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Aston Martin Valkyrie's toughest test: 1000km road trip in the £2.5m hypercar | evo DIARIES
Jul 26, 2025
Join evo behind the scenes of its road trip feature with the remarkable 1139bhp, £2.5 million Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar. In 2025, Aston Martin returned to the frontline at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Valkyrie AMR-LMH. To mark the occasion, evo magazine travels from Aston Martin’s Silverstone F1 factory to Le Mans in the original road-going Valkyrie hypercar. In the process, we discover what the Valkyrie is like to live with during its longest media test to date, covering more than 1100km. Subscribe for evo’s latest performance car reviews, head-to-heads and track tests: https://bit.ly/3Ommfyv Follow us: https://twitter.com/evomagazine https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine https://www.instagram.com/officialevomagazine/ https://www.tiktok.com/@evomagazine?
View Video Transcript
0:00
This is the start of a very special trip in a very special Aston Martin
0:10
We're outside Aston's F1 factory at Silverstone, but we're not here to drive Lance off Fernando's car
0:15
We're here to drive the closest thing to a road-going F1 Aston, the Valkyrie, and we're taking it to a track
0:26
But we're not going to Silverstone. We've got an even more significant track in mind for this car
0:32
We're headed for Le Mans Why Le Mans? Well, for 2025, Aston Martin returned to Endurance Racing's top tier
0:41
with the racing version of the Valkyrie and once again raced for outright victory in the 24 hours of Le Mans
0:47
scene of its famous 1-2 in 1959 We're retracing the 59 team steps for a feature in Evo magazine
0:55
and we've brought the cameras along to keep a video diary on the way. So the downside of driving to France means you've got to do a big chunk of England first
1:06
including the M25 at rush hour, as luck would have it. So what's the Valkyrie like in the real world
1:13
Well, it's very loud. This V12 by Cosworth, naturally aspirated, maybe one of the world's greatest engines ever built
1:22
but you definitely know about it. It's basically bolted right to your back
1:28
You're wearing it like a backpack. So you feel the vibration through the seat
1:32
and you get a lot of noise. So these noise-cancelling headphones are basically essential
1:37
We're in urban mode at the moment, the kind of most road-friendly setting
1:42
The suspension's really, really smooth. To give you an idea of just how loud this car is, right
1:49
I'm doing just over 2,000 RPM in sixth gear. I'm just going to take one ear off
1:53
It's very very loud
2:04
put it that way and it revs to 11,000 RPM It's pretty cosy in here
2:12
I'm pretty much average height but my head is it's not too bad actually
2:17
I've got enough space for a bit of head swing a little bit of elbow room here
2:21
plenty of space for my legs. I've had to change to wear shorts so apologies for my pasty legs
2:27
on the camera but the aircon occasionally needs to blow warm air if it cools elements of the
2:33
powertrain and the drivetrain. It's a very very hot day today so I'm in a kind of goldfish bowl
2:39
with aircon that isn't always totally cold so I'm pretty toasty right now
2:44
I'm not sure I've ever driven a car that creates such a stir as this one there's so much attention
2:55
all the time every car that drives next to you every pedestrian you go past everywhere you park
3:01
instantly there's a flock of people around it even in this fairly kind of understated dark color
3:06
this thing's just a complete magnet for attention I'm I feel a little bit subconscious I'm just
3:12
trying to keep my eyes on the road and not make eye contact with anyone because
3:16
yeah this is not a car to drive if if you're a shrinking violet
3:21
the valkyrie is already the stuff of legends you'll know most of its story already created
3:29
in collaboration between aston martin and red bull to blueprints by legendary f1 designer adrian
3:34
newey 150 coupes were built plus further spiders and track versions all sold out despite a price of
3:42
around £2.5 million for the coupe. Up until now, Evo's driven the Valkyrie only on track
3:49
This is our first taste of it on the road. I wish this had windows you could wind down
3:55
so I could hear what it sounds like in this tunnel. I mean, let's give it a little tickle just to see
4:04
It's so loud. From the outside, it sounds incredible. It sounds like an old generation Formula One car
4:13
From the inside, it's very, very resonant. It's a real kind of almost a brutal experience driving this
4:21
Okay, M25, here we come. Forget Le Mans. I think this might be the Valkyrie's greatest challenge
4:29
Rather than wing mirrors, I've got two cameras either side. And a main one here, which actually worked really well
4:36
There's no window at the back. It's just a solid bulkhead. The Valkyrie's stats are one thing. Over a thousand horsepower from the 6.5 litre V12 alone
4:46
plus another 160 or so from the electric motor, and a top speed limited to 224 miles an hour by
4:53
