Silverstone has a new production car king.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie now owns the storied racetrack’s production car lap record after circling it in just 1:56.42 minutes. The title will be especially sweet for the British sports car maker since the circuit has hosted the country’s Formula 1 Grand Prix for the last 76 years.
The Valkyrie is the first production car to circle the 3.661-mile course in under two minutes. As such, the hypercar, which was piloted by three-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Darren Turner, absolutely demolished the old record, beating it by more than 10 seconds. That previous mark belonged to a Manthey-modified Porsche 911 GT2 RS that completed a lap of the track in 2:06.82 minutes in 2022.
Breaking records at a track like Silverstone is just what the Valkyrie was designed to do. Developed in conjunction with Red Bull Racing Advanced Technologies, the futuristic-looking vehicle is basically a street-legal race car. Its electrified powertrain includes a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V-12, a bespoke electric motor, and a lightweight hybrid battery system developed by Rimac (a company that knows a thing or two about electrified performance). The setup combines to generate 1,160 horses and 664 ft lbs of twist, enough to rocket the car from zero to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and to a top speed of 215 mph. Unsurprisingly, the exclusive hypercar is one of the world’s most expensive vehicles, with a price tag that tops US$3 million (HK$23.3 million).
“The acceleration and top speed is way beyond anything that I’ve raced at Le Mans,” Turner said in a statement. “With active aero, and the car’s ability to optimise downforce as you accelerate, the speed just keeps climbing.”
The Valkyrie may be the fastest production car in Silverstone history, but it has a ways to go to become the fastest car. That title currently belongs to a Red Bull Racing RB16 driven by Max Verstappen that circled the track in 1:27.97 minutes during the 2020 British Grand Prix. The Valkyrie is nearly a half-minute slower than an F1 car, but there are plenty of track-only vehicles it’s faster than, including Silverstone’s fastest GT3 racer, a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo, that circled the track in 1:58.17 minutes during the 2019 Silverstone International GT Open.
