News ID : 24
Publish Date : 12 July 2017 - 14:46
Aston Martin-Red Bull's £2.5m hypercar has extreme aerodynamics, light weight and more than 1000bhp
The essence of the £2.5 million, 1000bhp-plus two-seater’s proportions have been known for many months but Newey, revered as the world’s greatest creator of Formula 1 cars, is still finding ways of increasing its aerodynamic downforce as his colleagues finesse details such as headlights, stoplights, scoops and badges.



The car’s exterior shape is now "about 95% ” finished, according to designers inside the firm’s top-secret design center at Gaydon.



Unprecedented levels of downforce are needed if this road car is to fulfil the promise of Aston boss Andy Palmer that it will "lap Silverstone as fast as an F1 car”. Sources at Gaydon have already suggested the car will generate up to 4000lb (1816kg) of downforce at top speed.



Working together, Aston’s designers and Red Bull Racing’s Newey have made considerable changes since the first iteration of the Valkyrie was unveiled at Aston’s HQ last year. The biggest alteration is a set of new openings between the cockpit and front wheel arches, designed to increase downforce. Aston Martin’s designers have had the unusual job of incorporating these slots harmoniously into the Valkyrie’s overall styling, to ensure aesthetic quality as well as aerodynamic function.



"We’re around 95% done,” said chief designer Miles Nurnberger. "Much of what you see from outside is the actual structure of the car which had to be signed off quite early. Non-structural areas are still subject to evolution as Adrian continues finding improvements.



"Ordinarily, the last thing we’d want is to cut a hole in one of our surfaces, but these new vents work the front wings so much harder that we’ve found a significant gain in front downforce. They have their own functional beauty, but we’ve finessed them without harming the way they work. They also work as windows through which owners can view our fabulous wing-section front wishbones.”

The extent to which the Valkyrie’s main proportions are shaped in the wind tunnel means it makes a complete break from supercars of the past. A low, two-seat, beetlebacked passenger pod with no rear window sits between two large, full-length venturi tunnels. They draw air from beneath the car to feed a very prominent rear diffuser. These tunnels are key to the car’s aero performance, said Aston design boss Marek Reichman, who has worked on this project side by side with Newey.



Despite their aerodynamic obsession, the Valkyrie’s creators are at pains to point out that this car is comfortable and surprisingly spacious, accommodating "a wide range of shapes and sizes”. Occupants must step over the lower aero structure to gain access through a pair of gullwing doors reminiscent of access to a Le Mans racer, but with larger openings.



Most of the Valkyrie’s mechanical package has been decided and is proceeding on plan. The mid-engined car uses a normally aspirated 6.5-litre Cosworth V12, tipped to produce more than 900bhp, and the hybrid powertrain (conventional power is augmented by a kinetic energy recovery system) is understood to have delivered 1130bhp during testing. That means Newey’s oft-stated power-to-weight target of one horsepower per kilogram should be comfortably reached, given that the weight is just over 1000kg, ready to drive. The V12’s power reaches the centre-lock magnesium wheels through a seven-speed paddle-operated gearbox made by Ricardo (which also builds Bugatti’s gearboxes and McLaren’s engines). It exhausts through the upper body, Le Mans style.


Source: autocar.co.uk
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