the wheel speed sensors and gearing. With longer legs, its active aero could enable it to an immense
4:59
top speed, but its magnetic presence is another thing entirely. On British A-Roads, it looks as
5:05
out of place as a UFO landing at Heathrow. One of the biggest challenges of driving this car on a dual carriageway is everybody wants
5:14
to look at it. It's quite hard to change lanes, not because people are being awkward and don't want to
5:20
let you out, but everybody alongside you is always taking a picture of the car
5:25
No one really wants to move because they've normally got a camera phone out, filming what
5:29
you're doing. It's almost a hazard because it's attracting so much attention
5:35
No one's looking at the road, everyone's looking at the Valkyrie. At very low speeds because the Valkyrie is a hybrid it actually drives around using the electric motor to drive the wheels Right now it the engine driving the car We in fourth gear It when you doing very low parking speeds that it gets around using the motor
5:56
But that drains the battery very, very quickly. So you have to keep an eye on the battery level all the time
6:02
You don't want to switch the engine off if it doesn't have quite enough charge, which is something I need to remember when I get onto the train carriage
6:08
we've made it into top gear for the first time on the m25 seventh gear just slotted home
6:15
it's not quite the most armed straight not yet well that's leg one of the journey done we've made it to the euro tunnel
6:34
and the Valkyrie very much out of its natural habitat doing the M25 in rush
6:40
hour but you know what it actually did really really well apart from being very
6:44
loud it's actually a really tractable really user-friendly car to drive once
6:49
you're moving. Next steps France we're gonna let it off the leash a little bit
6:53
and follow quite an interesting route we're gonna try and trace the roads as
6:57
they were in 1959 when Aston Martin won the race so some auto routes some end
7:02
roads, some rural roads. I'm really looking forward to it. Everywhere we go, the Valkyrie
7:09
attracts car spotters like moths to the brightest of lights. When we roll into the first petrol
7:14
station on French soil, it's late at night, the shop is shuttered, but the forecourt is
7:19
full of camera-wielding car fans who somehow know we're coming. this map is from 1959 the year that Aston Martin won Le Mans and we're trying to follow the route
7:33
to the circuit roughly as the team would have taken it then we've had the luxury of taking the
7:38
Euro tunnel that had been cross-channel ferry back then but a lot of the route then is kind
7:42
of as it is now a lot of auto routes this car was not designed for the motorway it's about
7:47
corners it's about adventures so we've come off the beaten track to get to know it a little bit
7:51
better. Well we are well and surely into France now. We arrived off the Eurotunnel late last
7:59
night but now we're going. Let me use a few revs so you can really feel and hear what this
8:06
thing's like. Here we go. and that's about a quarter throttle
8:25
The throttle pedal travel is so long, it's got this really long, long throttle pedal
8:30
and combined with this lovely natural aspirated engine night ever charging, beautiful linear power bands
8:38
it just feels like it's going to rev to the moon you put your foot down to where full throttle would be in a normal supercar
8:46
and this thing feels very, very quick Then there's more, and more, and more
8:53
It just keeps going. Once it's warmed up and you're in the right gear
9:01
it'll rev all the way to 11. And it honestly takes a little bit of mental commitment
9:15
The Valkyrie feels narrower than most conventional supercars. so you can pick your own line through a corner and use more of the road
9:23
The pedals are set up so you can brake with your left or right foot, and before long, it feels natural to left foot brake right up to an apex
9:31
As you blend out of the brakes with your left foot, you're already feeding in the V12 with your right
9:36
And the most mind-blowing thing of all is that it works on a road like this
9:42
This is a winding, bit of end road, bit of country road
9:46
It's fairly bumpy, it's not a smooth surface, and it's just lapping it up
9:54
Let me put it in sport mode for a moment, so you can get a feel for that too
9:58
The suspension is a bit lower. Sometimes you look in the mirror and see this huge rooster tail of dust being picked up through the diffusers and thrown into the air behind you
10:09
It's definitely a bit jigglier in this mode, but the suspension still works really well
10:18
I can't believe a car that's so racetrack capable can be so good on a B-road
10:25
All the realms of normal supercars don't apply to this, all the normal metrics
10:39
my kind of internal database of all the supercars I've driven. It's all irrelevant
10:47
Nothing feels like the Valkyrie to drive. Once you're moving, it all makes sense
10:53
When you're at low speeds, when you're trying to negotiate a car park
10:57
