EXTREME IN THE EXTREME

WHEN THE PHRASE "AN F1 CAR FOR THE ROAD" ISN'T HYPERBOLE

- JONNY LIEBERMAN

Bring it on,” the smiling Aston Martin PR man said to Mate Rimac, then the 31-year-old CEO of just Rimac, now CEO of Bugatti Rimac. In early March 2019, I found myself seated below them inside the Valkyrie prototype on the Aston stand at that year’s Geneva Motor Show. Aston Martin’s CEO at the time, Andy Palmer, said I could sit in the second most outrageous show car I’d ever laid my eyes on, and the poor Aston PR man had to smile and make it happen.

Back then, MotorTrend’s World’s Greatest Drag Race was still a thing, and there was no pandemic. I’d asked if we could have a Valkyrie for the 2021 edition of our video, as at the time it seemed as if Valkyrie was but two years away. Rimac countered that we could use one of his 1,887-hp EVs, implying it would beat the upcoming English hypercar. “Doesn’t matter,” the man from Aston said. “Valkyrie will win.”

Three years and 11 months later I find myself standing in the pits of the Bahrain International Circuit, the small island kingdom’s Formula 1 track, staring lustfully at the production Valkyrie. And I’m about to drive it. I knew the deal going in—52 hours of travel for six laps—and I didn’t care. Especially as I wound up doing eight. Two Aston Martin CEOs (Palmer and the recently departed Tobias Moers) both promised me I could drive the Valkyrie, and the same long-suffering PR man made good on those promises.