Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to All Our Content

Is the Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider better than the V12 hard-top?

We’ve just published an article about the very first customer finally taking delivery of an Aston Martin Valkyrie when Top Gear publishes a video in which they talk about the fact it might have been a better idea to get the Spider version because let’s face it, who doesn’t like a convertible hypercar?

The Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider truly is the closest thing to a street-legal Formula One car you can get when you remove the roof section, and while the Valkyrie comes with nice-looking gullwing doors, the Valkyrie Spider looks even better with those outward and upward-opening doors, almost like wings on a bug, and it allows an easier entry into the cockpit, especially when you remove the small roof section with the two panels that open up too.

The first Valkyrie Spider will not be delivered until well into 2022 and with only 85 units of this convertible, production will run out quickly, the amazing looking Valkyrie Spider has been developed from the coupe version, taking unique engineering solutions by combining the talents of both Aston Martin themselves and Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), the engine is still the same 1,160 hp hybrid unit, combining 1,000 hp from the Cosworth developed 6.5-Liter V12 engine with 160 hp from the KERS-style hybrid system, using a 12-in-1 exhaust design, the Valkyrie’s soundtrack is reminiscent of a 90s F1 race car.

Thanks to a lot of development and slight modifications between the Valkyrie and the new Valkyrie Spider, Aston Martin managed to keep the weight gain on the Spider to a strict minimum … the result is still a top speed in excess of 350 km/h with the roof in place while driving topless will still get you over 330 km/h … all while sitting nearly in the center of the car, fixed in place by a six-point safety harness.

Even the entire removable roof system is special, consisting of a central panel made from carbon fiber that contains the hinges for the two panels above the occupants, all of these panels can be removed once the doors open, and stowed in their dedicated sections, carefully cut into the new carbon fiber structure … due to the lack of a roof, the gullwing doors from the coupe had to be redesigned into front-hinged dihedral doors, bespoke to the Valkyrie Spider.