In a surprising twist, a millionaire owner of the highly desirable Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider has been spotted in central Nurburg, home to the world’s most infamous road racetrack, the Nurburgring. What’s even more surprising is that the owner appears to be a well-heeled Arabian, who are usually more at home in central London, Monaco, or Cannes, pottering about at walking speeds in their million-dollar exotics. Whatever the motivation, this particular Saudi millionaire had to visit the Nurburgring in his 1,000+ horsepower hypercar, we approve.
It’s not likely the owner will be gunning for a Ring lap record, a feat Aston Martin itself hasn’t officially attempted. Though the Valkyrie does have a pretty amazing lap record at Silverstone in the bag, for bragging rights. Last year, the Valkyrie broke the Silverstone lap record by over 10 seconds over the next closest road-legal production car (a Porsche Manthey 911 GT2 RS), showing that it doesn’t just have good looks on its side. It achieved the feat on regular tires, not racing slicks. Though the Valkyrie coupe set the record, the Spider isn’t exactly a slouch. It’s powered by the same naturally-aspirated 6.5-liter V12 hybrid pumping out 1,139 horsepower in total, good for a 0-62mph time of just 2.6 seconds.
However, the Valkyrie Spider is an even rarer beast, with only 85 units having been made compared to the coupe’s 150-unit production run. Which, of course, makes spotting a Valkyrie, coupe, or Spider, at the Nurburgring a very big deal. Aston Martin opened an AMR Performance Centre in Nurburg in 2018 as a one-stop shop for customers looking to hone their skills on a race track, so it stands to reason the owner will end up at the ‘Ring at some point. Anyway you cut it, that’s a huge step up from driving around just for show, especially considering the astronomical service costs on the Valkyrie.
