For those who feel need to experience something of a F1 thrill …

FOR those with a load of cash and who cannot see the value in spending a huge wodge on it for a 15 minute trip into space so they can pretend at being an astronaut … well, there’s always the fallback of an eye-wateringly expensive high performance car designed to lend something of a ‘Formula One racer’ experience.

Here’s the latest of that latter breed.

Aston Martin has revealed an open-topped Valkyrie Spider hypercar at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey, California today.

The type is limited in production to just 85 units – and, sorry, they're already all sold.

Cutting a hole in the roof of the Valkyrie was made rather more complicated by the design of the gullwing doors in the coupe, so Aston Martin ditched them.

In their place is a pair of front-hinged dihedral doors. Open those and then it's possible to manually remove the new roof. It consists of a centre section made from carbon fibre and two polycarbonate 'roof windows'

As one overseas media commented: “Given the extreme lengths the Valkyrie's designer - F1 supremo, Adrian Newey - went to, to give the hypercar coupe unheard of levels of downforce, it would seem a little strange to undo all that work by removing the roof...”

However, Aston Martin is adamant that the Valkyrie Spider is not compromised, and the active chassis and aerodynamics systems have been recalibrated to cope with the removal of the roof. Aston also states that the weight increase is 'marginal'.

“Right from the very beginning of the Aston Martin Valkyrie project we were driven by exacting targets that went way beyond any previous road car and the Valkyrie Spider brings that same ethos to the open cockpit hypercar category,” Newey says.

What you see is a simple removable roof panel, but the challenge of remaining true to the Valkyrie concept was anything but. Maintaining aerodynamic performance with the roof removed was of paramount importance, likewise keeping any unavoidable weight gains to an absolute minimum whilst maximising enjoyment for the driver."

With the roof removed, the Valkyrie Spider can hit more than 330kmh, which is just 20kmh down on its roof-on top speed.

This comfortably makes it the 'fastest and most extreme open-top, road-legal Aston Martin ever built.' The high downforce – cited at more than 1400kg when travelling at 240km/h in Track mode - is promised to allow for lap times comparable to LMP1 racers'.

The naturally-aspirated 6.5-litre V12 petrol engine developed by Cosworth is unchanged for the Spider, revving to over 11,000rpm. It's part of a hybrid powertrain that produces up to 861kW, sent to the rear wheels.

in the coupe, the Spider accommodates two people, sitting close together near the centre of the car, with their feet mounted relatively high. Six-point safety harnesses are standard, as is a rear-facing camera in place of a rear-view mirror.

First are deliveries due in the middle of 2022. A price has not been confirmed.

Driver skill levels are not discussed, but perhaps it’s a car more suited to those with skill levels more akin to those exhibited by Seb Vettel than by Lance Stroll.