I share some of your sentiment, and would dare include cars like the GMA T.50 (and 33), AMG One and of course the Valkyrie's cousin - the RB17 - on that list. I get the attraction of road legal no-limits race cars, but the fact that these are so rare and insanely expensive will realistically mean only 5% will ever see a road, of which a further 50% are press cars and the remaining ones will be the same ones popping up at a few select car meets over and over again. In other words: I don't consider them actual production cars, as the chance of seeing one in the wild is less than 0.1%.
Which to me has about the same effect as seeing a very cool render of something; it's fun to see, but it doesn't excite me.
I think Gordon Murray is a legend and what he has done with GMA is mighty impressive. However, if he had succeeded in making something that was about 30% the fun of a T.50 (including a small displacement high revving engine, at a somewhat affordable (sub 500K) price, I would have been so much more excited about it. Even if I could never have afforded it, at least it would be something you'd see from time to time. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there are way too many damn hypercars coming out, not necessarily just in terms of performance, but in terms of production numbers and price.
I put the T50 and T33 in a totally different category. You could daily a T50 in the same way you can daily a Miata or Corvette. Admittedly, it's too expensive to feel comfortable parking at a Walmart, but it functions.
The thing that all these expensive cars have in common is that they let the engineers push the boundaries while also giving the time to make their tech street legal.
Especially with GMA, these cars signal that if you can make an insane car that's street legal, you can probably bet there will be good cars coming from these companies in the future that will be less expensive. GMA is trying to do design work, so of a company like Toyota partnered with them on the MR2, everyone will know that the guy who built the two nicest driving cars in history put his influence into it.
>feel comfortable parking at a Walmart, but it functions.
LMAO, I imagine the scene of some fat trailer park woman driving in her scooter to the parking only to see a T50 next to her run down minivan.
"because we can"
"showing the craziest thing we can currently make"
Every hypercar is one man/companies vision of "the ultimate car"
McLaren f1, p1, speedtail
Rolls royce boat tail https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_US/bespoke/coachbuild/coachbuild-boat-tail.html
The car company is officially named "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars". "Rolls-Royce is the name of the aerospace company. They used to be the same, but the aero and car divisions split in 1973 and the car company was named "Rolls-Royce Motors." That company went bankrupt and ceased existing in 2002. Through a complicated deal involving Rolls-Royce (the aero company who owned the name and logo), VW Group (who owned Bentley and the Crewe factory where both Bentley and Rolls Royce cars were produced), and BMW, BMW were allowed to use the logo and the Rolls-Royce name. The company "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars" was what they called the new entity.
TL;DR: "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars" is the official name of the car company. "Rolls-Royce" is the name of the aerospace company. The two have no relation.
Good bit of info. Same as SAAB. SAAB is the aerospace/military company. SAAB-SCANIA is the heavy motor division (big trucks, 18 wheelers, etc).
Then there was SAAB the automotive company.
"rolls-royce.com" takes you to the aerospace company's website. The car company's website is a bit confusing, but the hyphen is part of the legal name so that's consistent with how most companies name their websites. It also makes all official references to the name from the company itself consistent. But it would've been nice if they purchased the domain name without the hyphen and had it redirect to the official website with the hyphen.
Also, I think with it being road legal, Aston can go around the world smashing lap times in the fastest road legal production car available. Great marketing for the whole brand. Plus, with it being so ridiculous and beautiful it gets people talking about Aston Martin = free marketing.
>You can't do anything with it, other than just drive it, which is literally impossible without wearing noise cancelling headphones, unless you want ear damage. It has no trunk. It's impractical in every single way. It's literally made to be driven on a track.
Bit like a sports bike then?
Can a Valkyrie be driven on actual streets? Or is it too low? Sports bikes, no issues like this.
I get OPs sentiment. This is a track toy billed as a street car, I guess. I think people who would actually buy one are not so dumb as to assume they could drive it on regular streets, nor would they. They have other cars for that.
If it's street legal then yeah, otherwise no. Don't suspect it has airlift etc.
I too get OP's sentiment, but also plenty of cars are supremely un dailyable, but people will still drive em
Valkyries have all wheel lift, and is pretty softly sprung. Its nowhere near as uncomfortable as people imagine.... other than the sound. Its uncomfortably loud.
Apparently the straight cut gear whine drowns out the engine from the inside, so it's deafeningly loud and you're not even really hearing much of that insane V12.
The Valkyrie is not that uncomfortable, yes its loud inside and a bit of vibration, but it is quite softly sprung and has all wheel lift.
On why is it a road car at all, its because track only cars do not sell well, they are always in smaller numbers, because less people want the hassle of always needing to arrange transport. Even if the normal Valkyrie will be transported 90% of the time, that 10% is what turns people off if they can't just drive it round the block/to caffeine & machine/to their favourite stretch of road.
Its not practical, but what it is is a spectacle, something for the special summer days. Just like supercars of the past, Countach comes to mind, its not a good road car, but people love it because of that.
