Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider: V12 hypercar gets drop-top

The new open-top version of Aston Martin's Valkyrie hypercar is said to give "the most comparable experience to that of a Formula 1 car not limited to the track".

Revealed at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance as part of Monterey Car Week in California, US, the Valkyrie Spider is limited to just 85 examples, a build run that Aston says is already "oversubscribed" ahead of customer deliveries beginning in mid-2022. Both right and left-hand-drive models will be available. 

This is the third derivative of the Valkryie to be shown, following the near-ready standard coupé and the track-only AMR Pro coupé.

It represents a unique opportunity for a new open-roof, combustion-engined hypercar, as the Valkyrie's closest rivals, the McLaren Speedtail and Mercedes-AMG One, are sold as coupés only.

Power output from the Cosworth-developed hybridised V12 is unchanged, at 1160bhp, and revisions to the hypercard's carbonfibre tub and aerodynamics package ensure the Spider is closely matched to the hard-top in performance terms.

The active aerodynamics and chassis elements have been recalibrated to suit the car's new shape, while the weight penalty – usually a pitfall of convertible models – is kept to a minimum by use of a removable carbonfibre roof section and polycarbonate roof windows. 

The most significant modification is the replacement of the Valkyrie's gullying-style centre-hinged doors with front-hinged scissor doors - a first for Aston Martin.

With these modifications in place, Aston Martin claims "just a marginal" weight difference and says the Spider will top out at more than 217mph, or 205mph with the roof off. 

The British firm has yet to build and test a physical prototype but says that development is "well under way", courtesy of its "powerful simulation tools".

Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers said the Spider takes the Valkyrie's "passion and emotion to the next level" and that he "can't wait to hear" the mid-mounted engine revving to its 11,000rpm redline with the roof removed.