Aston Martin on Tuesday night unveiled the Valiant, a more radical sequel to its Valor sports car unveiled last year as part of its 110th anniversary celebrations.
The idea for the car came from Aston Martin’s star F1 driver Fernando Alonso, who commissioned Q through Aston Martin’s customisation department to create a lighter and more extreme edition of the Valor for use on the race track, while remaining street legal.
Since then, Aston Martin has made the decision to build a small series of Valiants. A total of 38 examples will be built for sale worldwide and all construction sites are already accounted for, the automaker said. Production makes the Valiant rarer than the Valor, which was produced in a series of 110 cars. Both cars feature old-fashioned styling powered by the DBS V8-based RHAM/1 race car, nicknamed Muncher, which competed in several 24 Hours of Le Mans races in the 1970s.
Like the Valor, the Valiant is powered by Aston Martin’s 5. 2-liter twin-turbo V12, tuned here to make 734 hp, 29 hp more than the Valor. The front-mounted engine is connected to a 6-speed manual transmission whose shifter has an exposed gear linkage and sends its traction to the rear wheels only.
The shifter design is helping to reduce weight, which is a key design purpose of the Valiant. Other measurements included a 3D-printed rear subframe that stored about 6. 6 pounds, a magnesium torsion tube that stored about 19 pounds, a lightweight battery that stored 25 pounds, and 21-inch magnesium wheels that store about 31 pounds. The Valiant also uses lightweight carbon ceramic brake discs.
The Valor’s chassis has also been improved. This included the installation of a set of Multimatic adaptive spool dampers, capable of adjusting each damper to one of 32 damper profiles in less than six milliseconds.
Several new aerodynamic elements have also been installed to generate downforce for track driving, such as the new splitter, rear wing and rear diffuser. The diffuser now also houses 4 exhaust tips from the Valor’s 3. The exhaust is a lightweight titanium system.
Aston Martin Valiente
The frame is made almost entirely of carbon fiber, adding the new full-width grille. Carbon fiber is exposed in many places, adding in the cabin where it is discovered on the doors and center console. The cabin is supplied with Recaro Podium seats and a metal half cage with four-point harness anchor points.
Although Aston Martin has been gradually phasing out the manual transmission from its basic range, special editions like the Valor and the new Valiant will allow the automaker to continue offering three-pedal cars for years to come. Aston Martin has indicated in the past that it will continue to provide these types of cars as long as warranties are requested.