The Aston Martin Valkyrie’s 1,130-hp V12 sounds amazing and terrifying – Roadshow

Aston Martin is having kind of a rough week with its IPO falling a little flat, but it’s not all bad news in Gaydon, because Aston boss Andy Palmer tweeted a sound clip of the upcoming Aston Martin Valkyrie‘s absolutely bananas V12 on Wednesday.

That kind of assault on the ears isn’t something that we’re used to hearing these days as large-displacement, high-revving, naturally aspirated V12 engines are going the way of the buffalo in favor of smaller engines with big turbochargers.

This particular powerplant is loosely based on Cosworth’s 2.4-liter V8 engine, which saw duty in Formula 1 during one of the best eras for the sport. The Aston Version won’t do 20,000 rpm (Aston claims it redlines at 11,000) but it does manage to squeeze 1,130 horsepower out of 6.5 liters of displacement without the use of forced induction of any kind, and that is, frankly, some kind of wizardry.

The Valkyrie’s engine will eventually be supplemented with electric power in the form of a KERS system built by Croation electro-crazies at Rimac. That’s cool if maybe a little unnecessary given these kinds of power figures. Couple that with the fact that the Valkyrie is set to weigh around 2,270 pounds and you’ve got a recipe for greatness, or at the very least a great way to showcase how far traction and stability control have come in the last few years.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is set to go on sale next year in highly limited numbers, and we expect it will cost about as much as a nice private island. We can’t wait to get up close with one.