and you're having to do a five or a six-point turn, when the aircon's blowing warm air at you
11:04
because it's trying to cool bits of the powertrain, when your ears are ringing and you've got a headache
11:09
I'm not gonna lie to you, a lot of this journey's been quite hard work
11:13
But as soon as you let the thing loose, as soon as you have the space to let it be a Valkyrie
11:19
let it do what it does, my word, this thing is just mind blowing
11:24
You can listen to music through these noise cancelling headphones and it works pretty well I must say when I went to bed last night my ears were ringing a bit and they were still ringing a little bit the next morning so today I been driving with extra earplugs underneath the cans Oh come on there we go I had a horrible
11:47
feeling it wasn't gonna go to first gear then. The turning circle is not brilliant
11:54
like most motorsport derived cars so it takes a three-point turn it's more like a five-point turn
12:00
But now we're going, let's go for an overtake. I wonder what we sounded like to the Picasso as we went past them
12:14
I wonder what it's like seeing one of these from another car. I've never driven a car that gets so much attention
12:23
Everywhere we've stopped, even in the middle of nowhere, suddenly there's 30 people flocking around you
12:30
If you want to make friends, an Aston Martin Valkyrie is quite a good icebreaker
12:37
A bit of a noisy one though. Fourth gear, it kind of hits a second wind
12:50
The torque is slightly limited in first gear, second gear. Third gear you're still getting a lot of traction control intervention when you really put your foot down
12:59
In 4th, it's pretty much unshackled. There's a Renault Megane ahead of me, and it's all over the road
13:08
because the driver's eyes are glued to the mirrors just looking at this Valkyrie
13:13
I mean, it must have looked like a UFO landing behind him. And the really, really impressive thing about this car
13:21
is that you can enjoy it at all road speeds. It's not just a one-trick pony
13:27
It's not just about high speeds, high downforce corners. It's not just about long straights
13:34
When you look at the Valkyrie on the outside, it looks really intimidating
13:39
It's such a serious looking car. But honestly, yeah, it's a bit awkward at low speeds and parking and maneuvering and stuff
13:48
But once you're moving, honestly, anybody could drive this car and would get so much enjoyment and so much fulfillment from it
13:57
It's such a together driving experience. You can drive it as fast as you want to as slow as you want
14:05
It gives you back exactly what you put into it. And it's just such a lovely, confidence-inspiring thing to drive
14:15
I really was not expecting this. I thought it was going to be the hardest of hardcore cars
14:22
And it's really not. It's like a sort of 1200 horsepower Lotus Elan
14:30
80% of the time, the Valkyrie is quite hard work. It's hot, it's noisy, it's got a huge turning circle
14:41
Everybody in the world stares at you. You have to keep the engine running to make sure the battery is charged before you switch it off
14:48
But the other 20% of the time... Oh my god! Yeah, this is a really really special car, for sure
15:06
Okay, it is a very very hot day and I think an ice cream would go down quite well
15:15
Valkyrie versus McDonald's drive-thru, what could possibly go wrong? I'm willing to bet this is the first time this has happened
15:30
Okay, here we go. Let's give this a go. Are we going to make it
15:41
I'm terrified of crunching this. And it's not just a case of curving a wheel
15:46
It's a case of curving some very expensive carbon fibre. I think I'm going to have to go back
15:56
The slowest drive through in one of the world's fastest cars. Let's keep going
16:16
Pardon, je ne parle pas français. Okay. Let's wait a few seconds so we can get it in gear
16:27
Here we go. No, I need to wait a little bit longer. Let's try now
16:32
Okay, first gear. Nothing is quite straightforward in Valkyrie. I think I'd be less stressed actually qualifying at Le Mans in this car
16:43
than I am going through a McDonald's drive-thru. in all honesty. Merci beaucoup. Au revoir. Success. In gear. Handbrake off. Let's go
16:58
And let's close the door for a bit of privacy. One of the Valkyrie's biggest drawbacks is just how thirsty it is. I lose count of the number of
17:12
times we stop for fuel between Silverstone and Le Mans. It's almost like planning a
17:16
journey in an EV with range anxiety The lowest fuel economy figure on the trip computer during the journey is 4mpg and the highest 19mpg And if you wondering where my suitcase is by the way I had the luxury of stashing it in the camera car Otherwise it would be on the passenger seat
17:35
Well, we're nearly at Le Mans. We arrived here at the hotel late last night
17:39
and the car caused quite a stir. Everywhere you go with the Valkyrie
17:43
the moment you stop, suddenly a crowd magically appears. We chose to stay here at the Hotel de France
17:48
about 40 kilometers south of Le Mans, because back in the 1950s and 60s
17:53
