Valkyrie Race Car To Be Canned
Discussion
A huge shame! Personally - as it was one of the key reasons I was intending to head to LeMans for the first time with my son. But also because it robs the Valkyrie of a very rare level of top-level racing pedigree the hoards of hypercar projects are so sorely lacking.
I wonder if a privateer-led Valkyrie-based campaign is even remotely feasible?
Ah well.
I wonder if a privateer-led Valkyrie-based campaign is even remotely feasible?
Ah well.
...and this just freshly posted today, that sound around the 30 second mark, and down shifts, wow.
https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine/videos/499092...
https://www.facebook.com/evomagazine/videos/499092...
Hopefully timing of above release and other videos today will disprove Racer.com story or maybe RedBull/Multimatic will run cars without AM support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_93SOUfr4Z0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_93SOUfr4Z0
If true, then that is a great disappointment.
Presumably the only reason can be cost, but I would have expected greater publicity for Aston Martin with their Valkyrie, than with the Vantage racing programme.
Aston Martin have raced very successfully in WEC GTE classes for many years. They have had class wins and a class world championship. There is nothing new left to prove. If finances are too tight, then why continue with GTE ?
There looks like a glimmer of hope to see one racing though. 
https://www.lemans.org/en/news/statement-in-respon...
https://www.lemans.org/en/news/statement-in-respon...
Answering a question on twitter about this Palmer said:
Regrettably it is. Due to significant change in the landscape not anticipated when we committed last year. We entered, understanding that we would be competing with similar machinery & like-minded manufacturers. This has changed & it makes sense for us to reconsider our options.
Cold said:
We entered, understanding that we would be competing with similar machinery & like-minded manufacturers. This has changed & it makes sense for us to reconsider our options.
'This has changed ... '
In what way has the other competition changed ?
EDIT - I have just read the AML press release. It appears that some kind of prototype cars join the manufacturers hypercar class in the 2021/22 season.
I don't know what this is all about, but does seem odd that the race dominant prototype cars are first out, then back again.
What are the details of this category change ?
Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 19th February 11:37
Surely this is just a reflection of their financial distress currently. When they have made a stack of cash from the DBX, and after returning most of that to share holders, they will have money to throw at WEC hypercar class. Would dearly love to see the Valkyrie racing, but it's not like AM are under represented in WEC with the Vantage entries 
Jon39 said:
'This has changed ... ' In what way has the other competition changed ?
Well for a start there's only one other manufacturer (Toyota as of today) in it and the regulations going forward are not certain. See the article above which says:
The collapse of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Hypercar racing effect also raises questions on the formula’s viability when convergence takes place to start the 2021-2022 WEC season, and at the onset of IMSA’s 2022 WeatherTech SportsCar championship, where Hypercars and LMDhs are meant to race together in a unified class. With a dearth of Hypercars to fill the grid, and an uptick in the number of LMDh (DPi 2.0) manufacturers anticipated for 2022, sustainability could be a significant concern for those brands which side with Hypercar regulations.
No other big names yet as I said in the other thread, so where are Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, etc? Ford pulled out early on, then McLaren based on high costs, Peugeot are unsure which class to enter, so it's easy to see the Aston decision as very little return for the money.
A shame, but inevitable before the class disappears all together.
cookie1600 said:
Jon39 said:
'This has changed ... ' In what way has the other competition changed ?
Well for a start there's only one other manufacturer (Toyota as of today) in it and the regulations going forward are not certain. See the article above which says:
The collapse of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie Hypercar racing effect also raises questions on the formula’s viability when convergence takes place to start the 2021-2022 WEC season, and at the onset of IMSA’s 2022 WeatherTech SportsCar championship, where Hypercars and LMDhs are meant to race together in a unified class. With a dearth of Hypercars to fill the grid, and an uptick in the number of LMDh (DPi 2.0) manufacturers anticipated for 2022, sustainability could be a significant concern for those brands which side with Hypercar regulations.
