Aston Martin’s new Valkyrie Spider is a thrilling supercar that combined F1-inspired tech with the joy of open-roof driving.
Every now and then, luxury car manufacturers come out with a model that blows minds. These models are testament to the cutting-edge design and innovation that’s core to the world’s leading auto marques and allows the companies to apply new techniques and materials, often developed in the high-stakes world of motor racing, to the open highway. The Aston Martin Valkyrie was just such a release; a supercar without parallel, and now the brand has taken things one step further with the Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider.
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Limited to just 85 units, and with deliveries set for the second half of next year, the new soft top is a thrilling next step in the progression of the Aston Martin Valkyrie bloodline and promises an even more intense experience, one shaped by the unbeatable sensory stimulus that comes with roof-off driving in one of the world’s most extreme hypercars.
Benefitted from unique engineering solutions born from the combined talents of Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), the new Spider boasts the same unique 1155PS hybrid V12 powertrain but with revisions to the Valkyrie’s carbon fibre structure as well as a precise recalibration of both the active aerodynamic and active chassis systems.
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Key to Valkyrie Spider’s unprecedented performance is the ultra-lightweight construction and high downforce aerodynamics package. The upper body surfaces of the teardrop-shaped cockpit and lower tub contours follow the envelope of space available between the huge full-length Venturi tunnels that run either side of the cockpit floor.
Drawing huge quantities of air beneath the car to feed the rear diffuser, these tunnels are the key to generating Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider’s extraordinary levels of downforce – >1400kg at 240km/h in track mode – while keeping the upper body surfaces free from additional aerodynamic devices that would spoil the purity of the open-top styling.
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The result is a stunning automobile capable of achieving a vMAX of 330km/h+ with the roof removed (350km/h+ with roof on), making it the fastest and most extreme open-top, road-legal Aston Martin ever built.
The same driver-focused cabin sits at the heart of Valkyrie Spider, with F1-inspired low hip-to-heel height and near-central seat positioning, along with a 6-point safety harness keeping the occupants safely in the car, and a centre rear-view camera system along with front and rear parking sensors that aid the driver at both high and low speeds.
The new Valkyrie Spider features a bespoke, removable lightweight roof comprising of a carbon fibre central panel, latching onto the tub at the rear and to the windscreen surround at the front, along with a pair of polycarbonate roof windows, hinged on either side. On opening the doors, the roof can simply be lifted off and stowed away. Modifications to the carbon fibre tub have been made to support the removable roof panels and the luxury open-top layout, as well as new doors. The now front-hinged dihedral doors, which are unique to Valkyrie Spider, have been redesigned to tilt forwards.
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