They say good things come to those who wait, so by that logic the Aston Martin Valkyrie might be one of the greatest cars in the history of the automobile. Next month will mark five years since a full-scale model was first shown at Gaydon and, as this latest image shows, Aston isn't quite done fiddling with its 1,176hp V12 hypercar yet.
Having first emerged on Jalopnik, the screenshot shows a Valkyrie unlike any other that we've seen before. Which, given how long the project has been running for, is surprising - by now it was assumed that just final issues were being ironed out, rather than entirely new models being conceived.
So, what is it? With nothing official from Aston Martin yet, we can only speculate. But even by the standards of the Valkyrie, this is extreme. It's barely recognisable against the standard car, and there are some significant changes even when compared to the AMR Pro. Almost everything is different, from front to back, with new wings, spoilers, wheels, intakes, lights - the lot.
The fact that this leaked pic shows a car with a wiper, headlights and mirrors is likely quite important, moreover, as the AMR Pro Valkyrie was a track-only variant, with just 25 proposed. Might this be an AMR Pro converted for road use, like the Lanzante McLarens? Perhaps the motorsport programme is back on, and this is a rival for the Toyota GR Super Sport? That this is a screenshot from a customer website surely implies this is going ahead in some form or another.
This latest Valkyrie tease (remember when it ran at the British GP - that was two years ago) comes amid fresh turmoil around the issue of selling them. Apparently Aston Martin plans to sue a Swiss car dealer for withholding Valkyrie deposits. A deal with Nebula Project AG was signed back in 2016, which involved collaboration on the mid-engined cars, but also commission-based royalty payments linked to Valkyrie production. Aston claims that cars were sold in breach of the agreement, a decision which is likely to wipe £15m off this year's profit, and has terminated the agreement with Nebula.
So having sat dormant for so long, the Aston Martin Valkyrie project is back to hogging the headlines again. Though no more details were announced, Aston Martin has quietly told PH that the exact status of the leaked car will be coming later this month. Let's all hope the Valkyrie is worth the wait - this new picture suggests it very well might be.
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