My God has Red Bull come a long way from dishing out energy drinks from specially-built Mini Coopers. The brand has been involved with winter sports, skating, extreme sports, motorsports, and on and on. But most importantly for us car-people, the brand – and specifically Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Advanced Technologies – has become a legitimate engineering powerhouse headed by the legend Adrian Newey, the Chief Technical Officer who is developing this: The Red Bull RB17 — a production machine that can allegedly go toe-to-toe with legitimate F1 cars. Here’s a look at Red Bull’s first production car.
I’m here at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Red Bull just revealed the RB17, a 1,200 horsepower hybrid “hypercar” driving a sub-2000-pound two-seater carbon fiber chassis to speeds of up to 217 mph. Making all that power is a “semi-stressed” (i.e. it’s structural, though I’m not sure how it can be “semi” structural) naturally-aspirated 4.5-liter V10 sending 15,000 sweet, sweet revs into your ears from the middle of the car. That engine is bolted to a six-speed transmission automatic transmission with a fiber case and integrated electric motor.
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Red Bull Advanced Technologies is still developing the car, and plans to offer it to 50 customers for 5.8 million pounds (or $7.5 million) who can use the RB17 for track-days only. So no, this will not be a car you can show off in front of the local Cars & Coffee — at least, not without a trailer.
Here’s how Red Bull describes the treatment those 50 lucky customers will get once they pull the trigger on this machine that promises F1 performance:
Each RB17 client is welcomed into the Red Bull family with a full customer journey, including a range of track events giving owners the opportunity to experience some of the world’s greatest circuits. One-of-a-kind driver development and tailoring of the car to suit individual driver’s needs is part of the unique experience. Each RB17 will be bespoke, with customers able to specify everything from the exterior paint colour to interior materials, and a whole host of smaller details
“I had been mulling around the idea to take on the challenge to design our very own Hypercar, from concept to delivery, for many years and it has been a magnificent project and journey. For it to finally be the day we pull the covers off and see the birth of the RB17, is truly remarkable. The RB17 Hypercar embraces everything we stand for: undeniable power, speed and beauty. It is very adaptable in its abilities, and we made sure to design it as a two seater so that the thrill of driving at F1 speeds can be enjoyed with a friend or partner.”
Worth noting that, during the debut, this was my view as I desperately tried to get a peek of the car (a work of art); Adrian Newey (a genius); and Gordon Ramsay (who’s probably the Chief Motivational Officer behind this project, repeatedly yelling at the engineers to get their shit together!).
The jet fighter-style canopy leads into an F1-style nose section that then opens out into a Le Mans Hypercar-style front end, and while the wheels are closed as per a Hypercar, the front and rear pushrod suspension has been left open to the elements. The rear end meanwhile bears a striking resemblance to the Valkyrie, voluminous venturi tunnels and all.
This physique is a sculpture of substance with style almost a happy side effect. Although great attention was paid to the looks of the RB17, you won’t be surprised to read this is a shape dictated by a hunger for downforce. There are 1.7 tonnes of it in all, produced through a mix of airflow, wake management and ground effect from the chiselled surfaces and skirts. There’s active aero, too, incorporated into the front and rear wings and diffuser for achieving the optimum balance of downforce and drag at all times.
