RedBull gives wings to its cars on the track in Formula 1 but now it is also targeting the “general public”. Way of speaking of course since like its rivals Ferrari or McLaren, the Austrian firm intends to invest in the “hyper-car” market, super-powerful cars with dream bodies.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the high-performance engineering arm of the Red Bull group, unveiled on Tuesday its first production car project designed and manufactured entirely in-house, the RB17. A code name reminiscent of its F1 single-seaters. “Created by Adrian Newey, Technical Director of Oracle Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the RB17 is a two-seater hypercar optimized for the ultimate on-track driving experience,” the statement read.
For Adrian Newey, technical director of the Red Bull Racing team (world champion from 2010 to 2013) until 2018, it’s a new challenge, after having experienced success in Formula 1 with the single-seaters he designed. for the Williams and then McLaren teams in the 1990s and 2000s. He still continues to lead the design of Red Bull cars, including the 2021 championship RB16B at the wheel of which Max Verstappen became the hard-fought world drivers’ champion against Lewis Hamilton. He is considered by the world of Formula 1 as one of the most gifted engineers of his generation.
“The RB17 distills everything we know about creating championship-winning Formula 1 cars into a package that delivers extreme levels of performance in a two-seater track car. Driven by our passion for performance at all levels, the RB17 pushes the limits of design and technology far beyond what has until now been accessible to enthusiasts and collectors” assures the engineer.
“Only fifty RB17s will be manufactured at the Red Bull Technology Campus in Milton Keynes, with production expected to begin in 2025,” the bull brand’s text reads. Hypercars are cars that boast extraordinary power and performance and are therefore very expensive. Ferrari revealed its own during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
A car for collectors… millionaires!
The unit price of Red Bull’s hypercar, powered by a V8 hybrid engine developing more than 1,100 hp, will be £5 million (5.79 million euros), excluding any taxes. However, each buyer will be offered a personalized follow-up, including maintenance. “The RB17 marks an important step in the evolution of Red Bull Advanced Technologies, now fully capable of creating and manufacturing a production car at our Red Bull Technology Campus,” said Christian Horner, Red Bull team boss. , quoted in the press release. The hero of “Drive To Survive”, the popular F2 series on Netflix, does not like to do things by halves. No doubt he will want to go up to the competition.
“Furthermore, the RB17 marks the first time that a car bearing the Red Bull brand has been available for collectors,” the Briton said. The brand of energy drinks, involved in particular in motorsport, and its technical director Adrian Newey had already collaborated with Aston Martin for the development of the Valkyrie hypercar.
Involved in Formula 1 since 2005, Red Bull has won four constructors’ world titles and five world drivers’ titles. The development of the RB17 should allow the creation of a hundred positions in Milton Keynes, headquarters of the team, assures Red Bull.