The Aston Martin Valhalla: Modern Performance’s Thrilling Masterpiece
“So, how was it?!”
This is the natural and expected question when you’ve just driven the Aston Martin Valhalla, the automaker’s nearly $1.1 million, 1,064-horsepower hypercar. However, reviewing supercars has always been somewhat of a frivolous endeavor, and in recent times, it has evolved into something even more surreal.
So much so that when several friends and colleagues asked me that same question the day after driving the 2026 Aston Martin Valhalla, I paused for a moment before responding with, “Uh, exactly how you expect it to be.” I realized immediately that while this wasn’t meant to be flippant, it only truly makes sense if you’ve been fortunate enough to experience the state of the supercar art here in the inconceivable 2020s.
A Long Road to the Future
Seven years feels like a lifetime ago. The isolation of the pandemic certainly didn’t help, blurring the lines of time. But that’s how long it’s been since the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, where Aston first presented what was then dubbed the AM-RB 003.
The original name, now changed to a term from Norse mythology (Valhalla is the glorious afterlife realm where heroic dead warriors go to prepare for an epic final battle; it also conveniently starts with a V, following Aston’s traditional naming convention), reflected the automaker’s sponsorship ties to the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team.
A lot has changed since, and not just the name. Aston and Red Bull parted ways after the 2020 F1 season, when the company’s new boss, Lawrence Stroll, rebranded his Racing Point F1 team as the Aston Martin name. More importantly, the automotive landscape was evolving rapidly, and so was Aston.
There was a revolving door of internal personnel changes. The Valhalla’s hybrid powertrain—initially planned as an in-house-designed twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 with performance similar to other, then-more-relevant hybrid hypercars like the LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder—was replaced by a hybridized twin-turbo V-8 based on the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series. Compared to the GT Black Series, Aston equipped it with larger turbos, a new intake manifold, stronger pistons, and different camshafts to boost output by nearly 100 hp and 50 lb-ft. The Valhalla is now the exclusive platform for this engine.
When I sat in a mockup of the car on the Pebble Beach Concours’ lawn in August 2022, enjoying the Valhalla’s F1-style reclined and elevated-leg seating position, the projected specs for the V-8-based powertrain had increased from a combined 937 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque to 1,012 hp and an undisclosed torque figure. Aston stated that none of this was finalized, but it was more than enough to make me say, “Please, I want to drive it, whenever it’s ready.”
Worth the Wait…
Based on what Aston Martin had said about the Valhalla’s development timeline at that time, I didn’t expect another three and a half years to pass before I got the chance. However, the production version’s hardware now exceeds all those earlier expectations.
The flat-plane-crank, dry-sump, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 produces 817 hp. Combined with 248 hp from two Aston-designed radial-flux permanent-magnet motors on the front axle and a third motor integrated into the new eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox (an Aston first), the peak outputs are 1,064 hp and 811 lb-ft.
Along with the motors, the hybrid system includes a 560-cell battery pack. Engineers say it’s an off-the-shelf AMG battery that is the only part of the hybrid system Aston doesn’t manufacture. The cells are fully immersed in dielectric oil to keep them cool. Chief engineer Andrew Kay explained that this process allows them to push and cycle electrical energy very quickly. “This is very good for track use, in particular.”
Unlike the original Valhalla concept and its Valkyrie sibling, the production model is also a plug-in hybrid. It can drive in EV-only mode for up to 8.7 miles and reach speeds up to 80 mph. For a deeper look at the technology, you can read our previous breakdown here.
…But Something Else Happened Along the Way
Über-nerdy/semi-pedantic readers may already object to the earlier use of the term “supercar.” However, the company itself refers to the Valhalla as its first-ever mid-engine supercar. But surely, it’s a hypercar?
Yes, except for the existence of the Valkyrie. Apparently, marketing descriptions and talking points about “first-ever” achievements are constrained such that “super” is the preferred prefix instead of “hyper.” Regardless, the Valkyrie is hardly a street car. With its starting price of over $3 million and a production run of 285 examples, the Valhalla’s million-and-change MSRP and inventory of 999 units seem relatively pedestrian.
Of course, this statement is absurd in the real world. But it speaks to something larger in the realm of modern high-performance automobiles, both in terms of price and capability.
Millennials, zoomers, and Gen Alpha enthusiasts are probably accustomed to seeing another million-dollar car populate their social media feeds almost monthly, if not weekly. Each one spits out previously unheard-of power and torque figures, acceleration times, lap records, and a list of tech specs, features, options, and bespoke luxury choices longer than the Nürburgring’s full endurance layout.
For those who are older but certainly not AARP members, however, it’s easy to remember the shockwave caused by something like the 627-hp, $800,000-ish McLaren F1 back in 1993–94. Or even more so the Bugatti Veyron a mere 20 years ago, generally considered the first million-dollar, 1,000-hp hypercar.
Nowadays? Since I sat in the Valhalla prototype at Pebble Beach, we’ve driven the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which has only about half the horsepower and overall “exotic” technology but brings so much race-derived aerodynamics and other hardware to the fight that it requires pro-racer skills to maximize on a track. Its suitability as a road car, given its suspension setup, is debatable.
Stepping up in price, construction, and technological features, MotorTrend has recently driven the Ferrari F80, 849 Testarossa, Czinger 21C VMax, and even the more “commonplace yet dizzyingly fast” Porsche 911 Turbo S, to name just a few. Hell, you can buy a hybrid Corvette ZR1X with 1,250 hp that no one really saw coming when the Valhalla was just a brilliant idea in Aston Martin’s mind and that of then-Red Bull F1 design guru (and now Aston F1 Managing Technical Partner) Adrian Newey.
Drive the Machine
It is with this context in mind that “comparison is the thief of joy” has never been more appropriate in supercar terms. It also fits here because we know the odds of ever orchestrating a proper comparison test among the vehicles listed above, other than perhaps the ZR1X, are nonexistent, largely due to Maranello’s long-standing aversion to providing publications like ours with cars for head-to-head showdowns. (A shame, Ferrari.)
Regardless, given how high the dynamic limits are, driving something like the Valhalla on its own merits and enjoying whatever experience it provides is far more satisfying.
Make no mistake; the overall experience matters in a car like this. For a long time, it wasn’t enough for a car to be pleasant and thrilling on the road but perform poorly on the track, or to be mesmerizing on the track but cause a chiropractor’s billable hours on the road. We already knew that this Aston Martin was a winner on all fronts after MotorTrend’s Angus MacKenzie drove a “prototype” that was essentially the finished product, aside from some transmission calibration, a few months ago.
On the Road Experience
Unlike Angus, who only drove it on the Silverstone Circuit’s short Stowe layout in the UK, Aston provided us with a 50-minute road loop to start. You might naturally look at the Valhalla’s Le Mans Hypercar-style appearance and low, wide stance and expect a compromised daily driver, but that’s not the case at all. At least, aside from the complete lack of luggage storage. There are some small cubbies in the door cards, but no frunk because that space is occupied by three high-temperature radiators, the electric motors, and a racing-style, pushrod-actuated horizontally mounted inboard suspension system.
Aston executed the latter solution partly because of the F1-style driving position. You sit so low that a conventional suspension would have raised the bodywork’s height too much to maintain a clear forward view. There’s no backrest angle adjustment, so you must adapt to the seating position. The seats are bolted so low into the carbon-fiber monocoque tub that there’s no motor beneath them to slide yourself
