Aston Martin Valkyrie Could Beat Porsche’s Nurburgring Record

Aston Martin’s upcoming Valkyrie hypercar could challenge the outright Nurburgring lap record, at least according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

When asked whether Red Bull would attempt to beat the time set by the 919 Hybrid Evo, which no longer complies with WEC LMP1 rules, with their F1 car, Horner told RaceFans that Porsche has already out-performed F1 cars.

“The problem is their LMP1 car broke the record in Spa which was beating a Formula 1 car time,” he said. “I’m not sure a Formula 1 car could actually do it. But I think that the Valkyrie, certainly the track version of the Valkyrie, could be a contender.”

Porsche managed to beat the long-standing 6min 11.3sec lap record set by Stefan Bellof in a 956 racer in 1983 with the 919 Hybrid Evo and Timo Bernhard. The time is a deeply impressive 5min 19.545sec.

The track-only version of the upcoming Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, which has been designed by Adrian Newey and is being developed in collaboration with Red Bull, is expected to tip the scales at 1,000kg (2,204lbs) and be powered by a hybrid 1,100hp V12 powertrain.

All 25 examples of the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro are already spoken for, with Horner saying that the company will have a running prototype of the hypercar in late summer.

Andy Palmer, Aston Martin’s CEO, has previously promised that the Valkyrie will “lap Silverstone as fast as an F1 car”, with inside sources suggesting that the hypercar will generate up to 1816kg (4000lbs) of downforce at top speed.

The end goal is to make the Aston Martin Valkyrie faster around a track than its rivals, which include cars like the Mercedes-AMG Project One, which also benefits from F1 technologies, including its powertrain.