- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru
Reach for the sky
Considering the number of cars and manufacturers striving to meet the environmental requirements, the creators of super and hypercars look like rebellions. However, they also respect current trends. For example, Aston Martin made released a Valkyrie hybrid hypercar. In the summer of 2021, the car had a brother, Spider, which debuted at the Elegance Contest in Pebble Beach, California. The open-top Valkyrie is limited to 85 units, while the coupe will have 150 units. And this is currently the fastest and most extreme Aston open-top car with a 1,155 hp engine. It is based on a 6.5-liter naturally-aspirated V12 engine. The sales are scheduled for the second half of 2022.
What do we know?
The manufacturer put much effort in retaining aerodynamic characteristics, which were carefully tuned. The resulting car can accelerate to 330 km/h without a top or 350 km/h with a top. The downforce at 240 km/h reaches 1,400 kg. Overall, there is too little information about the Spider. For example, an inevitable difference in the unladen weight between a roadster (unknown) and a coupe (1,030 kg) is recognized as ‘insignificant’. The dimensions of the open-top Valkyrie are also unknown. The interior and ergonomics are described in a very poetic way: the distance from driver’s hips to heels is “incredibly small”.
What can we see?
We can certainly see that the new Valkyrie Spider has a removable top and newly designed butterfly wing doors instead of seagull wings. The top itself is very lightweight, made of carbon fiber and equipped with two polycarbonate windows. You will have to install and remove it manually. With the top on, the roadster, just as the Aston Martin fans wanted, looks like a true coupe. And in order to retain the performance of the new modification of the hypercar, a team of engineers led by the famous creator of formula cars, Adrian Newey, have finalized the chassis and body.
What’s inside?
The hybrid system is the same as that of the coupe: it’s an incredibly responsive (11,100 rpm) 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine by the famous company Cosworth, combined with an electrical system from Rimac. The powertrain develops 1,155 hp. As we have already said, the maximum speed of the vehicle is 350 km/h with the top installed. The car has sports seat belts, and a rear-view camera system is combined with the front and rear parking sensors.
