Just last week, Porsche obliterated the outright Nurburgring lap record with the 919 Hybrid Evo. Setting an astonishing time of five minutes and 19.545 seconds, the enhanced Le Mans racecar lapped the Green Hell circuit 52 seconds quicker than the previous all-time record set in 1983 by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956. It looked almost certain that Porsche would retain the record for a very long time, but the German automaker already has a new contender chasing the outright Nurburgring record: Aston Martin.
Currently in development in collaboration with Red Bull Racing, the extreme Valkyrie hypercar could potentially beat the Porsche 919's time according to Racefans. Speaking to the publication at last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull's team principle Christian Horner believes the firm's F1 car probably won't beat the record, but the upcoming Valkyrie is a "contender." "I'm not sure a Formula 1 car could actually do it, but I think that the Valkyrie - certainly the track version of the Valkyrie - could be a contender," he said. He also added that Red Bull won't be attempting a record with its F1 car since the 919 tribute car is already faster.
"The problem is their LMP1 car broke the record in Spa which was beating a Formula 1 car time," he said. Full specifications haven't been revealed yet, but Aston Martin has previously claimed the track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro will be capable of setting lap times faster than F1 and LMP1 race cars. That's no small feat considering the Valkyrie AMR Pro isn't a purpose-built race car, but derived from a fully homologated road car. It will be powered by the same naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter Cosworth V12 tuned to deliver more than 1,100 hp, and every aerodynamic surface has been revised to "significantly increase" downforce to make it the ultimate track weapon.
Horner believes this setup will enable the Valkyrie to rival Porsche's record lap time. "It's a few years off because the car's still on the drawing board," he said, "but I'd be surprised if that car didn't have the potential to do that."
