After getting spat on by a French bus driver, we finally made it to Le Mans!

Following the announcements of road going versions of their Le Mans Hypercars (LMH) from Glickenhaus and Porsche, Aston Martin follows suit with their own version.

Dubbed simply “the Aston Martin Valkyrie”, this road legal LMH car is more than just a race car with number plates. It’s a middle ground between the zero-compromise solution from Porsche and the heavily reworked car from Glickenhaus. The Valkyrie uses the same 6.5L Cosworth developed v12 as the race car, but retuned for pump gas and uprated to 1000 hp. And like the racecar, it is still a stressed member of the chassis. Meanwhile, the electric motor used to jumpstart the car from pitlane plays a larger role in the road going Valkyrie, offering up to 141 hp and a “push to pass” mode able to deploy up to 200 hp for 10 seconds. The sequential Xtrac transmission, however, has been replaced with a more livable single clutch unit.

Like the race car, this road going special uses the same chassis and torsion-spring suspension setup. The road car does benefit from not having to conform to racing regulations. So active suspension and aerodynamic elements in the wings and undertray have been implemented.

The new road car’s largest deviations have been to the interior and exterior. The cabin has been cleaned up, with some slight alcantara trim and glossed up carbon adorning the redesigned interior. Two occupants can now fit within the still snug cabin as well, unlike the also recently reveled Porsche 963 RSP. The exterior bodywork has also been modified to fit the new road going personality. The strakes and flicks added for blow over cases and for homologation are gone, as is the fin and massive rear wing. A softer, more rounded nose has been added to the car, as well as a repaired front wing to account for the reduction in rear downforce.

According to the head Aston Martin’s Q devision, the team responsible for pushing the Valkyrie LMH road car project along, “With the road going Valkyrie, we wanted to offer a complete experience. While we wanted to keep the fundamentals of the race car, we also want our buyers to be able to use this as a road car. And to that end I think we have succeeded”.

We at MSIMA are overjoyed to see where Aston Martin will take their road going Valkyrie next! They should do a convertible next.