Aston Martin Valhalla

Aston boss: “the Valhalla will help us reposition Aston Martin again”

As the first official road pics of the mid-engined V8 land, boss wants it to help secure the British carmaker's future

“The Valhalla will help us reposition Aston Martin again,” new boss Adrian Hallmark said earlier this year. Here it is, repositioned from a handsome set of images rendered digitally on your screen, to an even more handsome set of images taken from the so-called ‘real world’.

And doesn’t it look splendid. It’s the first mid-engined Aston Martin supercar ever built, boasting a hugely complex and brand-new architecture that’s likely giving the McLaren W1 and Ferrari F80 nightmares. This one’s available for a fraction of those hyperbeasts’ prices, but more on that later.

There’s a bespoke 4.0-litre twin turbo flat-plane crank V8 at the Valhalla’s dark heart; an engine derived very loosely from the one in the Mercedes-AMG GT. Here it kicks out 817bhp.

That’s not all, because three electric motors join the party – two on the front axle, one in the gearbox – for a headline total of 1,065bhp and 811lb ft. It’s fast alright – 0-62mph in 2.5s and a top speed of 217mph – but more than that, it should be… electric to drive. Not literally, of course. We refer you back to the whole ‘flat-plane-crank V8’ thing.

 
Watch Fernando Alonso rag the new Aston Valhalla around Monaco

The Valhalla’s, er, ‘principal development driver’ has been let loose around Monte Carlo

An empty track, no blue flags to worry about… there’s every chance this ends up being Fernando Alonso’s most enjoyable lap of Monaco this weekend.

As well as still clocking on for F1 duty at the ripe old age of 43, the two-time champ also has another job at Aston as the principal development driver for the new Valhalla.

Y’know, the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8-engined, 1,064bhp and 811lb ft plug-in hybrid that just so happens to be Aston’s first ever mid-engined supercar? Yeah that.

Well, that is due to reach customers in the second half of the year, so it’s only right that the chief test dude has one last go to make sure that all those horsies – both flat plane crank- and e-generated – are in good working order.

 
Spec-tacular: building our dream Aston Martin Valhalla

One of the thrills of buying a car like the Valhalla is that you can spec it just how you want

Speccing any car is a joyous thing, but the experience enters an altogether higher plane when it’s an Aston Martin hypercar.

Or so you’d think. But what’s the reality? How does that process pan out in practice for a buyer in the rarefied world of exclusive Aston Martins?

To find out, today I’m speccing a Valhalla – the 1000bhp mid-engined plug-in hybrid hypercar that will be launched later this year. Production is limited to 999 examples and personalisation is an integral part of the package.

You can go to your nearest dealer and spec away there, if you want. Or you can travel to Q New York, Japan’s House of Aoyama or, as I have, Aston’s Gaydon HQ to spend time with a dedicated design team to perfect your car.

“When clients join us at Gaydon, they’ll be met by one of our brand specialists, get a tour of the factory, see the production line, and then come in here and spec their car,” says Tom Barker, Aston product manager.

As I walk through to the Gaydon HQ’s courtyard, two mirror-clad speccing rooms sit glinting in the sun. Inside is a screen that cinephiles and gamers would die for: a 7.5m-by-2.5m 5K-resolution LED display, which takes up an entire wall.

www.autocar.co.uk

I visited Aston Martin HQ to design my ultimate Valhalla - even I was surprised by the result | Autocar

One of the thrills of buying a car like the Valhalla is that you can spec it just how you want
www.autocar.co.uk www.autocar.co.uk

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