Yahoo Autos Aston Martin's Valkyrie Le Mans Hypercar Sounds Like a V-12 Nineties F1 Car
A trio of drivers took turns behind the wheel of the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH for its first shakedown laps at Silverstone and Donington Park last week as it ramps up testing for its 2025 race debut.
The new Hypercar, developed by Aston Martin Performance Technologies and works team The Heart of Racing, will serve as the automaker's attempt at capturing the top prize at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2025.
The Aston Martin DBR1 with Carroll Shelby behind the wheel won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. In fact, Aston Martin finished one-two in the race that year. Now, 1959 was a long time ago. It was five years before James Bond would drive the iconic DB5 in the film Goldfinger. Aston Martin has not even competed for the top prize at the most famous endurance race since 2011, when its AMR-One program ended with two disastrous first-hour retirements. That is all set to change in 2025 with the Valkyrie AMR-LMH.
All cars in the Hypercar class of global endurance racing offer incredible performance. However, the Valkyrie AMR-LMH is unique for a couple of reasons. First, it is the only one derived from a production-based road car, the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Of course, the $3 million Valkyrie is one of the most extreme road cars ever made. The other thing that sets the Valkyrie AMR-LMH apart is it is the first racing car to be built to LMH regulations to contest both the WEC and IMSA championships simultaneously.
In the heart of the carbon fiber chassis sits a Cosworth-built 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12 engine. The road-going version of that engine spins to 11,000 rpm and produce over 1000 horsepower, but that number should be reduced to around 670 hp to meet LMH regulations. So, it will be fast but also sound incredible. Do you remember the glory days of Formula One when the cars were powered by V-12 engines? If you close your eyes, and listen to the Valkyrie AMR-LMH you will think you are at an early 1990s Formula One race.
With these shakedown laps out of the way, Aston Martin and The Heart of Racing can focus on completing development, and FIA homologation in the fall.
The Valkyrie AMR-LMH will compete in the IMSA series GTP class, run out of The Heart of Racing’s Phoenix Headquarters in North America. For the WEC program, The Heart of Racing recently established a U.K. team headquarters based at Silverstone.
With Aston Martin competing in the Hypercar class, it will have a presence in all levels of sportscar and GT racing, from GT4 to Hypercar, as well as Formula One. It will become the only manufacturer to do so. Will the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH have the same success as the DBR1? That remains to be seen. They will be competing against the best in the world. But with 95 years of racing history, Aston Martin is no stranger to competition.
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