What Is Red Bull’s $6.25 Million RB17? How Can You Buy It?

“Adrian Newey Unleashed”, is what Christian Horner described the Red Bull’s RB17 project as. The aerodynamic mastermind will be leaving the team at the start of next year, and before leaving, will put the RB17 in production. The RB17 will be Newey’s last Red Bull car. But why is it named RB17? 

Due to the COVID restrictions, Red Bull didn’t bring any significant changes to the 2021 car and named it the RB16B. And towards the end of the 2020 season, Newey started drawing the Red Bull hypercar, so it was aptly named the RB17. Let’s now have a look at what the car will be like, what features it will have and the specifications of it. 

The Red Bull RB17 Specifications: What we know about it

Adrian Newey’s interest in developing a Hypercar began when Sony first asked him to design a car for the PlayStation back in 2010. He then collaborated with Aston Martin to design the Valkyrie but wasn’t given the full liberty of the design, as it had to maintain Aston Martin’s profile. As a result, Newey came up with the idea for the RB17, a car that would have no boundaries and would be the pinnacle of the automotive world. 

Newey talked about how the development of such a car is a merger between science and art. Anything and everything on the car will be functional but will be molded in a way that makes it look beautiful at the same time. According to Newey, the car will be capable of producing similar lap times as a modern Formula 1 car, if driven by a professional racing driver. But how will the car be able to achieve such lap times? 

The car will feature a naturally aspirated V10 which will rev all the way up to 15000 RPM. The idea behind this was to emulate the V10’s in F1 cars from the mid-90s. This engine will produce around 1000HP and will have electric motors giving a boost of about 200 HP. The combined output will be between 1100-1200 HP mated to a carbon fiber gearbox. The top speed of the car is said to be 220 miles per hour. 

Coming to the chassis side of things, the weight of the car will be under 900 kg and the Monocoque will be made from Carbon Fiber, just like most of the other parts of the car. Comfort is also taken into consideration as the car will be a two-seater with Newey promising more space and legroom inside the cabin compared to the Valkyrie. The car will also feature active suspension which will help with the ride height and control the firmness of the suspension.

Talking aerodynamically, the car is capped at a maximum downforce of 1.7 tonnes, as any further than that and the tires will be overloaded. The car will produce its own weight in downforce at 120 miles per hour. Talking about the efficiency of the design, noted by the drag: downforce ratio, Newey suggested that the car will touch figures that have never been seen before. Aiding the downforce will be a blown diffuser, similar to what we saw on the late 2000s F1 cars. The gear shifts on those blown diffuser F1 cars are arguably one of the greatest sounds known to the F1 community.

The car will be revealed at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed and is said to cost $6.25 Million and only 50 of these cars will be made. Adrian Newey talked about getting one for himself in Red Bull’s podcast so that leaves only 49 up for grabs. Now let’s look at how one can get on the list for the RB17 and what the package will bring in terms of buying experience.

The Red Bull RB17 Buying Experience and How to Get on the List. 

If one wishes to get on the list to buy a Red Bull RB17 or has any inquiries regarding it, one can reach out to Red Bull Advanced Technologies at RB17@redbulladvancedtechnologies.com. The team will then revert and the process can be started from there on. Adrian Newey talked about how the RB17 is not just a car, but an opportunity for the owner to become a part of the Red Bull family, as there will be multiple track days, with some during the F1 weekends where the owners will get to take their hypercar around the F1 track. 

Explaining the buying experience, Newey suggested that the customers will be very involved in the project and will get to see their car come to life. They’ll be invited to the dyno runs of the engine and will be given a tour of the factory to show them where their car will be built. The customers will also be shown a full-scale mockup of the car to show them what they are in for. 

Along with that, Red Bull will also offer the customers a chance to get on the simulator and get to feel what the car they’re buying will be like. If anyone doesn’t have much track experience, Red Bull will provide a coach to sit in the simulator next to the customer, just like a coach in the real world, and prepare them on how to drive the RB17 around a track. 

What do you think about the $6.25 Million Red Bull RB17 hypercar?