“Commissioned” by none other than Fernando Alonso, the Valiant rocks a manual trans and a tonne of lightweighting
Those are lofty ambitions, which is why the new Valiant has all sorts of performance upgrades, not the least of which sees the twice-turbocharged V12 pumped up to 734 horsepower; and the chassis showered in lightweight carbon fibre, titanium, and even a bit of ultra-exotic magnesium.
There’s more down-force to keep it glued to the road; some super high-tech Multimatic ASV dampers to keep tires firmly in touch with the tarmac; and damned if there isn’t a six-speed manual transmission blessing its interior, and with a Pagani-like exposed linkage system, though I’m not sure that bit makes the Valiant any more track-worthy.
As to how well the new Valiant performs, Aston isn’t saying yet. Nor is it specifying how much weight its exotic-metals diet has managed to lose. But we do know that a 3D-printed subframe saved three kilograms (six-and-a-haf pounds); a magnesium torque tube lopped off another 8.6 kilos (19 lbs); and its lithium-ion battery is some 11.5 kg (25.3 lbs) lighter than an equivalent AGM chemistry.
Top it all off with the 14 kilos (30.8 lbs) the all-magnesium 21-inch wheels save, and you’re looking at some serious weight shavings. Those wheels are probably the most important diet of all, since those 31 pounds are all unsprung weight, the shedding of which not only helps acceleration, but dramatically improves suspension performance.
That ability to keep rubber — 275/35R21 fronts and 325/30R21 rears, the brand as yet unspecified — firmly glued to the road is greatly enhanced by the addition of the aforementioned ASV shocks by Multimatic. Using spool valves, the Multimatics can “choose one of 32 discreet damper curves in less than six milliseconds,” which is just engineering speak for “they can alter their damping characteristics faster than pretty much any other shock absorber on the planet.” One pundit famously described Multimatic’s spool-valve technology as suspension “witchcraft.”
As for the styling, the Valiant, like the Valour that preceded it, features more than a hint of the iconic ‘80s Vantage in its bulging bulldog flares. Oh, it’s all very aerodynamically modern and so very much more streamlined than the blocky, old Vantage. Nonetheless, the Valiant is no wedge-shaped Ferrari-wannabe, there being no mistaking this for anything other than a front-engined rear-wheel-drive brute.
How brutish, we don’t know. Unusually, Aston is releasing no acceleration figures or claiming an outlandish top-speed figure. There’s not even a mention of a Nurburgring lap time, the current standard by which all track-focused sports cars are judged.
No word on whether Fernando will pay the full retail of two million British pounds — upwards of 3.5 million Canadian loonies — for the privilege.
Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on Instagram ,Facebook and X to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.