The missing link

The rest of the power comes from three electric motors, two driving the front axle and one at the rear, providing all-wheel drive like the F80 but unlike the W1. With all that traction it’s not surprising the Valhalla posts a 0-62mph time of 2.5sec, adrift of the 2.15sec claimed for the Ferrari but ahead of the 2.7sec achieved by the traction-limited W1. Top speed is 217mph, exactly the same as both its electronically limited rivals. A coincidence? We’ll leave you to decide.

This is Aston’s first plug-in hybrid and comes with an all-electric range of just 8.7 miles, during which operation it will also be the first front-wheel drive Aston Martin since the, ahem, Cygnet. As is usually the case with such cars, no reverse gear is provided as the electric motors will just be spun backwards to provide rearward motion when required. Power is directed through a brand new 8-speed dual-clutch gearbox with incorporated electronically controlled limited-slip differential.

Structurally, the Valhalla comes as expected with a carbon fibre tub with front and rear aluminium subframes. The body is also ‘predominantly’ made from carbon fibre. The double wishbone front suspension is of the pushrod design more usually seen on racing cars, while at the back, there resides a multilink axle. Naturally, chunky carbon brakes are featured all-round.

But no self-respecting hypercar would launch these days without a neck-straining amount of downforce achieved by active, deployable aerodynamics, and the Valhalla is no different, with a claimed peak 600kg of the stuff. This is the same as the McLaren P1 offered over a decade ago, while its modern Ferrari and McLaren rivals generate a tonne or more. But, as we’ve observed before, a downforce figure is meaningless without also quoting the speed at which it is developed, in the Aston’s case, this speed being 149mph. After which, this peak is maintained rather than increased with velocity by the car deliberately bleeding off the additional downforce that would be available as speed increases. Which seems eminently sensible, rather than pursuing ever higher, ever more meaningless numbers.

There are, however, two other big differences between the Aston and its two newfound rivals, and the first is weight. As is now standard (and infuriating) common practice for such cars, all three manufacturers quote ‘dry lightest’ weights, which is of a car with all lightweight options fitted and all liquids from the petrol in the tank to the fluid in the washer bottle removed; and while the Ferrari weighs 1525kg in this ornamental configuration, and the McLaren just 1399kg, the Aston tips the scales at a definitely hefty 1655kg, which means something nearer 1800kg in a condition where it can actually be driven. This provides it with a power-to-weight ratio of 623bhp per tonne, compared to the 775bhp/tonne of the 1183bhp Ferrari and the astonishing 899bhp/tonne of the 1258bhp McLaren. Advantage the opposition, then.

But there is one still greater gulf that separates the Valhalla from the W1 and F80. And it is this: while Ferrari will make 799 F80s and charge £3 million for each one, and McLaren just 399 W1s for a couple of mill each, the 999 Valhallas will be somewhat more affordable. No official price exists but I don’t think there will be too many squawks of outrage from down Gaydon way if I speculate that something around the £850,000 might not prove too far from the mark.

For what little it is worth, and with the proviso that cars don’t always appear in the flesh as they do in photographs, I think it’s easily the best looking of the three, too. Production is due to start in the spring and, no, as I write they are not all sold. Yet.