The Aston Martin Valour is an incredibly good time. But Aston Martin Formula 1 driver and two-time champion Fernando Alonso wanted a Valour with a twist. Such a big twist, it turns out, Aston decided to build Alonso his own car.
The Aston Martin Valiant has half a roll cage, a six-speed manual with exposed gear linkages, magnesium wheels, race-bred dampers, quad tailpipes, a 220-pound weight reduction, a V-12 kicking out 734 horsepower (to the Valour’s 705), and some of the most beautifully sculpted lines you’ll ever see. It isn’t mucking about.
The former F1 champ made a brief appearance at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed to show off his new ride, and to have a quick chat about why he made his car the way it is. It all started with a Valour and a special request—or two, or three.
“I wanted a Valour, but then I asked if it could be a little bit different. I'm a big fan of [aero-disc wheels] and some other features on road cars. So I asked the team if they could make a special version for me. Obviously, the aero discs were not homologated for the Valour. A rear wing was not homologated for the Valour. Having lightweight materials, you know, it was a challenge for them.”
Instead of adding those features to a Valour, Alonso said Aston had a better idea.
“When we reviewed the list of things that I’d love to change, [Aston] said, okay, maybe it's better to make a full new car, with a new name, and we’ll make a limited edition?” Alonso said, “Why not?”
When most people say ‘why not?’ they’re talking about going for a pint with a friend or picking up an extra bag of chips. For Alonso, it means creating his own car. He is not most people.
“From that point, we started working on some aerodynamic devices,” he says. “The Valiant has more power and less weight, so everything that a racing driver loves to have. I think the final product is a piece of moving art.”
With more power and a big V-12 comes lots of noise. Hearing it fly up the Goodwood Hill was pretty special—it’s quick, but it’s also an aural treat.
“The sound from the V-12 is a very special way to feel the car, you know? It transmits the passion you have behind the wheel.”
Showing off his new ride before leaping off into another excellent adventure, no doubt, Alonso’s dalliance with the Valiant was short and sweet—so much so that he wanted another go. One run, says Alonso, isn’t quite enough for him to get to grips with it. Goodwood’s hillclimb is just 1.17 miles, and even the best drivers in the world would struggle to push a car to its very limits with just one crack of the whip. Still, he liked what little he did experience.
"The Valiant has more power and less weight, so everything that a racing driver loves to have."
“The sound and the behavior of the car [impressed],” Alonso said. “Especially with the Multimatic dampers… they made the car handle well.”
When he gets a little more time to explore the car, he’ll be able to enjoy, well, getting everything he wanted. Give or take a few challenges along the way.
“More or less, everything that we asked for is in the car… The normal answer [for complicated requests] is 'no' at the beginning [of development], but then, you know, the team is clever enough to find ways.”
He noted that achieving exposed gear linkages, and some of the aero devices under the car, were tricky. The former because it involved reorganizing some structural elements, and the latter needed to work properly while still being able to get over speed bumps.
Weight is a fun killer and to drop 220 pounds from a car is no mean feat. But to make the Valiant ‘just so’ would require weight savings. This is where Aston’s F1 team got chummy with the road car team.
“Some of the weight savings that we do with the F1 team are on the highest part of the car, because you can lower the center of gravity. So places like the cockpit, the seat, the steering wheel, the console, those are key places in F1, and they fed that back into the road car. The seats and the cockpit are a big change from the Valour to the Valiant.”
Being a racer, you’d expect Alonso to plump for an automatic over a manual—modern autos are far quicker, after all—but this car isn’t about lap times. It’s about engagement. For the F1 ace, Valiant harks back to his early days.
“I grew up driving manuals in my younger categories. Even the formula Nissan before Formula Two was manual.”
However, it wasn’t just early racers providing inspiration. He recalls waiting to turn 18 so he could get his road car license and the freedom it allowed, which, of course, came with a stick. Speed is the goal, but Alonso is a car guy like the rest of us (albeit with a full trophy cabinet), so rowing your own is the way forward.
“Having the manual with a V-12 car is something that, I think, has more appeal than having a normal automatic.”
Good man.
After spending time with Alonso himself and seeing how he talks about the Valiant, it’s clear that it’s not a ‘springs and stickers’ job with a shiny name attached. The Valiant is Fernando Alonso’s car through and through, and he’s rather fond of it.
