Did Aston Martin build a road car faster than F1?

The British brand's promise the Valkyrie would be as quick as a F1 car has been tested.

When Aston Martin revealed the Adrian Newey-designed Valkyrie in 2016 it made the very bold prediction that it would lap a racetrack as fast as a Formula 1 car. Now, as the final Valkyries are produced, that claim has been put to the test.

“A 2016 race trimmed F1 car, the [Valkyrie] in its track trim will be faster,” claimed Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer in 2016. “Then you can take the track trim stuff off and drive home.”

Well, today Aston Martin released an on-board lap record run for the Valkyrie around the Silverstone circuit and while incredibly fast, it was well and truly outside the 107 per cent rule to even make the back of the 2016 F1 grid. The Valkyrie blasted around the home of the British Grand Prix in 1m56sec, some 21 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg’s fastest race lap in the ’16 race.

VIDEO: Watch (and listen to) the V12-powered Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro around Laguna Seca

But while it wasn’t quite as quick as originally claimed, a sub 2m lap around Silverstone in a road-legal car is staggeringly quick. It beats the previous production car lap record, set by a special Manthey Racing version of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS but more than 10 seconds.

Check out the video below to see long-time Aston Martin factory racer Darren Turner guide the Valkyrie around Silverstone.