Red Bull announces its own RB17 hypercar

Red Bull has announced it’s making a track-only hypercar and, contrary to the energy drink giant’s slogan, it won’t have any wings.

Dubbed the RB17, just 50 examples of the bespoke speed machines will be made, with production anticipated to start in 2025 and each car to cost about £5 million ($A8.83m) plus local taxes and on-road costs.

That eye-watering expense will nab “collectors” an 820kW-plus electrified V8-powered hypercar with F1-inspired and derived technologies and production methods, direct factory aftersales support and maintenance, as well as “a close association with the Red Bull Racing team through access to simulators, vehicle program development and on-track training and experiences”.

“The RB17 distills 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,” Oracle Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Advanced Technologies chief technical officer Adrian Newey said in a statement.

“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.”

Little else is known about the RB17, but Newey and Red Bull Racing and Advanced Technologies CEO Christian Horner revealed a few other titbits of information

Red Bull has thus far only released a single teaser image of the RB17 – hardly surprisingly given it won’t launch until 2025 – but the sketch is enough for us to deduce the RB17 will be one of the most extreme track toys ever to come out of the UK, with a long and low silhouette and plenty of flowing lines.

Given Newey designed the Aston Martin Valkyrie, diehard Aston and Red Bull Racing fans will likely spot a few similarities between it and the RB17, like the prominent inboard glasshouse, raised wheel-arches and the inherent lack of a motorsport-style rear wing.

“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,” Horner said.

“Further, the RB17 marks the first time that a car wearing the Red Bull brand has been available to collectors.”

Rumour has it most of the 50-unit production run is already accounted for, but Red Bull is still taking expressions of interest via its website.

The chances of even one example making it to Australia is predictably almost non-existent, but there’s always a chance a wealthy Aussie speed freak will bring an RB17 Down Under, although servicing could be tricky given the factory is on the other side of the planet…

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