Valkyrie.

A car, certainly.

A car as—dare I say more—advanced than an F1 car, maybe.

But a miracle... most definitely.

Having had the chance to read Bart and Lies' Inside Valkyrie, I can now say, I view the car/ufo entirely differently.

It's easy to get lost in the details at times. What's the VIN? Paint color? Is VP5 wrapped AM Racing Green or Aston Martin Racing Green (yes, those are two separate colors)? The book is littered with direct quotes from the engineers/designers/operators/dreamers/realists, CAD designs, and the fabled Newey drawings. There is enough information to challenge even the knowledge of seasoned engineers. The only way to get more detail would be to talk directly to the people in charge or have access to the holy grain CAD files. However, these details are meaningless without context and that's exactly what this book offers. It paints the full canvase of what Valkyrie is. All the intricacies are used to illustrate a single poignant point: Valkyrie's existence is a miracle.

The read is an incredibly raw experience sprinkled with the odd popculture simile. The author makes no effort to hide the pain that went into building this car. Expecting this to be Aston Martin propaganda, I was surprised to find myself closing Pandora's Box to catch a breath. Building greatness comes at a price and it's gloomy for the most part. This 4 volume book is constructed around the thoughts of those who nursed Valkyrie during its inception, design, engineering, and testing. You're not only reading into the car itself but into the minds of its creators—the cherry on the cake.

The book really captures the greater theme of Valkyrie: the battle between the arts and sciences, evident in the complex culture clash between Aston Martin and Red Bull. It comes down to millimeters when the head of the project happens to be an obsessive genius, the car industry's equivalent to Netscape founder Jim Clark. It's a case study that offers that rare glimpse into the creative and technical process behind moonshot ideas.

I'm glad a book of this caliber exists—a testament of human ingenuity etched in stone. Top work from Waft Publishing.

Link to the book here