The Aston Martin Valkyrie redefines the hypercar, but what's truly mind-blowing about this vehicle
is the fact that is road legal.
It might look like it's been beamed down from outer space, but this vehicle has to have
everything you get in your Toyota Corolla.
Well, almost.
Let's start with headlights, these are very fascinating.
Now obviously you've got the high bend, the low bend, the indicators, but inside they're
using 3D carbon printed fibre, and the headlights and brake lights combined weigh 40% less than
one headlight cluster in an Aston Martin DB11.
This car is all about saving weight.
Some of the challenges the design team faced were incredibly complex.
Take the windscreen wiper for example, this needs to cover 80% of the windscreen.
If you look at the windscreen, well, it's curved, so how they get by it is they get
a carbon fibre arm here, and it has a little camshaft in the middle that allows this windscreen
wiper to curve around those edges.
This model is 95% representative of the finished product, however, this area here will be recessed
so that aerodynamics are much more improved.
Even though the Valkyrie looks incredibly narrow, this is a bona fide two seater.
Don't believe me?
Check this out.
Alright, here we go, try not to break it.
This is tricky.
There we go.
It's just astonishing to think you're almost lying down in a road car.
You can take this to the shops, you can go through the KFC drive through, whatever you
want, but it's got everything you need to make a road car legal.
So you’ve got the indicators here, you can flick to neutral, you can change the car’s
ride height with this button, so you can get over speed bumps, and LC, launch control.
Yes, please.
These two screens here transmit what's coming in from tiny little cameras on the side of
the car.
You can't have wing mirrors, too much wind resistance, too much weight.
There is actually room here for two people.
It's a little cosy, but there are different options for your seats.
I'm sitting on pads that are stuck to the tub.
Then there's this one, which has a little bit of an infill, and then there's a third
one that’s even thicker, and a little bit different angled.
Obviously, seats are not adjustable, but the steering wheel and the pedal box are adjustable.
If you thought getting out of exotic cars was tricky, this is next level.
You sort of have to stand on the seat and slowly get your legs out.
Wow.
Even the scoop here has changed.
They’ve added some extra aerodynamic tunnels here to guide the airflow over the rear.
This is very cool, the CHMSL.
What's a CHMSL?
It's a centre horizontal mounted stoplight, and I believe it's the smallest in the world.
The aerodynamics in this car are absolutely stunning, and it even includes active aero
on this rear spoiler, but they had to take into account the thermal dynamics.
Because the exhaust pipe generates so much heat, it would melt the spoiler off, they
have to cover it in a ceramic coating.
But it gets better, the number plate would melt off too, so it can't be plastic, they
have to fabricate it from a special alloy.
The aerodynamic genius behind the shapes of this car, Adrian Newey, is also the bloke
behind the Red Bull F1 racing car.
He wanted two huge Venturi tunnels running the whole length of the car.
You can virtually see from one end to the other.
But the problem there is you need a very narrow engine, and that's where Cosworth comes in.
They're building the 6.5 litre V12 that wedges right in here, and it's a fascinating piece
of engineering because it's actually a stressed member of the chassis.
I love the fact that the engineering team has gone to the nth degree to rescue weight.
It doesn't even have a conventional reverse gear, that is taken care of by the electric
motor.
Even the badge is subject to weight saving.
This optional one here, which I can barely pick up, is just 15 microns thick, that is
thinner than a human hair.
Only 150 of these vehicles will ever be built.
They're all sold, despite being priced at around $5 million a pop and much more depending
on how you spec it.
But one thing is for sure, this is an absolutely astounding vehicle in every respect, and the
fact that it is road legal is absolutely mindboggling.