PRO VS SLOW

At last, we have our hands on the Valkyrie. But is its performance only accessible for the pros... or can anyone enjoy it?

- JACK RIX & JETHRO BOVINGOON

Jack Rix: After 721 years in development, we have a Valkyrie at Speed Week. And when I say we have one, we’re not talking about a couple of mollycoddled demo laps with an instructor looking disapprovingly over our shoulder. Save for a couple of engineers keeping tabs on its vitals, briefing us on the start-up procedure and tucking it in for the night, they’ve literally lobbed us the keys to deploy it as we see fit on road and track. For five whole days.

May we remind you this is no ordinary car. Even calling it a car seems a bit of a stretch. It’s the brain biscuit of Adrian Newey who cares not about your comfort, or eardrums, or ability to parallel park or listen to your favourite podcast. His only goal with the Valkyrie was to build something with ludicrous, near-F1 track speed, and then to stick a numberplate on it. And that’s the craziest bit of all for a car with a Cosworth 6.5-litre V12 engine that screams to over 11,000rpm, that also has an e-motor in the seven-speed sequential gearbox for a total of 1,139bhp. Weight? Just 1,270kg dry. Aero? Lots of it – 1,100kg at 137mph, which seems oddly specific. And now I’m wondering quite what we’ve let ourselves in for. Look how nuts it is! Can any normal human being handle it?

Jethro Bovingdon: Jack, don’t doubt yourself! Yes, the sheer potential of the Valkyrie seems alien and intimidating. But the best racecars are usually pretty easy to drive – up to a point, at least. The Valkyrie is so single minded, its chassis and mechanical makeup so pure that it doesn’t have to overcome any inherent compromises or weaknesses. Think about it. Small, super stiff carbon tub, perfect suspension geometry, low centre of gravity and all that downforce might take a lot of time to truly master... but in the meantime it just means stability and confidence. You’ll be bouncing off the rev limiter in no time.