THE STIG Sends 3m Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro Through F1 Wind Tunnel

Welcome back to the Top Gear Tunnel Run. I'm Becky Evans and this is the Stig's top secret lair. It's the perfect place to celebrate the old school sounds of combustion by letting the Stig loose in a rockstar band of cars that go all the way to 11. We're back at Catesby, the leaky old tunnel turned high-tech test centre, where we're letting Stig go wild in the world's loudest cars. For the full history lesson and to find out what makes Catesby so cool, head back to Video 1 in this series. Down here, the track temperature is quite chilly. Great news for engines, bad news for traction. Stig's going to have his hands full today, especially on racing slicks. The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, named after a mythical Norse maiden, made in Gaeden, the English home of Aston Martin and its motorsport department. AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing. And the Pro bit? Well, that's because you need Stig-like skills to tame it. Because this is the extreme track version of the road-going Valkyrie, and that's no ordinary road car. So before we get under its carbon-fibre skin, let's refresh our memory. In 2016, Aston Martin announced a mission. To create an F1 car for the road, a proper Grand Prix experience, with number plates and a sat-nav. But packing Formula 1-style speed into a road-legal package is almost impossible engineering. It's the holy grail of hypercar tech, and the hardest to pull off. Which is why they assembled the Ultimate Brains Trust. The Valkyrie is a joint effort between Aston Martin, Red Bull Racing and Adrian Newey, the mastermind behind some of the most successful F1 cars of all time, from Damon Hill's winning Williams to Max Verstappen's latest championship runaway. At the heart of it all is a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12, co-designed with Cosworth. On its own it makes 1,000 horsepower, but there's also a hybrid system giving you another 150. It produces over a tonne of downforce, keeps going to 250mph and revs to over 11,000rpm. Making all of this work took time, but then after seven years of development, it was ready. Now if you thought that was wild, wait until you get to grips with the Pro. For starters, there's the price. The road-going Valkyrie will set you back £2.5m. But this one? They added another million on top. Yep, that's £3.5m. All enough to buy 28 Aston Martin Vantages. Although they say it is the blood brother to the Valkyrie, it only shares three things in common with it. Its name, the engine and, funnily enough, the headlights. Everything else is pure race car. It wears slick tyres, it weighs a quarter of a tonne less and there's even more downforce. And now the hybrid system is gone, it's lighter, which means it's in a completely different speed league. It's longer, wider and has ultralight carbon fibre bodywork and Perspex windows. And that aero, including the dorsal fin, make it look like a real deal endurance racer. Which is exactly what it is. From 2025, the Valkyrie will enter the world's top round-the-clock racers, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. Aston hopes it'll wail around the front of the pack with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari, just like in the old days. Aston Martin hasn't won Le Mans outright since 1959. This could be the car to change that. And that's great if you're an Aston Martin racing driver. But what about the other AMR owners? It's not road legal and you can't pitch up to any other racers. So where do you go? The answer is track days. And not just any old run-what-you-bring event. AMR owners get the full VIP treatment with exclusive access to F1 tracks around the world and some instruction from veteran pros. They'll throw in some racewear and some ear protection, which as you're about to see, is entirely essential. So let's get this thing in the tunnel. Someone go get the Stig. So here's how this is going to work. Stig has got two runs to make as much noise as possible. That's almost three and a half miles of screaming hypercar. Let's see what it sounds like. That's 101 decibels. That's like going to a heavy metal concert. And this thing is nowhere near the top of its rev range yet. So here's the thing about the AMR Pro. It doesn't do standing starts. So to save the clutch, it's actually got a small electric motor which nudges it up to 25 miles per hour. So it essentially bump starts itself. Think of it like a Le Mans rolling start. But trust me, when this thing fires up, you're going to hear it from no matter where you are in this tunnel. Let's see what it sounds like. Okay, let's go. That sounds insane. Let's see that again, shall we? And this time we'll turn it up a level. Remember, Stig's under strict instruction to bring it back in one piece. Stig is on his best behaviour there. He might not be doing 200 on the Mulsanne, but I could listen to this all day long. Let's go again, but before that, there's someone you need to meet. Firstly, if you're not wearing any headphones, get some on now. Trust me, you really need them for this bit. This is Mike. Inside Mike's ears are two microphones that record sound just like our own ears in 3D. He's shaped like this to mimic the way sound travels into and around our heads. So when you play it back, you hear what Mike hears as if you were actually here, listening with your own ears. This isn't just surround sound, it's sonic sorcery. It works everywhere I go. This side. That side. Are you freaked out yet? Now imagine what it sounds like when we put Mike in the passenger seat. To bring that tunnel run magic straight into your ears. You know the feeling. Windows down. Drop a few gears. Floor it. Feel the noise. With Mike's help, we can recreate that for you right now. Let's head back to the Stig and this time you can go on board. Remember, headphones on. Get ready to ride and I'll see you next time.