London - Red Bull is planning to produce an F1-inspired hypercar that promises to treat wealthy collectors to extreme levels of track performance.
The company announced on Tuesday that the new hypercar would be designed by Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey, who is also responsible for the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The Red Bull hypercar is expected to cost at least 5 million pounds (R98 million) when production starts in 2025.
The V8 hybrid-powered RB17 will be built at the Formula One championship leaders' Milton Keynes facility in central England and limited to a production run of just 50 units.
The two-seater, designed for track use, will deliver more than 820kW. Autocar quoted Newey as saying that the hypercar could be made road legal, with various modifications, at the client’s request.
"The RB17 marks an important milestone in the evolution of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, now fully capable of creating and manufacturing a series production car at our Red Bull Technology Campus," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
"Further, the RB17 marks the first time that a car wearing the Red Bull brand has been available to collectors."
Newey is F1's most famous designer, penning a string of title-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull over the decades.
He also helped create the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a road legal and limited edition hypercar.
"The RB17 distils everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula One cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seat track car," said Newey.
"Driven by our passion for performance at every level, the RB17 pushes design and technical boundaries far beyond what has been previously available to enthusiasts and collectors."
Red Bull said full technical details would be available in due course but it was open to expressions of interest immediately.
It said ownership would also provide access to simulators and on-track training, with full factory support tailored to each owner. The RB17 project will also secure jobs and create more than 100 new positions in Milton Keynes.
IOL & Reuters