► V8-hybrid with 1100bhp► Just 50 will be built
► £5million plus taxes
Red Bull, fizzy-drink company and more recently F1 team has just announced its first hypercar; the RB17. Rather than the race team, the two-seat hypercar will be produced by Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the engineering arm of the company. Despite that, it’ll be designed by F1 legend Adrian Newey, who is currently the chief technical officer of the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.
‘The RB17 marks an important milestone in the evolution of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, now fully capable of creating and manufacturing a series production car at our Red Bull Technology Campus,’ said Christian Horner, team principal of the F1 team. ‘Further, the RB17 marks the first time that a car wearing the Red Bull brand has been available to collectors.’
Newey, again?
This isn’t the first hypercar the Red Bull designer has penned; Newey played a key role in the design of the Aston Martin Valkyrie, another hypercar conceived when Aston Martin and Red Bull were partners.
The only image so far shows an extremely streamlined car – like the Aston – and Red Bull has confirmed the RB17 will use a carbon-composite tub. Interestingly the car will also generate the majority of its downforce from a sophisticated ground-effect package – a key area of development in the cost-capped F1 championship Red Bull also takes part in…
‘The RB17 distils everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula One cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seat track car,’ said Newey. ‘Driven by our passion for performance at every level, the RB17 pushes design and technical boundaries far beyond what has been previously available to enthusiasts and collectors.’
How’s it powered?
Rather than a V12 like the Valkyrie or a V6-hybrid like the F1-derived Mercedes AMG-One, the RB17 will use a V8-hybrid engine developing over 1100bhp.
Only 50 will be made, at a cost of £5million plus local taxes. However, that’ll include a bespoke package which involves access to simulators, vehicle program development and on-track training and experiences. Servicing and other maintenance will also be handled by the factory.
The project could be seen as a response to Formula One’s newly-enforced budget cap for two reasons: in addition to securing existing jobs and creating more, it could also provide vital learnings on ground-effect, a phenomenon that’ll be a key performance differentiator in forthcoming F1 championships.
Keyword: RB17: Red Bull confirms 1110bhp, ground-effect hypercar