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Auto Car
04-07-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Pride of the Valkyries: inside Aston Martin's Le Mans 24hr return
Aston Martin returned to Le Mans' top tier after 14 years away and finished the race with plenty to feel positive about Open gallery Astons were up against Porsche, Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot, BMW, Alpine… Valkyrie #007 came 14th, six laps down, and #009 finished 12th, four laps back Track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro tops 1000bhp; LMH racer is limited to 670bhp Aston Martin is in its first hypercar season; many rivals are in their third Basing the race car on the Valkyrie road car was not the easiest option Close Thanks to the glorious wail of a non-hybridised Cosworth V12, the pair of Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH racers sounded utterly glorious as they powered through the French countryside. So while the British firm was never going to win the Le Mans 24 Hours on its return to the endurance classic's top class for the first time in 14 years, it simply couldn't be ignored. There are no prizes for fielding the best-sounding cars on the grid but this year wasn't about trophies. It was about proving that a racing hypercar based on a road-going version could work. Some patience was always going to be required: the performance-balancing measures of Le Mans' current rules make it nearly impossible for a new team to be a contender straight away. Then again, Aston Martin has had to learn patience when it comes to Le Mans. The British marque first entered the race in 1928 but it wasn't until 1959 that Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby took victory in a DBR1/300. And it's still waiting for overall victory number two. There has been success at the Circuit de la Sarthe more recently. Aston Martin triumphed in the GT1 class with a DBR9 in 2007 and it has won the top GT class on four more occasions. But its most recent bid for outright victory came with the best-forgotten Lola-Aston Martin B09 project from 2009 until 2011. The current hypercar regulations in endurance racing's top flight have made Le Mans hugely appealing for manufacturers and this year Aston Martin joined a very full paddock. But by choosing to turn the Valkyrie into a Le Mans Hypercar (LMH), the British firm has made life hard for itself. It is the only entrant in the hypercar class to be based on a road-legal vehicle, and the Adrian Newey-designed 'Formula 1 car for the road' is so extreme the road car's engine had to be detuned and its aerodynamics blunted to fit the rules. Aston Martin could, like Ferrari, Toyota and Peugeot, have designed its LMH as a pure race car; or, like Porsche, BMW and Alpine, made life even easier by using a spec chassis and hybrid system as the basis for a cost-controlled Le Mans Daytona Hybrid (LMDh) racer. But as Aston Martin endurance racing boss Adam Carter says: 'If we did that, it wouldn't be an Aston Martin.' 'We developed the Valkyrie because it was the ultimate hypercar,' adds Carter, who works for Aston Martin Performance Technologies, which is based alongside the F1 team. 'The Valkyrie was born to race; its foundations came from racing. Aston Martin is a sports car company. We build sports cars. And there's nothing better than when a sports car goes to race at Le Mans.' The Valkyrie's road to Le Mans hasn't been straightforward. In fact, it has taken four years longer than first planned. In a press conference to launch the forthcoming LMH rules at Le Mans in 2019, Aston joined Toyota in announcing that it would begin racing the Valkyrie in the 2020/2021 World Endurance Championship. The delay is partly because of Aston Martin's financial struggles, the takeover by Lawrence Stroll and a subsequent restructuring. But it's also because of changes in the hypercar rules. When the firm initially committed, the LMH rules were for cars based on road-going hypercars. But as part of an agreement to equalise performance between the World Endurance Championship LMH and LMDh cars, that requirement was dropped, prompting Aston Martin to scrap its plans. But the Le Mans 24 Hours has a way of pulling people in and the project was revived in October 2023 with the help of US-based motorsport team The Heart of Racing and manufacturing experts Multimatic. The race car was built and run by a squad consisting of staff from those firms. '[Aston Martin owner Lawrence] Stroll asked me about turning the Valkyrie into a hypercar so I went and looked at the regulations, spoke to officials and said: 'Yeah, absolutely it's possible.' But it's been a journey for everyone involved, including the regulatory bodies. A good journey, but a long journey,' says Carter. The base car is technically the track-only Valkyrie AMR Pro, which shortcuts some of the development. But that car produces more than 1000bhp from its hybridised 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 Cosworth, whereas the LMH rules peg output at 670bhp. But as Carter says: 'The Valkyrie would not be the Valkyrie without that V12. It's absolutely the heart of the car.' He adds: 'It's got way more capacity than we need so we can run it very lean burn, and it's a great, efficient demonstration of future sustainable fuels.' So the hybrid element was ditched – anyway it drives the rear wheels on the road car yet LMH rules require it to power the front axle – and the Cosworth unit was effectively detuned, although Carter says that helps to offset any loss of torque resulting from the lack of electrification. The challenge of LMH is that to emphasise efficiency, the cars are essentially set torque-based energy output parameters that they must stick within. Hybrids can help with that, which perhaps explains why every hypercar on the grid bar the Aston Martin runs one. 