Look away now if you think Aston Martins should be the ultimate in refined, gentlemanly, understated elegance. Go stare at a Vanquish instead. This the new Aston Martin Valen, and it’s here for the people who looked at the Vanquish and thought, 'nope, that’s too beautiful'.
Because the Valen looks brutal, all slatted aero up front, F1-style side vortex generators down the side and a double-decker exhaust poking from the back. This is an evil Aston from the alternative universe where 007 is the bad guy.
Headlines? It’s the most powerful front-engined Aston Martin ever, thanks to a twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 upped to 839bhp and 737lb ft. All that grunt’s entrusted to the rear wheels. Gulp.
Still, Aston says its ‘target figure’ for the 0-62mph sprint is 3.0 seconds flat, and the top speed has had to be limited to 214mph. Presumably they’ll commit to confirmed figures when they find someone brave enough to actually test it.
It’s also rare. Aston Martin’s Q Division will only build 150 examples. So there will be as many Valens on Earth as there are Aston Martin Valkyries . A Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale will be common as hen’s feathers by comparison.
Naturally, each will be unique thanks to an armada of wild paint, trim and spec options. As you can see from the, um, vivid tones applied to Aston’s prototype in these pictures. On the options list you’ll also find the choice of fully exposed carbon weave bodywork.
The lightweight body is part of a suite of weight-saving measures, including magnesium wheels, a titanium exhaust, and an apparent deletion of most of the Vanquish’s buttons inside.
In fact, Aston Martin says the Valen weighs 110kg less than the Vanquish, though to achieve that you’ll need to tick the box for an optional ‘lightweight pack’, which surely every buyer will. These includes “machined aluminium suspension arms, knuckles and titanium chassis bolts” adding up to a healthy 16.9kg weight saving.
To get an idea of how wild Aston has gone with this thing, get a load of this explanation of how it’s re-thought the bootlid: “Instead of a fixed rear window and trunk lid, both features have been replaced by a solid tailgate. Featuring an aerodynamic wing in its upper section, the tailgate opens onto a 170-litre trunk which is available with an optional bespoke luggage set. A soft, tailored cover can be unfolded to protect the paintwork when lifting cases in and out.”
Again, you’d expect every single owner will be ticking the boxes for Valen hand luggage, and the paintwork-saver.
Should they choose to actually drive their British super-GT sledgehammer, Aston says they’ll enjoy retuned, more feelsome steering, improved gearshifts thanks to algorithms from Aston’s GT4 racecars, new springs and fresh suspension settings.
It’s nothing if not thorough.
But is it gorgeous?
