Aston Martin Valkyrie: The fastest car on earth

A market has opened in the motoring industry within the last three years that many thought was impossible in today's economic and environmental climate.

Road-going hypercars are becoming significantly more challenging for manufacturers to produce, with companies having to spend hundreds of millions of pounds developing powertrains that are affordable, environmentally friendly and fast.

But the growth in buyers looking for a more raw driving experience has spawned a market of hardcore hypercars that hark back to the days of high-octane road-racers.

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Now Aston Martin is about to join the market with its upcoming Valkyrie hypercar.

It's the first production car that will launch under Aston Martin's partnership with the Red Bull Racing F1 team and is being positioned as the fastest car in the world - they claim the Valkyrie will be even faster around a Grand Prix circuit than a modern F1 car.

Legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey has been tasked with creating the base of the car in order to meet this goal, AutoExpress reports.

While the performance of Formula 1 cars is restricted to ensure an exciting race, the Valkyrie will only be limited by safety features and the laws of physics and Newey is designing the car to produce "huge amounts of downforce" to improve grip at high speed.

The Valkyrie will also get a much larger engine than today's hybrid-powered F1 machinery.

According to Autocar, the hypercar will be powered by a 900bhp 6.5-litre Cosworth-developed naturally aspirated V12 engine - significantly bigger than the 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines in contemporary Formula 1 cars.

Its engine is fitted to a carbon fibre Monocell chassis, which could mean the Valkyrie has a 1:1 power-to-weight ratio.

While prices have yet be revealed, Autocar expects the Valkyrie to cost between £2m-£3m, making it one of the most expensive cars on sale.

A mere 150 road-going models and 25 hardcore track-only variants are set to reach production, with first deliveries expected next year.