Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider: 1,155 HP of open-top fun

The Valkyrie hypercar is one of the craziest Aston Martin models to date, together with the Valhalla. So far, the British marque has built two versions of the Valkyrie, a street-legal coupe and a track-only model called the AMR Pro. Now, another version has joined the lineup. The difference is, this new one has a removable top.

Aston Martin recently revealed the new Valkyrie Spider at Pebble Beach in California. The design of the Valkyrie Spider remains relatively unchanged over the coupe, apart from the unlimited headroom with the roof removed. However, the Spider does lose the coupe’s gullwing doors. Instead, the engineers over at Aston Martin had to develop dihedral doors specifically for the open-top model.

With the roof fitted on, Aston Martin claims aerodynamic performance should be similar to what you’d find in the Valkryie coupe. Specifically, it will develop up to 1,400kg of downforce at 240 km/h in track mode. Don’t expect roof-off performance to be the same, though. But, the rush of air flowing into the cabin will likely give occupants a more thrilling ride. More importantly, it will let them listen better to the Cosworth-developed 6.5-liter V12 engine sing at 11,000 RPM.

Mechanically, the Valkyrie Spider remains unchanged over the coupe. The V12 mill is paired with a hybrid setup, which develops a total output of 1,155 horsepower. Open-top models are usually heavier than their coupe counterparts, but Aston Martin did not mention any weight penalty. Instead, the Spider will still hit a top speed of 350 km/h with the roof on. Remove the roof panels, and the top speed goes down to 330 km/h, which is still very fast. No acceleration figures were provided, but Aston Martin says it is “ simulated to set impressive lap times, not normally achievable in a road-going car.”

Production of the Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider will be limited to 85 units globally. However, there is some bad news for multimillionaires just learning about it now. All 85 units have been accounted for, with deliveries scheduled to begin next year. Hopefully, one of them ends up arriving in the Philippines.