Red Bull has never been subtle. This is the company that turned energy drinks into a Formula One dynasty and then decided that wasn’t ambitious enough. Now it’s building a hypercar. Not a “road car with track capability” hypercar, mind you, but a full-blown, track-only projectile designed with one overriding objective: go very, very fast.
We first saw the RB17 back in July 2024, a tantalizing preview of Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ first crack at a customer car. Today, the covers come off the finalized design ahead of its on-sale debut later this year—and the production-spec RB17 looks even more focused, more aggressive, and somehow more unhinged than the prototype that preceded it.
If the original RB17 hinted at Formula One DNA, the finished version shouts it through a carbon-fiber megaphone.
The front end is cleaner than before, but don’t mistake restraint for friendliness. Slim LED headlights are neatly integrated into sharply sculpted bodywork, and every surface appears to exist solely to manage airflow. There’s no decorative fluff here, no “design for design’s sake.” The RB17’s nose looks like it was shaped in a wind tunnel because, well, it probably was.
Move along the side profile and things get even more serious. Deep channels slice through the carbon bodywork, guiding air rearward toward massive cooling zones. The roof-mounted intake feeds the mid-mounted engine directly, while a towering central fin—clearly inspired by endurance racing prototypes—anchors the whole thing visually and aerodynamically. It’s the kind of fin that suggests the RB17 would feel right at home blasting down the Mulsanne Straight at 3 a.m.
Despite being strictly a track car, the RB17 does check a few boxes typically reserved for road-going hypercars. It has mirrors. It has a windshield wiper. Those details may sound mundane, but they signal something important: this isn’t a rolling concept or a design exercise. What you’re looking at is very close to what customers will actually receive.
Open the cockpit, and any lingering doubt disappears.
Red Bull has gone all-in on race-car minimalism. There are no touchscreens, no glossy infotainment panels, and no distractions masquerading as luxury. Instead, the cockpit is dominated by physical controls—real buttons, real switches, the good stuff. The seating position, steering wheel, and sightlines were all designed with lap times as the primary metric, not comfort on a cross-country drive that will never happen.
And then there’s the engine. Oh yes, the engine.
At the heart of the RB17 sits a naturally aspirated 4.5-liter V-10 developed by Cosworth, an engine builder with a résumé that reads like a greatest-hits album of motorsport. This one revs to a spine-tingling 15,000 rpm and produces roughly 1,000 horsepower on its own. An electric motor adds another 200 hp, bringing total output to a deeply unnecessary—and deeply wonderful—1,200 horsepower.
Power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox, backed up by a hydraulically locking active limited-slip differential. Reverse gear? That’s handled by the hybrid system, because of course it is. Everything about this drivetrain screams purpose, efficiency, and total disregard for moderation.
Red Bull plans to build just 50 examples of the RB17, ensuring exclusivity is baked in from the start. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but let’s not kid ourselves—this is a well-over-seven-figure proposition aimed at collectors who already have garages full of rare machinery and still want something that feels truly special.
The RB17 is currently undergoing final testing, which suggests production is imminent. When it does arrive, it won’t be street legal, it won’t be practical, and it definitely won’t be subtle. But it will be fast in a way that feels almost rebellious in today’s era of downsized engines and digital everything.
Red Bull didn’t just build a hypercar. It built a statement—one that revs to 15,000 rpm and dares the rest of the automotive world to keep up.
Source: Red Bull Advanced Technologies via Top Gear