Aston Martin Valkyrie deliveries: Tobias Moers takes it to Silverstone

Getting the Aston Martin Valkyrie into customers’ hands has not been straightforward. This extreme model was meant to reach its first owners back in 2019, yet deliveries have still not started.

The hold-up has more to do with the turbulent spell the British manufacturer went through across much of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 than with the pandemic that followed.

That unsettled period ultimately brought not only new owners - including Lance Stroll, Racing Point’s Formula 1 team principal - but also a new chief executive: Tobias Moers, formerly head of AMG.

A delayed Aston Martin Valkyrie amid Aston Martin’s upheaval

In the middle of that uncertainty, rumours even suggested the Valkyrie itself might be at risk of never launching, after Aston Martin stepped back from entering the new Hypercar class in the WEC (World Endurance Championship).

That decision was driven by regulatory changes, with the LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) rules brought closer to the new LMDh (Le Mans Daytona Hybrid) category.

Tobias Moers sets a delivery window - and drives at Silverstone

After so many setbacks, it is Moers - Aston Martin’s CEO since 1 August 2020 - who has moved to calm both future Valkyrie owners and fans of this extraordinary machine, one of the most radical cars ever homologated for public roads.

In a video released by the British brand, Moers confirms that the first Valkyrie deliveries will begin halfway through this year, meaning early summer.

It was not only a chance to publicly tell buyers when they can finally sit down and drive their nearly three-million-euro hypercars; it also gave the “boss” an opportunity to take the Valkyrie out at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom.

A truly “mad” machine

The numbers remain hard to digest: a naturally aspirated Cosworth V12 capable of revving beyond 11,000 rpm while producing over 1,000 cv, joined by an electric motor that lifts peak output to 1,160 cv and torque to 900 Nm.

There are more powerful hypercars, but none pairs that level of horsepower with such low mass as the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Weight is estimated at 1,100 kg - essentially the same as a humble Mazda MX-5 2.0.

Conceived by the brilliant Adrian Newey - the “father” of so many race-winning, era-defining Formula 1 single-seaters at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull Racing - it is only logical that aerodynamics would be central to the British hypercar’s development. Just look at it…

Airflow is carefully directed over and under the bodywork - through two enormous Venturi tunnels - and it also features active aerodynamic elements that help generate more than 1,800 kg of downforce, over 1.6 times its total mass.

No wonder there are claims it can run with the now-retired LMP1 cars… at least in AMR form, the track-only version limited to 25 units, alongside the 150 examples of the “standard” Aston Martin Valkyrie - which is anything but “standard”…

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