Ride of the Gods: Aston Martin Valkyrie

While it’s not meant to carry you off to the great beyond, Aston Martin is promising buyers will get the ride of their life with the new hypercar it is pulling together as part of an alliance with Red Bull Advanced Technologies.

Making its debut this week at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, the Aston Martin Valkyrie is the latest in a series of extreme machines from the British maker that, since the debut of the original Vantage in 1951, have used “V” names to stand out from the rest of the Aston line-up.

We’ll have to wait a day for the full specs on the Valkyrie, which is known inside Aston Martin by its codename, AM-RB 001. But we can expect it to deliver a significant upgrade from what the high performance brand is already offering – including the new DB11.

That’s no mean feat considering the DB11 already pumps out 600 horsepower from its new 5.2-liter V-12 and can launch from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds, with a top speed of just over 200 mph.

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That’s all the more impressive when you consider the original V-car, that ’51 Aston Martin Vantage, bumped the output of the stock, 105 hp DB5 by a whopping 20 ponies.

From the image Aston is releasing ahead of Valkyrie’s official Geneva debut, it’s clear the hypercar is more than just a beefed up DB11, however. With its bulging fenders and effectively grille-less nose, it would seem to be as comfortable on track as on a public road.  It’s bubble-like canopy suggests the Valkyrie will be a true two-seater, making none of the DB11’s pretenses of carrying four passengers. The teaser image also appears to indicate a mid- or mid-rear-engine powertrain layout.

Over the years, the V-series has gone on to include such now-familiar names as Virage and Vulcan.

“Aston Martin model names have deep meaning,” said Marek Reichman, Aston’s chief of design. “They need to inspire and excite. To tell a story and enrich a narrative that stretches back some 104-years.

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“The Aston Martin Valkyrie is an incredibly special car that demands an equally remarkable name,” he adds, “an uncompromising car that leaves nothing in reserve. The connotations of power and honor, of being chosen by the Gods are so evocative, and so pertinent to a car that only a fortunate few will ever experience.”

For those not well versed in Norse literature, the name, Valkyrie, meant “chooser of the slain,” and they were the messengers of the gods who decided who would live and who would die in battle. The name entered popular culture through the operas of Wagner, his “Flight of the Valkyries” used in one of the most chilling scenes in the Vietnam War movie, “Apocalypse Now.”

Perhaps the Valkyrie, with guns blazing, might show up in the next James Bond film? It would seem an appropriate ride for Agent 007.

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