Aston Martin Racing – An overview
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Aston Martin Racing – An overview

Aston Martin Racing – An overview

By mid 2004, the official Aston Martin Racing website stated that the first works car since 1989 would be called the DBR9 - they must have visited this site as I had guessed the name in December 2003 - you heard it here first! The DBR9 was first shown to especially invited guests at Gaydon on the 4th November 2004 and was painted in similar colours that AM used in the 1950's - Aston Martin Racing Green with either yellow or red nose cone and roof rails.

Aston Martin Racing – An overview

Initially the plan was for three Aston Martin Racing Works teams (a true works team and two others) to compete in major international sports cars series. For these teams, a total of 12 Works cars were planned to be built (chassis numbers 1 to 12). With the exception of the full AMR works team, the others were to be independent teams each racing DBR9’s with the full factory support of Aston Martin Racing. In addition, upto another 20 DBR9’s were planned to be built for private teams and collectors.

The aluminium chassis is an ever so slightly modified version of that from the road car, together with it’s aluminium roof. Modifications just involve removal of unnecessary brackets and the removal of excess glue (to reduce weight – believe it or not) plus the addition of a still steel roll cage. The rest of the bodywork is carbon fibre and the whole car has a steel roll cage. You won’t be surprised to hear that the familiar V12 is expected to produce about 600 bhp and in excess of 700 Nm of tourque in dry sump form. The transmission is an xTrac six speed sequential unit is mounted in the gear axle. And stopping the lightweight 1100kg DBR9 is accomplished by 330mm carbon brakes and six pot Brembo callipers. The suspension is an uprated version of that on the road car with Koni dampers and Eibach springs. 18 inch Magnesium wheels are provided by OZ and tyres by Michelin to a maximum width of 14 inches. But the biggest difference between the road and race car is the power to weight ratio – the DBR9 has 550bhp per tonne – double that of the road car.

By 2006, in addition to the full AMR Works cars, AMR had attracted two works supported teams, BMS Scuderia Italia and Larbre Competition.

Also, cars have been sold to be run in the following private teams, Team Modena (initially run under Russian Age Racing and Cirtek), Jet Alliance (formally Race Alliance), Barwell Motorsport, Phoenix Racing and Gigawave Motorsport.

Full results for DBR9’s in competition can be found here http://www.astonmartinracing.com/eng/results

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