For years, the Aston Martin Valkyrie has been talked about as a Formula 1 car for the road. Now, Aston Martin actually has a Formula 1 car of its own and to see if the Valkyrie can live up to the hype, Top Gear has had the chance to check out the Valkyrie and the AMR21 F1 racer.
The clip includes input from both Aston Martin F1’s Otmar Szafnauer and Valkyrie chief engineer Fraser Dunn who provide us with an excellent look at the similarities between the cars.
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As described by Dunn, the lower half of the Valkyrie is the work of Adrian Newey and is all about maximizing downforce while the upper half of the car were defined by the Aston Martin design studio.
Development of the Valkyrie is continuing and according to Dunn, the brand only recently started to engage the car’s active aerodynamic components, adding that despite how the Valkyrie looks, it is actually very easy to drive.
Taking a deeper dive into the car, we can see that just like a Formula 1 car, there is a brake duct on the inside disc of the wheel that forces air into the disc and caliper to improve cooling. That air is then scavenged around the inside of the bodywork to help with aerodynamics. Speaking of the brakes, they are advanced CCM-R discs even more advanced than carbon-ceramic discs. They are so race-focused that their optimum running temperature is about 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 Farenheit).