'Every race car is a collection of compromises and always will be,' says Carter. 'Having a hybrid presents some opportunities around torque filling, but the V12 has a very high torque response. If you have a hybrid, you have to synchronise it with the combustion unit, whereas our response is all built into one unit.' The bodywork of the Valkyrie racer has also been revised to fit the LMH class's aero rules (remember, Newey's joy in crafting the Valkyrie was not having to work to a rulebook…) while also ensuring the bodywork at the front and rear met motorsport safety rules and could be quickly changed if required. The Heart of Racing has run a pair of Valkyries in both the IMSA and WEC series this year. The results haven't been spectacular, but they were never going to be because of the Balance of Performance (BoP) regulations. This is where the story gets a little tricky to tell, because the first rule of BoP is you don't talk about BoP. Okay, it's technically not the first rule, but race organisers want to keep the focus on the track rather than a verbal fight club in the paddock, so competitors are banned from moaning about BoP. But you can read between the lines, and because it is calculated on reference data and new entrants have none, they start with the worst possible BoP. The calculations for the high-speed Le Mans track are also done separately from other events. So the unspoken belief is that the Valkyrie should be more competitive next year when any BoP measures are based on actual past performance. But that's fine, because the team still needed to learn. The hypercar programme was deliberately staffed without impacting the ongoing GT project and Carter says: 'It's a learning year and we need to learn and refine our processes as a team. It's a new group of people with vast experience brought together. We need to learn the car, and about the regulations, and how to get the most out of the car. We've focused on race pace and reliability, but we need to learn more about one-lap pace. 'A number of our competitors have been through two cycles of learning, and they're now in their third. We're on our first. Our learning curve is steeper from theirs.' And there was more promise in the results than the numbers might suggest. Getting one of the Valkyries into the 'hyperpole' qualifying session for the top 15 cars was a mighty achievement, and in the race both cars ran reliably and consistently to 12th and 14th places, four and six laps down on the winning Ferrari respectively. But it was an unusual year, with relatively little attrition among the hypercars. The most important thing, though, is that Aston Martin was in the race and the unusual non-hybrid hypercar based on an actual road car held its own against bespoke competition. The concept has been proven and the future is bright. The current hypercar field is too large and deep to suggest that Aston is on track for that elusive second Le Mans victory, but it's undoubtedly closer than it has been for decades. And even if Aston Martin has to wait a few more years, we can enjoy that glorious engine note while it does. Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here. Next Prev In partnership with
Telegraph
14-06-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
The most thrilling comebacks in Le Mans history – and the British hypercar gunning for glory
At 4pm local time today, 62 cars will cross the start-line of the Circuit de la Sarthe, outside the French city of Le Mans, for the 93rd running of the most famous endurance race in the world. If Formula One is a series of high-speed sprints between 20 near-identical cars, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is motorsport's answer to the ultra-marathon, with a broader spread of machinery. An intense and relentless day and night of high-octane entertainment that pushes cars and competitors to breaking point. Covering more miles in a single race than some F1 cars will do in a whole season, Le Mans has been likened to a 24-hour war. Despite this attrition, the race that dates back to 1923 has a way of enticing some of the world's greatest car manufacturers back year on year in the hope they'll take the title as the most consistent, reliable and fastest team in endurance racing. It's an irresistible challenge that's seen some of the most prestigious marques come, go and then come back for more. British challenge For this year's event, all eyes are on Aston Martin as the great British marque returns to Le Mans in the top-flight Hypercar category, in search of its first outright victory in 66 years, when Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby drove a DBR1 to victory in 1959. Helping it do that will be a brace of Valkyrie AMR-LMHs, a Le Mans-ready version of the £2.5 million Valkyrie road car from the pen of Adrian Newey, perhaps the finest racing car designer of the past 30 years. 'It would be almost unimaginable for Adrian Newey to design a car and not think about it going racing at some point,' says Adam Carter, Aston Martin's head of endurance motorsport. 