You will soon be able to buy a car from Red Bull! That is, provided that you have almost 150 million crowns in your account, under the pillow, inside the sofa or in gold. Red Bull is developing a circuit weapon that will challenge the most sophisticated supersports from around the world.
Foto: Red Bull
Red Bull once introduced a purely circuit type X-1, although it did not end up in production. According to computer simulations, this “Formula without borders” should have been faster than Formula 1. Unfortunately, the X-1 type only existed in virtual reality, RB17 will be happier
The paradox is that the Red Bull car with the working designation “RB17” should also be built by Aston Martin Valkyrie, which the company helped to develop – will we see a fratricidal duel? In any case, we now know that RB17 will be produced in just 50 pieces, each costing just over five million pounds – which is currently some 144 million in our money.
In addition to that price, however, the drive of the upcoming supersport also sounds very interesting. This is to be taken care of by an eight-cylinder fork combined with a hybrid drive, which would fill the “gaps” of the internal combustion engine, thanks to which the combined power would be up to 1,100 horsepower.
Undoubtedly, it will be a dangerous juice for the above-mentioned Aston Martin, which thanks to the hybrid V12 gives an output of 1,160 horsepower, or for the Mercedes-AMG One, which has an output of some 1,000 horsepower. So what Red Bull will rely on is the extreme aerodynamics gained by years of practice combined with unprecedented low weight.
But will the RB17 use technologies from the world of Formula 1? You can take poison for that! After all, Red Bull chose the name RB17 quite deliberately – the RB17 type will partially fit between last year’s RB16b monopost and this year’s RB18.
Foto: Red Bull
The Red Bull X-1 used absolutely extreme aerodynamics, including a suction effect and fans. Many of these solutions are likely to reach the final type of RB17, which will also be designed strictly for circuit driving.
The development of this car will bring a number of benefits – and it will not be just in terms of acquired expertise in development. Red Bull anticipates that the car, which will be developed at the new Red Bull Advanced Technologies facility in Milton Keynes, UK, next to the headquarters of the Formula 1 racing team, will bring up to 100 new jobs.
“This may not be a Formula 1 car, but it is undoubtedly an important project for our Red Bull Advanced Technologies center,” said Christian Horner, head of the Red Bull F1 Racing team. “On our technology campus, we will be able to develop and build a Red Bull production car,” added Horner, who heads both the Formula 1 division and the Advanced Technologies development division.
Foto: Red Bull
The Red Bull X-1 was a fascinating and ambitious project, which according to computer simulations was much faster than Formula 1 cars, but unfortunately it did not get beyond virtual reality. Thus, RB17 is to some extent its spiritual successor
As in the case of Aston Martin Valkyrie, the project will be overseen by British designer Adrian Newey, who works at Red Bull as technical director. So it is obvious that the car will have really advanced aerodynamics. Red Bull has even been rumored to have a suction effect never seen before in a production car. Let’s be surprised.
However, Red Bull already has some experience with the circuit special – insiders may remember the brutal Red Bull X-1 (or X2010), a prototype that existed only in virtual reality, but was still surprisingly thought out.
Foto: Red Bull
It was to power a twice-supercharged V6 with an output of over 1,500 horsepower, while the weight was only about 600 kg. Using numerous computer simulations, Red Bull found out that such a car could in reality be up to ten seconds faster on a given track than a Formula 1 car, which is something.
In any case, Red Bull has definitively terminated its cooperation with the Aston Martin team, the main reason being the fact that Aston Martin Chairman Lawrence Stroll bought the Force India team and renamed it Aston Martin, which led Red Bull to withdraw from the cooperation. Will old friends become enemies for life and death?
