Monday 29th July 2024

Find out what Aston's V12 hypercar sounds like

Of course the Valkyrie AMR-LMH looked great - now for the important bit...

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Endurance racing misses V12s. All motorsport misses V12s, really. No configuration compares when it comes to sound and sheer emotion; the shriek of a dozen cylinders firing in a vee is like nothing else, whether on a grand prix track or sportscar circuit. Aston Martin knows this as well as any other: it campaigned the glorious old Vantage V12 GT3 way into the 2010s, achieving a huge amount of success and garnering huge affection. 

So when it came to revealing the Valkyrie AMR-LMH, there was no way Aston was going to show both the incredible looks and the wild soundtrack in one release. Too much for us all to handle. Now, a week after issuing testing pics of the Valkyrie, it’s released the asset we’ve most been looking forward to: the testing video. There’s not very much, it’ll definitely leave you wanting more, but as V12 racing car appetisers go, this is spot on - get the volume cranked in preparation. 

Taken from Donington and Silverstone sessions, the 6.5-litre Cosworth V12 is the undoubted star of the show. Whether onboard or fly-by, under load or chasing the limiter, this is an exquisite-sounding engine. It does that uniquely V12 thing of sounding both raw and melodic at the same time, the smoothest configuration out there taking on a savage side. Rest assured there’ll be no tiring of this trackside. The current LMH and LMDh cars have produced some great racing in the past couple of seasons as well as some fantastic sounds - the Cadillac V-Series.R’s V8 in particular - but the Aston looks set to take that to another level. 

For now, testing continues apace. The plan is for FIA homologation to be completed by the end of this year ahead of competitive debut early in 2025. We look forward to hearing more (literally) of Aston’s new V12 racer.

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• Aston Valkyrie AMR-LMH hits track for first time
• 2023 Aston Martin Valkyrie | PH Review

[Bispoto]

I physically saw one of these in the showroom in AM Verona only a week ago.

It was in BRG waiting for the Client to pick it up that afternoon!

Wow some machine. 😲👌

[giveitfish]

Don’t forget the V12 Aston-Lola from 2009.

If it sounds anything like that it’s going to be glorious.

https://youtu.be/o4Otzs0MYoE?si=MXflzCYTZuBPqgOK

[RumbleOfThunder]

These professional videos released by OEM's are utterly st aren't they? Just give us a static on board lap or 1 man stood trackside catching fly by's

[Hoofy]

RumbleOfThunder said:

These professional videos released by OEM's are utterly st aren't they? Just give us a static on board lap or 1 man stood trackside catching fly by's

Yeah. It's more "Find out what Aston's V12 hypercar sounds like with dogst music playing over it." Wasted opportunity there.

I think Belgian-Motorsport and 19Bozzy92 make good videos for people who want to hear what racecars sound like. Eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t65NEk6UsOg

Edited by Hoofy on Monday 29th July 13:30

[WhyOne]

Bispoto said:

I physically saw one of these in the showroom in AM Verona only a week ago.

It was in BRG waiting for the Client to pick it up that afternoon!

Wow some machine. ????

A Valkyrie AMR-LMH?

[nismo48]

That sounds pretty epic

[Hoofty]

This is not criticism. Far from it - delighted that a) there's another manufacturer entering WEC/LMH and b) a hypercar is justifying its existence by going racing (yeah I know they're there to make money but in my book unless you put your hat in a recognised competitive ring, it's just silliness)

The road Valk claims 1160bhp - of which 160 is hybrid - leaving a round 1000bhp from the V12 (quick maffs!). It does that at 10,500rpm. LMH rules state no more than 671bhp allowed from the combustion engine (I assume that's a round number in kW).

If they've not changed the capacity of the engine, it implies they'll need to lower the redline to something like ~671/1000 x 10,500 = 7,050rpm to stay within the regs. Obvs this is fag packet, they could reduce the capacity, they'll optimise the cams for beaucoup de torques, who knows what the VE is at any revs - but - it'll be thousands below the road car however you cut it. And that, I think, is why this clip brings to mind an XJR-9, more than a 333SP...

They wouldn't be the first to have had to this (although it might take a prize for the largest margin ever), and rules is rules. They're in the ring. It's great. A V12 at 7k sounds great. Bring it on.

[smilo996]

Finding all these stratospherically priced alpha male penis cars getting a bit dull. Although the engineering is great, how many of these will actually be driven hard, competently and often.

[D4rez]

smilo996 said:

Finding all these stratospherically priced alpha male penis cars getting a bit dull. Although the engineering is great, how many of these will actually be driven hard, competently and often.

It doesn’t matter, leave it to the owners to decide. What anyone else thinks is mostly irrelevant

[giveitfish]

smilo996 said:

Finding all these stratospherically priced alpha male penis cars getting a bit dull. Although the engineering is great, how many of these will actually be driven hard, competently and often.

As this one is a WEC race car, we’re all hoping it will be driven very hard and very competently every time it leaves the garage!

I do think the sound is going to be nice but perhaps a bit underwhelming compared to the older Aston-Lola. In other vids of the car it does seem the rev limit is a lot lower than the road car, also WEC cars have more restrictive noise regs than 15 years ago.