'With an extraordinary fusion of F1 technology and road car mastery, the Valkyrie is truly built for racing.' Going up against seasoned veterans Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota, BMW, Alpine, Peugeot and Cadillac, Aston Martin's return to Le Mans will be hailed as one of the greatest comebacks of all time – if it goes to plan. Ahead of its big moment at the French endurance classic, here's a look back at the marques which defied the odds to make miraculous comebacks at the world's greatest endurance race. 1966 Ford: all-American revenge Ford's victory over Ferrari in 1966 was a sporting fairytale worthy of Hollywood, so much so the event was made into a film in 2019, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale. The story starts with Henry Ford II's failed bid to buy the Italian marque from Enzo Ferrari himself, after years of Ferrari dominance at Le Mans. Bitter from the collapse of the deal between him and il Commendatore, Ford decided to take on one of the greatest names in motorsport head-on. To do so, Ford hired Texan racer Carroll Shelby, a former Le Mans winner turned car designer, and instructed him to build a car capable of beating Ferrari and winning Le Mans outright. Together with the help of British driver and mechanic Ken Miles, the Ford GT40 was born. Despite getting off to a rough start, failing to finish in 1964 and 1965, the following year GT40 s took the top three places, making it one of the greatest redemption stories in Le Mans history. 1988 Jaguar: the Big Cat roars again In the 1980s, Jaguar made a triumphant return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after more than two decades away from top spot. Partnering with the Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), the British manufacturer bravely entered into the Group C bear pit – a class dominated by Porsche at the time – with its sleek, Silk Cut-liveried XJR. After several years of development and near misses, Jaguar finally achieved victory in 1988 when five TWR Jaguars squared up against three factory Porsches. After a long battle, the V12-powered XJR-9 driven by Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Andy Wallace took the chequered flag ahead of the Porsche of Derek Bell, Klaus Ludwig and Hans-Joachim Stuck. It marked Jaguar's first win at Le Mans since 1957, when Ivor Bueb and Ron Flockhart took the flag in a D-type but, more significantly, it proved Jaguar was capable of curtailing Porsche's dominance of the race. 2003 Bentley: an Audi wolf in Bentley clothing As one of the greatest and longest-standing names in Le Mans history, it's surprising Bentley hasn't been on the startline more often. In the 1920s golden days, when swashbuckling Bentley Boys like Woolf 'Babe' Barnato and Sir Henry 'Tim' Birkin would pilot supercharged 'Blower' Bentleys across the Channel before racing at Le Mans, the marque racked up five outright wins between 1924 and 1930. So, when Bentley announced it would be returning to Le Mans in 2001 with its Audi-inspired Speed 8, it caused quite a stir. Fast forward to 2003 and the marque claimed a dominant victory, with Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Guy Smith behind the wheel – Bentley's first overall victory since 1930. While the car wore a Bentley badge, it was largely down to the operational and strategic support from Joest Racing, the team behind fellow VW Group marque Audi's previous Le Mans success, which clinched the win for the British marque. Having achieved outright victories in 2000, 2001 and 2002, Audi's works Le Mans programme was paused in 2003 to give Bentley the win, before the German marque re-emerged to take victory again from 2004 onwards. Between 1999 and 2016, Audi racked up 13 victories in 18 starts. Had it not been for its sister brand Bentley getting in the way, Audi would have swerved that 'unlucky' number 13. 2023 Ferrari: Maranello's miraculous return to glory Enticed back to top-class racing at Le Mans by the creation of the new Hypercar category in 2021, Ferrari waited until the Le Mans Centenary race in 2023 to claim its historic victory. Before then, the Maranello-based marque hadn't secured an overall victory at Le Mans since 1965, when Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt took the flag in a 250 LM, a year before Ford would put an end to Italian endurance racing dominance. With the added pressure of making a comeback the same year that the race was celebrating its centenary, few believed Ferrari could top Toyota at the first attempt, given the Japanese manufacturer had won the previous four races. Equipped with the Rosso Corsa red 499P, the No. 51 Ferrari, piloted by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, led the final 55 laps to secure the win, marking Ferrari's 10th overall victory at Le Mans and its first factory-backed entry in the top category since 1973. 2025 Aston Martin? Hoping to rekindle the British marque's fortunes in top-class racing at Le Mans are two V12-powered Valkyrie AMR-LMHs. Behind the wheel of the all-British no.007 car – naturally – will be Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn, which will be joined by a no.009 sister car on the grid. Whether Adrian Newey's Le Mans-spec Valkyrie will be enough to top the intense competition over 24 hours remains to be seen. Since it was established in 2021, the Hypercar class has attracted a whole new level of competition to the world's most famous 24-hour race, with reigning champion Ferrari keen to defend its title and Porsche eager to add to its record tally of 19 outright wins in this corner of France. 'We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavours we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years,' says Lawrence Stroll, chairman of Aston Martin. 'Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs aiming to write new history with a racing prototype inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built.'