You're breaking the law at 2/10. Have to drive it at 1/10 to stay legal. That's no fun. Would rather have a manual trans Miata on a back road in that case.
Exactly. Race cars fucking SUCK on the street, even in short stints.
Brakes don’t work and feel wooden, engine doesn’t have anything down low and is soft even in midrange, spring rates and damping are set for flat, smooth track at full attack pace, etc.
As a daily driver, sure it’s unpleasant. But this car is an occasion. You don’t drive it to work or coffee everyday. It’ll get maybe 100km on it a year let’s be honest.
you’ve clearly heard of it/have an opinion about it, which means it’s doing its job as a marketing “halo car”.
essentially, it exists so someone will buy a DBX because it’s from the same company.
I think a lot of r/cars romanticize the idea of driving a sports car but when it comes to it, it's unaffordable, if given the chance they won't take it, see driving as a chore unless it's something they e always wanted... Really aren't here for cars but to confuse themselves.
The amount of garbage I see in this sub about self driving cars, it's utterly dumb.
I like driving. I don't get 600+ hp cars feared for 200mph.
You can't use it on the street. Its a dick measuring contest. It's not about fun or enjoyment.
At some point, I think every car person thinks dailying a race car is fun. Until the do it and realize how exhausting it is or they let their dream pass.
So many people on here legit only like owning cars, but hate driving cars.
I get that it’s okay to enjoy cars in lots of different ways… but these same people also like to be super critical if you don’t make decisions that follow their value systems. It’s tiring.
It was built because Aston Martin wanted to build it. As simple as that. Ultra high performance cars aren’t designed with daily drivability in mind. And assuming you have to ask this question means you aren’t the target audience.
I think you’re looking at it wrong. I think the point of it is to be wildly impractical, expensive, and exclusive. Really the car for when your collection already has everything. It’s the perfect car to take to cars and coffee so you can show everyone that you have more money than god.
You don’t get it because it’s such an extreme car that no one would find practical. I don’t get it because it’s not legal to race in any professional series and is only legal in the same events a rusted Miata is legal in. We are not the same.
Chris Harris kind of had this conclusion in his review. Said the track only version with all the aero makes more sense as the normal version felt held back to keep it street legal
I will say that having to wear ear protection is a bit of a let down in a car meant for road and track use. It’s kind of like they missed an opportunity to have this version as the track focus and then another with better insulation and HVAC as a batshit crazy touring car.
>why even make it road legal in the first place
So it can be legally driven at public events (which sometimes demand road registration), trackdays that demand it, and around fancy places like Monaco to show it off.
You ask who it is for, and then list all the reasons why it’s wildly impractical/doesn’t make sense. I guess that makes it a toy for those with more money than sense. And there are plenty of those people out there.
Sure, you can look at something and think “even if I could easily afford it, I wouldn’t get it because it doesn’t appeal to me”. That would be me - I wouldn’t find the cost OR benefits of ownership of a Valkyrie worth it. But some guy or gal out there with the cash to throw around might look at it and say “I like, I want, I get”, sign a check and call it a day. And go stuff it in their garage with their other HyperCars.
I don’t necessarily disagree. The Valkyrie is an exercise in peak performance and technology, and the car industry is a better place with its existence; it’s an absolute monster. That said, I feel like it’s the ultimate, “right mood/headspace”, car. The noise inside sounds miserable on video, you’re forced to wear ear protection to not be deafened, there’s no window behind you, and you’d likely have to constantly think about how to not drain the battery in stop and go traffic.
If you want a more plush and friendlier super/hyper car, the Valkyrie isn’t it. And, if you want an all out track toy, then the AMR Pro version exists, so for me, the road going version sits in a weird place, dynamically. I very much appreciate and love what Adrian Newey and Aston Martin achieved with the car, and think it’s genuinely one of the best hyper cars ever made. For me though, if I was stinking rich, I wouldn’t have a Valkyrie in my personal collection.
It's the same thing as the newest most expensive watch . You can't do much with it, most functionality would be the same, if not less than other advance or digital watches. You know only a few will pay for this and carry it making you unique. It's all about the feeling of feeling special. Knowing you can pretty much pass 99% of the cars on the roat also feels special.
It's just an experience and price makes it more out of reach and unique and even more special.
Ofcourse once you reach that after a while you'll probably want more and this is not enough... From the practicallity standpoint all super cars will become useless and only a timemachine to experience the past. Any new ev will now do 0 to 60 in 5 or less and some easily doing 2s and 3s... it's not necessarily the use of the cars anymore, you'll barely drive the limit of any super cars past 90s on the road anymore...
I saw one in person a few days ago (autoworld in Munich). It’s so small and low. It would be a pain to drive but such fun. Cars like this fall in the same category as sport planes and sport boats very limited uses that will never be practical, and they never claim to be.
Can’t say I entirely disagree. I’ll acknowledge that it can be fun to do anyway as a “raw” experience, whether to cars and coffee or a gumball rally or something, but I’d rather rock a Koenigsegg or Pagani at that point. More comfortable and far more stylish interiors.
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