On screen and on the page, Las Vegas has been presented in many guises, each adding to the city’s enduring mythology. In Viva Las Vegas (1964), it glittered with possibility, as Elvis Presley played a singing race car driver determined to win a fictional Grand Prix set to run through the desert and along the Vegas Strip. By 1971, the city dissolved into a psychedelic fever dream as depicted in Hunter S. Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Steven Soderbergh’s slick 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven showcased the Bellagio, MGM Grand and Mirage at their most opulent and alluring, reintroducing casino glamour to a new generation of moviegoers. More recently, in the 2025 Academy Awards Best Picture winner Anora, the Strip shimmered once again – this time as a dreamlike backdrop for a fairytale, albeit fleeting, romance.
“It’s a place that many people have a relationship to, whether or not they have been there, because it looms so large as a symbol or idea,” says Alexandra Schwartz, co-host of The New Yorker Critics at Large podcast in an episode titled “The Irresistible Myth of Las Vegas”.
That relationship has evolved once again in recent years, as Las Vegas – always a city of reinvention – has recast itself as a serious sporting capital, with Formula 1® serving as its crown jewel event. Established in 2023 and confirmed through at least 2027, Las Vegas’s role as a Grand Prix host has already outlasted its short-lived 1981–82 run on a purpose-built track in the Caesars Palace car park, which failed to excite drivers or fans. Today’s race, executed on a much grander scale, has left a tangible mark on the city, generating US$934 million in economic activity in its second year and attracting more than 300,000 fans, quickly establishing itself as one of Las Vegas’s largest annual events.
Inspired by the racetrack and infused with Formula 1® technologies, the Aston Martin Valhalla looked right at home when it rolled into Nevada’s desert metropolis. Valhalla marks a transformational moment for Aston Martin, arriving as the marque’s first series production mid-engined supercar and first plug-in hybrid. And like the city of Las Vegas, Valhalla – named after the warrior’s paradise celebrated in ancient Norse mythology – conjures up its own legend.
Whether your idea of driving heaven is navigating the neon-lit Strip past dazzling fountains, venturing further into Nevada’s desert expanse to tackle the sweeping turns of Red Rock Canyon or pushing the limits of high-performance on Spring Mountain’s racetrack, Valhalla delivers an experience worthy of its mythic namesake.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. So goes the saying, which originated in 2003 as a marketing campaign by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and advertising agency R&R Partners. But while some moments are meant to stay hidden, the Valhalla demands to be seen.