Car and Driver
09-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
The Aston Martin Valkyrie LM Is a Track-Day Special Plucked Straight from Le Mans
Aston Martin debuted the Valkyrie LM, a track-only car based closely upon the race car that will challenge for overall victory at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Valkyrie LM features a 697-hp naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12, free of the hybrid system found in the road-legal car. Only 10 will be built, and Aston Martin will also offer a driver training program that involves simulator time, data and onboard camera analysis, and a set of track-day gear. At the upper echelons of motorsport, the connections between race cars and their on-road counterparts are tenuous at best. Ten different brands have prototype racers competing in the top classes of the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and of those, just one is based on a road-going hypercar: the Aston Martin Valkyrie. To celebrate the Valkyrie's unique position, Aston Martin revealed the Valkyrie LM, a track-ready limited edition that is essentially identical to the race car that will appear on track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next weekend. Aston Martiin This is a special occasion for Aston Martin, as it's the first time the automaker will be vying for the overall win at Le Mans since 2011. If they are successful, it will be Aston Martin's first overall victory since 1959 when Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori took first in the Aston Martin DBR1. Aston Martin says the LM that it will sell to customers is virtually identical to the cars piloted by its drivers in WEC and IMSA racing, except for a few adjustments aimed at making the cars more accessible to their (likely) amateur owners. Aston Martin ditched certain racing-specific equipment, like ballasts and FIA-required electronics, while tailoring the cockpit to track-day use. Aston Martin also tweaked the engine to run on more accessible fuels, while also removing torque sensors that manage power delivery, all in the name of improving the experience for the customer. Aston Martiin The Valkyrie LM gets its motivation from a modified version of Cosworth's naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 engine. While the engine produces 1001 hp in the road car and is hooked up to a hybrid powertrain for a total of 1139 hp, the LM's V-12 is free of electrical assistance and is tuned to 697 horsepower as required by racing regulations. While that's notably less power than the road-going Valkyrie, the LM's missing hybrid hardware will drop the curb weight considerably. Aston Martin The LM's V-12 hooks up to the rear wheels through a seven-speed sequential transmission operated via paddle shifters, just like the race car. The suspension also mirrors that of the competition car, with unequal-length control arms at the front and rear and pushrod-actuated torsion bar springs with adjustable side and central dampers. The Valkyrie LM will run on special Pirelli performance tires. Inside, the driver sits snug in a custom carbon-fiber race seat with headrest padding and a six-point FIA safety harness. There's also a built-in fire suppression system, and the steering wheel features a display screen and shift lights. Aston Martin While Valkyrie LM owners will be able to keep their car wherever they want it, Aston Martin will also offer a special driver development program to support the driver for track days with a team of engineers. Aston Martin will store and transport the car for its customers, and they will also provide simulator driver coaching sessions, detailed track walks, and classroom sessions before hitting the track. The engineers will provide data and onboard video analysis to help the owners improve their driving. The program offers the chance to get a full track-day kit as well, bestowing these lucky owners with a helmet, suit, boots, HANS device, earpieces, gloves, and fireproof underwear. Customers will take delivery of their Valkyrie LM in the second quarter of 2026 and will have a chance to drive the car at two fully supported track days at F1-grade circuits later in the year. Only 10 will be built, and while Aston Martin didn't reveal the cost, we have to imagine the cost of entry is at least a few million dollars. Caleb Miller Associate News Editor Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
