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Aston Martin Valkyrie Makes Public Debut at Silverstone

Thousand-horsepower Valkyrie production hypercar appears on track for the first time…

Photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Aston Martin Valkyrie, which is to form the basis for the British manufacturer’s FIA World Endurance Championship hypercar program, has run in public for the first time.

Aston brought the 1160 horsepower, 6.5-liter V12 engined road car out for a series of demo laps at Silverstone ahead of tomorrow’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix.

Launched in 2017, the Adrian Newey-designed Valkyrie has not been seen dynamically in the public eye until this weekend.

Aston Martin high-performance test driver Chris Goodwin was behind the wheel, while the car was wrapped in Red Bull Racing colors to reflect the project’s main development partner.

“I’ve driven this car around Silverstone for countless hours on the simulator at Red Bull Racing’s HQ and in many other sports cars throughout my career, but to drive Aston Martin Valkyrie here today feels exceptionally special,” Goodwin was quoted as saying after the run.

Newey, meanwhile, described the car’s outing as an “emotional” moment.

“With the changing visual angles as it drives past and the noise, it is now doing what it is supposed to do, which is to move and be dynamic,” he said.

“It has been an enormous push from the team to get it running here today, so this is a special moment for them.”

Aston Martin and Toyota both unveiled their own hypercar programs on the eve of last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The following week, Toyota released video footage of its GR Super Sport production hypercar track testing with Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel.

Both cars are expected to feature in the first season of the new formula in 2020-21.

Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Photo: Peter Fox/Getty Images

Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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