so this is it then the Aston Martin
Valkyries v12 engine developed by
Cosworth of course in a little over two
years and first things first this was a
clean sheet design so little over two
years ago they were staring at a white
screen and have developed this thing
from absolute scratch those initial
initial specs set by Adrian Newey of
course were this six litres 950
horsepower and to make it as light as
humanly possible this is the finished
article and the specs have improved so
it is now 6.5 liters naturally aspirated
v12 it will Rev to 11000 rpm and
produces a nice round 1000 brake
horsepower the other thing about this
perhaps the most significant thing about
this engine is how light it is just 202
kilograms to give you a bit of context
the 177 engine itself a light weight v12
weighed 280 kilograms as an example of
how pedantic they've been with the light
weighting here well the first time we
saw this engine Adrian Newey came in
here and started tapping away at the
lacquer on this engine cover he asked
Cosworth how much it weighs the answer
was 130 grams and he pulled his
disappointed face and which is why you
can now order your Valkyrie with or
without the lacquer depending on how
hardcore you want to be there will be a
hybrid boost element I'm told so there
is going to be an electric motor
incorporated into the gearbox they're
not talking about how much power that's
going to produce yet but around about a
hundred horsepower is a fair guess or a
total of about 1,100 horsepower but
rather than that adding extra
performance extra acceleration that
electric motor is more about taming this
engine at low speeds ok it's one of the
most high-performance engines ever
produced the most powerful naturally
aspirated v12 ever produced but you
still got to be able to drive this thing
around town you still got to be able to
go for a coffee in it and you don't want
to be kangaroo in down the Kings Road
so that electric motor just talked feels
lets you pull away smoothly at low revs
they say this thing has a life of a
hundred thousand
I'm not sure how many people are going
to drive there Valkyrie for a hundred
thousand kilometers but there you go it
has to over perform in all areas this
thing is an engineering marvel and I
don't know about you but I'm ready to
hear it
operating they've actually got one on
the dyno through there their endurance
testing the engine as we speak so if we
make our way through we can hear it
doing a lap of Silverstone right now
this might look like a bit of an old
broom cupboard around the back of
Cosworth but actually behind this wall
is the engine that Valkyries v12 on the
dyno and if I waggle this handle
apparently they're going to run it on a
simulation of the first section the
Silverson track so we can actually hear
it in all its glory so you guys
any moment now
[Music]
[Applause]
oh yes we'll have a bit of that