The Red Bull RB17 was never going to be just another hypercar. With the full force of Red Bull Advanced Technologies behind them, and without any pesky road-car regulations to get in their way, the engineering team saw an opportunity to build what they wanted, how they wanted. Restrictions be damned.
Now, nearly three years out from the concept’s original debut, Red Bull’s long-anticipated hypercar is almost ready for the road—er, track. Making its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, we caught up with Cosworth’s Managing Director, Bruce Wood, to get a better idea of what makes this hypercar so special, and more importantly, why it has a V10.
To V10, Or Not To V10?
According to Wood, Cosworth and Red Bull looked at every possible engine option before settling on a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V10. The custom-built Cosworth motor revs to 15,000 rpm, and puts down a ridiculous 1,200 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque. As Wood describes it:
'It's a clean-sheet design specifically for this car. When we normally do an engine, there's something that grounds it in a certain direction. So there's either some technical regulations for a race championship, or there are emissions regulations for a road car. The really unique thing about this is you've got none of those kinds of constraints.'
