Whoops:Aston Martin Valhalla Prototype Caught for Reckless Driving

When you build a street-legal race car, you have to test it properly. Aston Martin engineers clearly agree; police in Utah just cited a development driver for ‘reckless driving’ while testing one of the companys new Valhalla prototypes. Testing a vehicle in Utah means long stretches of wide-open road. That’s probably why Aston Martin engineers are there putting a Valhalla prototype through its paces. Still, the Sheriff’s Department in Emery County, Utah, likely wasn’t expecting to come across a seven-figure hypercar with over 1,000 horsepower. "It’s not every day you pull over a prototype Aston Martin speeding on the road through Emery County," the Sheriffs Department said in a Facebook post. "This $1.5 million car was reported for reckless driving and was stopped by ECSO Deputy Dylan Keele and UHP Trooper Dakota Adams on I-70 near Green River, Utah." Aston Martin has been working on the Valhalla for what seems like an eternity. Clearly, it still needs some fine-tuning. However, its also possible that a prospective customer is getting a preview of their future purchase. Aston Martin probably has very few development prototypes, so driving time is valuable—even a prototype might be used when a potential sale is at stake. Aston Martin plans to build only 999 units of the Valhalla. This is Aston Martin’s first attempt at a plug-in hybrid model. The Valhalla pairs a twin-turbo V-8 engine with three electric motors. There are two motors at the front and a third motor built into the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. There isn’t a traditional reverse gear either, as the front motors take care of reversing when necessary. According to the automaker, the total combined output is reported to be 1,064 hp and 811 lb-ft of torque. Aston Martin says the Valhalla will go from 0-62 mph in 2.5 seconds, but I could easily see that number dropping even further once the car officially goes into production. Just don’t test my theory in Utah. The police are clearly watching. But if you can afford a Valhalla, you can also afford the ticket or a lawyer to contest it. Or just put the car in pure EV mode, and tell the cop it couldn’t have been you since the car only goes 80 mph when running on just the electric motors. Just remember you only have about 8.5 miles of EV driving range on a full charge.