025 with a private but fully funded engine
The report from dailysportscar.com adds that Aston Martin’s Valkyrie will debut in 2025 with a private but fully funded engine. The British manufacturer recently confirmed the same after having faced several setbacks along the way.
The report adds that Aston Martin had originally planned for Valkyrie‘s debut in the 2019 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). However, the same got delayed since Aston Martin believes that the landscape had changed since the time they had confirmed their interest in the same.
Speaking of the same, Aston Martin Lagonda’s then-CEO Andy Palmer said back in 2018 (as quoted by dailysportscar.com), “We entered Aston Martin Valkyrie in WEC and at Le Mans with the understanding that we would be competing with similar machinery and like-minded manufacturers. The situation has changed and it makes sense for us to pause and reconsider our options“.
While Palmer cited the changing landscape as the reason for their postponement in entering the hypercar competition, it is believed that Lawrence Stroll’s takeover of the team changed the entire landscape.
Ever since the Canadian billionaire took over, he has supposedly been more keen to focus on other competitions such as GTE and F1 than hypercars. Irrespective of what led to the delay, it is fair to say that bringing on board an aerodynamical genius like Newey brings a huge amount of promise to their project.
How did Aston Martin get Adrian Newey on board?
Since Adrian Newey has been working with Red Bull even before 2010, the primary question that arises is that how did a competitor like Aston Martin get him on board. And the answer lies in the deal the Milton Keynes outfit made with the British manufacturer back in 2018.
Red Bull had made a partnership with Aston Martin to make the Gaydon-based outfit their title sponsor for their F1 team. Since the two teams had a deal, it was relatively easy for Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to allow Newey to work on Aston Martin‘s Valkyrie project.
However, it all fell through sometime in 2020 when Aston Martin was in a precarious financial position. According to karenable.com, the team was extremely close to filing for bankruptcy. It was only when Lawrence Stroll entered the fray that the team received the funds they needed.
However, by this point, it was too late to convince Newey and Red Bull to stay on board. The relationship between the two brands had worsened to such an extent that by the end of 2020, Red Bull completely exited the project.
With Newey no longer part of their project, it will be interesting to see if Aston Martin are indeed able to produce a quick enough car or not. Stroll had previously stated that his side would join the Le Mans competition back in 2022. However, since Aston Martin failed to achieve this target, it will be interesting to see if they can fulfill their next target of 2025 or not.