this is where the Aston Martin factory team based themselves for the race. The cars were worked on right here at the back of the hotel
17:59
and it clearly brought them luck in 1959 because they won the race. Our next stop is the track itself
18:05
so we'd better get going. Actually, just before we head to the track
18:16
I just want to show you this quickly. This is the alleyway down the side of the hotel where the team worked on the cars back in the day
18:22
And actually with EVO's photographer Aston Parrott, we've just recreated one of the old archive shots
18:28
with two of the Aston Martin Valkyrie engineers working on the car
18:32
As settings go, it's pretty photogenic, but now we really do need to get going and get to the track
18:40
When you're not going for it, the Valkyrie is a genuinely calm experience
18:44
The steering is responsive but beautifully measured, and although the gearbox is a motorsport-style dog box, it can slur through the gear smoothly, like an auto
18:54
The reclined seats are genuinely comfy, a bit like lying in the bath
18:58
After a couple of hours, though, you do begin to feel a bit numb. You can listen to podcasts and music through the earphones, but you need to crank the volume to compete with the powertrain
19:08
It is a user-friendly car, but everything's relative. At all speeds, at all times, this is an intense car to drive
19:22
Wow, that was quite intense. The more I drive this car, the more I'm slightly blown away by it
19:31
And fairly knackered, let's be honest. It's a long way from England to Le Mans
19:35
We're a long way down France now and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit tired
19:40
So now feels like quite a good time for a breather. Let me hop out and talk you around this incredible car
19:49
Let's just take a moment to take in the Valkyrie as an object because it's such a three-dimensional thing
19:54
I mean, so much of its shape, of course, is shaped by aerodynamics. Your feet are actually raised slightly higher than your hips to make way for these huge aerodynamic channels underneath the car
20:03
on all these front wing elements, some of them active to do their job
20:07
As well as being raised, your feet are also kind of pointed to the middle of the car
20:12
It's almost like a single-seater formula car to make space, again, for this incredible pinched-in huge aero channels down here
20:21
As we go around to the back, you can hear the car kind of... It's like a living, breathing organism
20:26
It's constantly kind of ticking, whirring as all of its active systems settle
20:31
and in fact the longer it stays here for the more it's going to sink down and its suspension as the
20:36
hydraulic system settles eventually it'll be almost difficult to get my hand between the wheel
20:41
and the arch the most dramatic view of all is right at the back you can see all the way through
20:48
from the rear of the car to the front through these huge kind of cavernous arches letting the
20:53
air get pulled through to create all that downforce it's pretty hot back here the exhaust is kicking
20:58
out a lot of heat even now and it's pretty warm in the cabin too but as much as I'd like to keep
21:03
having a breather we need to press on. As we get nearer to Le Mans we take a detour to drive the
21:13
sections of the track that double as public roads. It would be rude not to. Even among trucks and
21:19
traffic it's a goose bumpy thrill to see the Molsant straight unfold through the Valkyrie screen
21:24
and to skim the apex curbs through Arnage and Indianapolis. Quite literally within minutes, a host of car spotters turn out
21:32
and Instagram later is full of footage of the Valkyrie as we pull up to the circuit gates, into the pit lane and onto the track itself
21:40
We filmed this video before the 24-hour race took place and we arrived as the track was being prepared
21:46
with workers in overalls painstakingly painting the blue and yellow curbs. But we have the empty start-finished straight
21:53
and the Dunlop Bridge to ourselves. The sense of atmosphere is off the scale
22:00
Well, we made it all the way to Le Mans and what better place to conclude this journey
22:04
than underneath the iconic Dunlop Bridge. Tantalisingly, we can't turn any laps here at the track
22:10
because they're prepping the circuit for the upcoming 24-hour race, but we did drive the Valkyrie on the public road sections of the circuit
22:18
the Morsan Strait, Indianapolis, our Nage Corners, and it felt absolutely at home there
22:24
We've really taken this car out of its comfort zone on this trip. We've driven it all the way from the East Midlands to Le Mans
22:31
It hasn't missed a beat. We've street parked it in sleepy French villages and it's coped with pretty much everything we've thrown at it
22:38
I am now slightly deaf. I might have light heat exhaustion. You really do become a part of the Valkyrie as you drive it in every sense
22:46
Some of that heat and vibration coursing through the components also courses through you
22:50
but it's left me with some incredible memories. In the meantime, I'm off to catch up on some sleep
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