Adrian Newey's
Red Bull Advanced Technologies- Track-only RB17 aimed to offer two-seat Formula 1 experience.
- To be built and sold by Red Bull Advanced Technologies.
- Limited run of 50, $4.1m each, deliveries start in 2025.
When Autoweek interviewed Adrian Newey after his drive of the Aston Martin Valkyrie at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed he promised that it wouldn’t be his final road car project. Now, just after this year’s Goodwood event, we have confirmation of what will be his next one, with Red Bull confirming it is set to produce a Newey-designed hypercar which will be sold as the RB17.
The fact the RB17 won’t actually be street legal suggests that Newey has at least one more design to follow. Although it will only be driveable on track, the objective of the RB17 is obvious: going even faster than the circuit-only AMR Pro version of the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
While much of the work on the road-going Aston Martin Valkyrie, which was originally the AM-RB 001, was done by Newey and the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, the official line from Aston is that the AMR Pro has been substantially reworked since the two companies split after the British sports car maker acquired its own F1 last year. The RB17 seems to be Newey’s response to this, and although only a single sketch has been released to coincide with the project’s official announcement, we do have some other details.
The RB17 will feature the “most advanced ground effect package available in a series production vehicle.”
The RB17 will use a carbon fiber structure and be powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 hybrid engine that will make at least 1100 hp. It will be a two-seater and just 50 will be produced, with each one having a £5m pre-tax pricetag—that’s $4.1 million at current exchange rates. Anybody interested in getting their name down for one is encouraged to make contact through [email protected].
The RB17 will be produced by Red Bull Advanced Technology, a separate division from the Red Bull Formula 1 team, but based on the same 270 acre corporate campus in Milton Keynes, England. The new car will be engineered and constructed on this site, with major components including the gearbox set to be developed and built in-house. Buyers will be heavily involved in the development program and will get to experience the car through simulators and, once delivered, expert on-track tuition.
The Valkyrie AMR Pro, above, is “designed to have performance similar to an LMP1 car, but the RB17 is going to move that much closer to the level of a Formula 1 car.”
Aston Martin
This will, almost certainly, be necessary given the RB17’s performance aspirations. Red Bull is promising it will feature the “most advanced ground effect package available in a series production vehicle,” which is a bold claim when you consider that the rival T.50 designed by Gordon Murray, another famous one-time F1 designer, uses fan-assisted active aerodynamics.
As somebody familiar with the new project told Autoweek, “the Valkyrie AMR Pro is designed to have performance similar to an LMP1 car, but the RB17 is going to move that much closer to the level of a Formula 1 car.”
A promise that sounds both exciting and terrifying, especially after a recent passenger ride in the Valkyrie AMR Pro left me convinced that few billionaires will have the talent or stamina necessary to unlock its full performance. Will anybody outside those with front-end Formula 1 experience be able to handle something even quicker?
We look forward to finding out when it arrives in 2025.
Keyword: Red Bull Promises Its RB17 Hypercar Will Best the Valkyrie AMR Pro