Ricardo has been awarded a contract to manufacture the advanced transmission for the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar. The Valkyrie is the product of an innovation partnership between the British luxury brand and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, with the aim of creating a unique road car – a car engineered to be entirely useable as a road car, but with the capability to perform like no other road car on a race track.
Ricardo is already working with Aston Martin to design and develop the Valkyrie’s transmission, with series production due to commence in 2019. The multi-year program will produce a maximum of 150 road-going Valkyrie hypercars and an additional 25 track-only versions.
“I am extremely pleased that we are able to announce this important production contract,” commented Ricardo Performance Products managing director, Mark Barge. “This award builds upon the well-established but continually growing reputation of Ricardo in the design, development and manufacture of some of the world’s most advanced and high-performance driveline systems and technologies.”
Built around a carbon fiber structure, the Valkyrie’s aerodynamics package is described by the team as “truly radical”, generating unprecedented levels of downforce in a road-legal car. Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer, designed most of the downforce features, which make extensive use of underfloor aerodynamics effects.
According to Aston Martin, to cope with extreme aerodynamic loadings at high speeds yet deliver on-road usability and comfort, the car’s suspension system will feature innovative technology and “employ principles honed by Newey over his 30-year career”.