No other big names yet as I said in the other thread, so where are Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, etc? Ford pulled out early on, then McLaren based on high costs, Peugeot are unsure which class to enter, so it's easy to see the Aston decision as very little return for the money.
A shame, but inevitable before the class disappears all together.
The reluctance for Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche and Mercedes to enter the hypercar championship, I thought partly (and perhaps I'm incorrect) was because they'd monitored the Valkyrie's development, and there was a genuine fear of trying to compete with it, because the Project One isn't quite progressing how AMG liked it to, and nobody else has anything road going in the pipeline at the moment bar Toyota.
Unfortunately, Aston Martin appear to be indirectly getting the blame for the class seemingly falling to pieces before it ever got off the ground, but the reality is that very few car makers were putting their hat in the ring in the first place.
NFC 85 Vette said:
It's a pity, but it makes sense - the whole idea of the hypercar class was to have a class of competing cars that were derived from road going (albeit at the wild end of the spectrum) cars. To have prototypes similar to current LMP1 allowed in, would simply end up in a pecking order similar to the current LMP1 > LMP2 > GTEPRO and GTEAM. In a straight fight, with that proposed rulebook, even a race spec Valkyrie is going to have a hard time overcoming a prototype that never had an intention of wearing a number plate.
The reluctance for Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche and Mercedes to enter the hypercar championship, I thought partly (and perhaps I'm incorrect) was because they'd monitored the Valkyrie's development, and there was a genuine fear of trying to compete with it, because the Project One isn't quite progressing how AMG liked it to, and nobody else has anything road going in the pipeline at the moment bar Toyota.
Unfortunately, Aston Martin appear to be indirectly getting the blame for the class seemingly falling to pieces before it ever got off the ground, but the reality is that very few car makers were putting their hat in the ring in the first place.
Structuring the LMH class around allowing production-based hypercars to compete was apparently at the specific request of Aston Martin.The reluctance for Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche and Mercedes to enter the hypercar championship, I thought partly (and perhaps I'm incorrect) was because they'd monitored the Valkyrie's development, and there was a genuine fear of trying to compete with it, because the Project One isn't quite progressing how AMG liked it to, and nobody else has anything road going in the pipeline at the moment bar Toyota.
Unfortunately, Aston Martin appear to be indirectly getting the blame for the class seemingly falling to pieces before it ever got off the ground, but the reality is that very few car makers were putting their hat in the ring in the first place.
Otherwise the new global formula stemming from the LMDh concept would have been adopted much sooner. The new prototypes are based on LMP2 regulations and therefore much cheaper than the hypercars, and have already attracted a lot more manufacturer interest.
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/dagys-astons-f...
I have no doubt that some of the reasoning provided is marketing spin
But that aside, the more that emerged about the hypercar class for WEC, the less appealing it looked to me as an Aston fan, for Valkyrie. The rules are such that the race car would be slower than any other iterant of valkyrie (ie. roadcar and amr pro versions), with potentially no hybrid element and a need to increase weight upwards. Also, a sever power restrictor and finally, BOP.
So you could end up with valkyrie road car being a genuine Mac F1 type game changer and then the racecar undoing much of the good PR work
But that aside, the more that emerged about the hypercar class for WEC, the less appealing it looked to me as an Aston fan, for Valkyrie. The rules are such that the race car would be slower than any other iterant of valkyrie (ie. roadcar and amr pro versions), with potentially no hybrid element and a need to increase weight upwards. Also, a sever power restrictor and finally, BOP.
So you could end up with valkyrie road car being a genuine Mac F1 type game changer and then the racecar undoing much of the good PR work
Adrian Newey's stated dream was to design the fastest road car, freed from the restrictive racing regulations, which he normally works with.
I expect he knew already, that his car would never be allowed the same freedom to race.
The Porsche 919 LMP1 car won at Le Mans. After it ended its racing days, the Le Mans restrictions were removed and it then lapped Spa more quickly than the Formula One lap record.
We will now have to be satisfied with some Valkyrie, Spa Francorchamps lap times. YouTube onboards please Andy.
.
Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 19th February 16:25
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