Hands up who is going to Festival of Speed next month? Us too! As ever, there is going to be much to see and do, although purely in terms of Supercar Paddock attendees, it seems unlikely that many manufacturers will outdo Aston Martin this year. The firm calls its 2025 lineup ‘unprecedented’, and while the Duke of Richmond’s driveway has provided plenty of bumper turnouts in previous years, it is worth calling out the significance of Gaydon’s show of force.
Primarily, of course, your attention should be focused on the Valhalla, because that’s the car making its UK dynamic debut. We’ve seen plenty of it in a static setting, which might actually account for the level of anticipation conjured up by the thought of finally seeing Aston’s mid-engined supercar in motion - and, no less importantly, hearing it too. Granted, it’s a second bite of the cherry following its much-publicised run-out at the Monaco Grand Prix, but this time we get to experience it in person, and that makes all the difference.
Certainly anyone who has heard the Valkyrie yowl its way to the Goodwood finish line can vouch for that sentiment. Aston’s hypercar has become a fan favourite since making its own FOS debut back in 2021, and the model returns this year in the wake of its return to Le Mans 24 Hours. There’s nothing quite like the sound of a 6.5-litre V12 doing its thang, and Aston suggests that the racing version will be making its own first appearance on the hill climb, which ought to be one for the memory banks if you didn’t catch it on Circuit de la Sarthe the other week.
On the off chance that a hypercar for the world’s one-percenters leaves you colder than a day-old corpse, Aston has rounded out its paddock curtain raisers with the Volante versions of both the DB12 and the Vanquish. The former might be stretching the concept of ‘debut’ to breaking point given its launch occurred in April of last year, but the latter is genuinely very new having only been revealed in the spring - and on the basis that it too features a V12 (albeit a 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged one) and is obviously closely related to the scarily good coupe, we’re looking forward to seeing that in motion, too.
Last of all - though certainly not least if we’re talking about importance to Aston’s bottom line - there is the prospect of the new DBX S, which will be appearing in the First Glance paddock. You’ll likely recall that this variant is designed to do two things: a) jam a thumb into Ferrari’s eye courtesy of its 727hp output, and b) remind everyone that Aston’s SUV exists and that we should all jolly well aspire to buy one if the lottery numbers come up. It too ought to be worth listening to as it goes under the bridge thanks to a new vertically stacked quad exhaust.
So that’s one supercar, one hypercar, one SUV and two very good-looking convertibles, both of them capable of doing more than 200mph. Like we said: a show of force. And ample evidence of the frenetic pace of development that Aston reached in the last two years. Newish CEO Adrian Hallmark has made it clear to PH in the last few months that maintaining such a hyperactive launch schedule was ultimately not in anyone’s best interest, and now was a good time for the firm to consolidate. That is no doubt true - but for one weekend in July the legacy of so much hard work will result in quite the pay-off.
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