Red Bull RB17 will be a Newey-designed 1,100PS track monster | GRR
Red Bull has announced plans to out-Valkyrie the Valkyrie AMR-Pro, with a track-only hypercar capable of F1 lap times designed by Adrian Newey, this time wearing a Red Bull badge. The RB17, as it will be called, is expected to arrive in 2025, with no more than 50 to be made.
All Red Bull has shown is a tease of the car’s outline but it’s enough for us to get the idea that this could be the true ‘son of Valkyrie’. When deliveries begin in 2025, with the company "producing about 15 cars per year" according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner, it’ll be arriving with customers who have shelled out £5million before local taxes for the privilege.
Those 50 lucky owners will, should they so choose, get on-track tuition, for getting the most out of a car that according to Adrian Newey, “distils everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula 1 cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seat track car”. Buyers will also be involved in the vehicle’s development, through the sim and testing phases.
To generate such performance, the RB17 will marry an 1,100PS-plus (809kW) twin-turbocharged V8 hybrid powertrain together with what is described as “the most advanced ground effect package available in a series production vehicle”.
Exactly where that powertrain comes from isn't certain yet, with Newey revealing at the car's launch that it could be developed in-house by Red Bull Powertrains or "we can look to other companies, so we are going through that process at the moment". Production will take place at the Red Bull Advanced Technologies facility in Milton Keynes, in close proximity to the F1 team itself. This could be the first of a number of non-F1 projects, given up to 100 new jobs will be created for RB17 and beyond.
Why call the car RB17? As Horner explained to us, there was a missing car in the Red Bull line-up, and as the new two-seat track car will have "true Formula 1 car performance, it felt right that it followed that lineage and take up that '17' moniker".
When asked why Red Bull was taking on a project like this now, both Horner and Newey said how this fresh challenge would allow them to build on experience gained from the Aston Martin Valkyrie project.
"I think that was one of our frustrations," Horner explained. "Working with partners and so on, you weren’t in control of your own destiny. Whereas with this, we’ve taken control, it’s a brave project, but everything Red Bull does is pretty brave. It’s tremendously exciting to be in control of this project from start to finish, and the interface and dealing with a customer which is something we haven’t done before."
Newey, meanwhile, said: "The two-seat sportscar I started sketching in 2014, that obviously went on to become Valkyrie, and that was a very satisfying project to be involved in the research and design for, but ultimately it was with a partner. I think now, as Christian has said, we feel Red Bull Advanced Technologies is reaching maturity, it has the capacity to take on a project like this."
While it is true this is a no regulations project, Newey said it would not be without its challenges, as there are "physics regulations, and you need to package it for two people - you’ve got to assume that at least one of those could be quite tall, so you’ve got all of those restraints."
When asked where the RB17 might struggle, Newey explained: "I think one of the challenges will be if it’s not a very smooth billiard table circuit that the ride – porpoising is a hot topic at the moment – at that level of performance, taking it to Snetterton might be a bit brave, shall we say."
We’re excited to hear more about what could be the ultimate track day hypercar. Who better than an F1 team to produce such a thing? We look forward to seeing it in action at Goodwood…
Photography courtesy of Red Bull.