Aston Martin Is Already Working On The Valkyrie's Successor With Plans To Terrorize Le Mans

TopSpeed

By Kirby Garlitos

Published Aug 14, 2018

It's called the "son of Valkyrie," and it could be more extreme than its proud papa

Aston Martin has yet to send the Valkyrie hypercar to the welcoming arms of its owners, but that hasn’t stopped the British automaker from setting its sights on developing a successor that it plans to unleash on endurance races from 2020. The new hypercar only goes by the nickname “son of Valkyrie,” but it’s already being talked about in glowing terms by people within the company as the car that could help Aston Martin achieve outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Interesting things are afoot within Aston Martin, and if the development of this new hypercar progresses smoothly, we could see it in less than two year’s time. That would make for an astounding turnaround time between the Valkyrie and its successor. Either way, it’s incredible to think that in the space of three years, Aston Martin went from having zero hypercars to having two in the fold.

More importantly, that period of time also saw the company reinvent itself from being a niche automaker that produced exciting grand tourers to a full-blown purveyor of all things exotic. It’s incredible to think of Aston Martin’s turnaround in those terms, and yet, CEO Andy Palmer admitted that expectations should be tempered, at least for the time being.

“I’m hesitant to confirm we will race at Le Mans before the final regulations have been confirmed, because our experiences in Formula 1 have taught us that in motorsport ideas that begin optimistically can ebb away, but we have a great deal of interest in the new regulations at Le Mans,” Palmer said, referring to the series’ goal of reducing budgets by a quarter of what it is today.

Aston’s interest in Le Mans shouldn’t be dismissed, not when it could have a hypercar that would be eligible to compete under the proposed guidelines. It also happens that, if the development of the “son of Valkyrie” is on schedule, it could arrive in time for the 2020 staging of the iconic 24-hour endurance race. If that happens, look out, because Aston Martin isn’t going to hesitate in entering the hypercar to see how it stacks up against the best hypercars of that time.

As far as details about the car are concerned, well, Aston’s keeping that close to its vest for the time being. As it should, too, because the actual Valkyrie is still being developed. It’s not going to hype up the successor this early in its development. From what we do know, the “son of Valkyrie” will be based on the Valkyrie and that Aston Martin pegs it as a faster and more powerful equivalent to the McLaren P1. Aston Martin and Red Bull will work together once again, with the development team led by no less than F1 designer extraordinaire, Adrian Newey.

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