Valkyrie [Official] Aston Martin - From AM-RB 001 to Valkyrie

[Revvd]

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At one point in the video the tartan Valkyrie looked to be sitting way lower than usual. If you look at the green car in front of it, that's how it's supposed to look when you shut it off.

The user manual states that with engine off the car returns to Sport mode ride height, which is the lowest possible mode on the road legal version (same height as Track mode).
But this one car in that one shot, for some reason, has ride height more akin to the Track Pack equipped car in Track mode.

So not sure if it's some sort of show-off mode menu trickery or just malfunctioning car.

 

[Tourbillon]

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[Tourbillon]

At one point in the video the tartan Valkyrie looked to be sitting way lower than usual. If you look at the green car in front of it, that's how it's supposed to look when you shut it off.

The user manual states that with engine off the car returns to Sport mode ride height, which is the lowest possible mode on the road legal version (same height as Track mode).
But this one car in that one shot, for some reason, has ride height more akin to the Track Pack equipped car in Track mode.

So not sure if it's some sort of show-off mode menu trickery or just malfunctioning car.

The Track Package was never meant to be road legal. I remember it was Miles or that tall Yorkshire guy that said so.

However if you've got connections and deep pockets ultimately anything is possible. Perhaps one slipped out of the gates at Gaydon.

Only way to find out is to ask the owners. Now there's an idea right?

Not like I haven't with the US hypercars for going on years now.

 

[Bucketslash11]

Aston Martin Valkyrie chassis

 

[Tourbillon]

Aston Martin Valkyrie chassis

That's cool man! Thanks.

 

[Revvd]

The Track Package was never meant to be road legal. I remember it was Miles or that tall Yorkshire guy that said so.

However if you've got connections and deep pockets ultimately anything is possible. Perhaps one slipped out of the gates at Gaydon.

Only way to find out is to ask the owners. Now there's an idea right?

Not like I haven't with the US hypercars for going on years now.

I would love to know what specifically prevents the Track Pack cars from retaining its road legal status.
The ride height remains adjustable, the tyres are the same Cup 2s, just with different compound... What's the problem? Is it some dumb homologation technicality?

I keep seeing Track Pack spec'd Valkyries posted on the Valkyrie Registry instagram account, but they're never pictured equipped with it. Not sure what makes it such an appealing option to so many owners and why they don't fancy putting the conversion kit on.

TBH, I don't even get the point of the Track Pack. I get that it centers around generating more downforce through lower ride height, increasing effectiveness of the venturi tunnels.
But then the road car is already capable of unleashing way more downforce than what the software currently allows for.
You don't need new body parts to make those tyres pop. But the fact that is such a big safety concern means that the aero foils and flaps are in a constant state of bleeding off the downforce (with one exception - hard braking).
What makes Aston Martin think that limited downforce on a standard Valkyrie and Cup 2s is unsafe, but unlimited and increased downforce on Track Pack with Cup 2 Rs is perfectly fine?

For this thing to be a serious track weapon, slicks would have to be offered. But that would require smaller brakes to allow for regular sized wheels. And that might be a problem given the weight of the whole thing...
Anyway you look at it, nothing about this option makes any sense.

 

[Tourbillon]

I would love to know what specifically prevents the Track Pack cars from retaining its road legal status.
The ride height remains adjustable, the tyres are the same Cup 2s, just with different compound... What's the problem? Is it some dumb homologation technicality?

I keep seeing Track Pack spec'd Valkyries posted on the Valkyrie Registry instagram account, but they're never pictured equipped with it. Not sure what makes it such an appealing option to so many owners and why they don't fancy putting the conversion kit on.

TBH, I don't even get the point of the Track Pack. I get that it centers around generating more downforce through lower ride height, increasing effectiveness of the venturi tunnels.
But then the road car is already capable of unleashing way more downforce than what the software currently allows for.
You don't need new body parts to make those tyres pop. But the fact that is such a big safety concern means that the aero foils and flaps are in a constant state of bleeding off the downforce (with one exception - hard braking).
What makes Aston Martin think that limited downforce on a standard Valkyrie and Cup 2s is unsafe, but unlimited and increased downforce on Track Pack with Cup 2 Rs is perfectly fine?

For this thing to be a serious track weapon, slicks would have to be offered. But that would require smaller brakes to allow for regular sized wheels. And that might be a problem given the weight of the whole thing...
Anyway you look at it, nothing about this option makes any sense.

No, for now, I'm good. I'm taking a slight change from hypercars for precisely, in part, the things you've written about.

Homologation particularly. I don't care that much about it anymore, especially the time I devoted to the projects from the United States of America.-Those I'll definitely though, still support.

I Love them ofcourse, engineering, performance, exclusivity etc, everything but there's just too much to unravel at times and there's other things, more important things to look at. I'm sure you understand.

The prior I wrote was from memory, anecdotal.

 

[A.P.]

It was almost a Ferrari!

 

[Centurion]

It was almost a Ferrari!

Nice tale. I had no idea!

 

[Revvd]

I know this book isn't anything new, but Road & Track in this article published couple of (previously unseen) CAD images, showing the car's suspension and the hydraulic system, which I thought were super cool and worth posting.

Edit: The forum resized them to hell, so it's better to click the article and admire them in full resolution.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a45345583/inside-aston-martin-valkyrie-book/

 

[Bridster]

I agree, these drawings are super cool. I knew they were using torsion bar suspension, but had no clue those torsion bars were this long!

On the other hand, this also shows how much the hydraulic system must weigh. All the hoses, actuators, pumps, reservoirs + the hydraulic fluid itself, that's gonna be like 30kg+. With them also using two sets of dampers, if they just chucked the pointless active suspension to the bin, they could have saved like 50kg. Oh well..

 

[Revvd]

Yeah, those torsion bars are insane. And I'm very confused about why they didn't use Multimatic's Ford GT setup with coil spring doing the work in road mode and a tiny torsion bar alone handling the track mode.

It's gonna be interesting to see what lessons Newey learns from this whole project. Surely the RB17 is gonna be less convoluted... Right?
But he probably has in his head how the similar system worked on FW15B/C, so it must be applicable on a hypercar too

 

[Tourbillon]

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[A.P.]

One of the first for sale through auction?

2022 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro | Private Sales | RM Sotheby's

2022 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro for sale by RM Sotheby's Private Sales 2023

rmsothebys.com

Interesting bit of information:

 

[Tourbillon]

One of the first for sale through auction?

Wow!

 

[Revvd]

Interesting bit of information:

To add some more context, GR010 recorded following lap times at the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain:
1:50.1 fastest race lap
1:46.6 quali pole position

While 1:48 for the AMR Pro seems impressive compared to a WEC winning race car, I would hope for the Valkyrie to be a little bit faster still.

Here's my reasons:
It should be about the same weight (or lighter, in case ballast is applied to the Toyota), with more power: 1,013 PS vs 680 PS.
We can omit the hybrid boost, since in WEC they're only allowed to deploy above 190 kph, where it won't make enough difference against pure ICE power of the AMR, available all the time.

The two big remaining variables are downforce and tires.
LMH should be about 1,200 kg at 250 kph. AMR Pro is quoted to produce twice the amount of regular Valkyrie, which is hard to put into numbers, given all the aero modes and limitations of the road car.
I think it generates more than the Toyota. Something up to 1,500 kg perhaps?

AMR Pro most likely only runs commercially available tire compounds, nowhere near as good as "confidential" slicks for WEC. That alone could be worth couple of seconds a lap.

All things considered, I think there's a lot more potential in the car to be unlocked, provided that you give it the same tires, the same pro driver and put the same effort into the car setup, versus playing it safe in order to not scare the gentleman driver behind the wheel.

 

[A.P.]

It sounds so different in this video.

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[A.P.]

New video on the AMR Pro, either tires or brakes caught on fire!

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[Revvd]

New video on the AMR Pro, either tires or brakes caught on fire!

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I had to check that my video is set to 1.0x playback speed, because the onboard seemed sped up
In my defense, they do use quite wide fov on those cameras. But still... crazy fast car!

 

[Tourbillon]

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