Despite the obvious setback, three customer DB3S coupes were subsequently constructed (DB3S/113, DB3S/119 and DB3S/120). Since DB3S/113 has received an open body a few years back (the fixedhead body has been retained I have been told), the remaining two cars are an extreme rarity. The example featured on this page, DB3S/120, is sometimes to be seen in competitive racing and was photographed both at Brands Hatch (AMOC meeting) and Donnington Park (VSCC meeting) during 2002. It has also more recently been photographed during the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegence where the car was entered into the Aston Martin Centenary Class.

One point of interest is that the fixedhead coupe have retained the rear fins that were used on the first few works DB3S cars, particularly chassis DB3S/1 and DB3S/2.

Most of these cars have been created from donor DBS with the 6 cylinder engines which for many years have been an inexpensive starting point for such projects. As the value of the DBS has subsequently risen, most replicas now often have no actual Aston Martin parts at all. 

The cars featured here all have an Aston Martin engine and maybe other elements of the donor car’s running gear. 

The pair of Aston Martin DBR9’s started from the front row of the grid and never lost the lead of the 3 hour race despite strong opposition from a trio of Maserati MC12 GT1’s. Car 28 (David Brabham, Darren Turner), with the yellow nose band led for most of the race but with just 15 minutes to go, red nosed car 29 (Peter Cox, Pedro Lamy) was slightly quicker and took the lead to win the race with a gap of just 1.9 seconds. The third place Maserati was only 9 seconds behind after 134 laps.

Since the FIA GT championship is only open to private non-works teams, AMR did not score points within the championship despite winning the race.

Friday, the eve of the race, 17/6/2005

There is no running of the cars on the Friday but plenty to see and do. The pit lane is open to all allowing a close view of the cars in their pit garages, mechanics making last minute adjustments. Later, in the town itself is the Parade des Pilots where Tomas Enge receives the prize for setting pole in the GT1 class driving car #58 with a time of 3.485, more than 6 seconds quicker than the 3.55 anticipated by the ACO for the GT1 cars.

Saturday – the cars assemble on the grid

The lead up to the race is unforgettable. The drivers pose for pictures with the glamour girls. But the closed DBR9’s begin to heat up inside even before the engines are started and the pit crew try to cool them by fanning the doors.

Saturday 4pm and the 24 hour race begins

The main competition to the AMR team came from the factory Corvette team using the new for 2005 C6.R although the Ferrari 550’s could not be ignored. Car #58 started from pole position in class but sadly lost the lead after Darren Turner, who took the first stint, was given two stop-go penalties for cutting corners. By the end of the 2nd hour, the works DBR9’s were 1st and 4th in class. By the sixth hour, a Corvette and #59 were in a tight tussle for the lead. The DBR9 drivers were suffering from extreme heat build up within the cars in part but not totally due to the very warm weather. By the 7th hour, the lead Aston had pulled out the lead to 60 seconds which extended overnight to 90.

Midnight in the Pits

Sunday Morning

Everything was going well by the next morning although at midday, a Corvette was back in the lead although both Astons were still running well. They had been delayed by a puncture  (#59) and a broken splitter on #58, costing it the lead and pushing it down to 4th place. Sadly with just 90 minutes to go, both cars experienced trouble. Car #58, driven by Tomas Enge, Peter Kox and Pedro Lamy succumbed to a fuel related problem, initially thought to be low fuel although later believed to have been a faulty fuel pump.

Almost simultaneously, car #59 experienced a problem with its radiator with less than ninety minutes to go and was pulled into the pit garage. Hasty repairs were made to allow Stephane to complete the final stint up to the chequered flag and so take third in the GT1 class and ninth overall, having completed 333 laps.

Sunday 4pm and the flag falls to end the race

David Brabham, Darren Turner, Stephane Sarrazin collect their third place trophies, the first time that an Aston Martin team has had a podium at Le Mans since 1977 when RHAM/1 achieved a 3rd in class.

Whilst the DBRS9 was effectively based on the road car DB9, it has many features of the full GT1 spec DBR9. The two cars have similar chassis, carbon bodywork and suspension lay-out, and the engine and drivetrain have been developed by the same team of engineers. The 5.9 litre engine was an uprated version of that fitted to the road car with power upto a very useful 550bhp. But the most significant difference from the road car was that the kerb weight was down to just 1280kg, a massive 480kg weight loss. This was mostly due to the extensive use of carbon composites for body panels and interior trim and also polycarbonate side windows. Common to all three cars is the bonded aluminium tub and aluminium roof panel. At the time of introduction, it was anticipated that the DBRS9 would hit 60 mph at less than 4 seconds and 100 mph in under 9.

The transmission fitted was a more conventional six speed manual with floor mounted H pattern shift and shorter gear ratios. As an option, a six speed sequential could also be fitted. The suspension was been lowered and the double wishbone suspension has been rose jointed and fitted with two-way adjustable Koni dampers and stiffened competition springs.

Front brakes were huge 380mm steel discs with Brembo six piston callipers, the rears were 313mm with four pistons but these could be replaced with carbon brakes as an option. Another option was a passenger seat so the owner/driver can impress a potential race sponsor.

By late November 2005, the first DBRS9 had completed over 3000Km of testing, mostly at the hands of Darren Turner, AMR works driver. During that time, it reached the required level of performance for it to compete in the FIA GT3 class.

• DBRS9 – Barwell Motorsport DBRS9
• DBRS9 – BMS Scuderia Italia
• DBRS9 – Autosport Designs
• DBRS9 – Hexis Racing
• DBRS9 – Racing for Belgium

At introduction, the price of the DBRS9 was £175,000 plus options plus taxes which was an awful lot less expensive than the £450,000  plus taxes needed at the time for a DBR9. It’s was also significantly cheaper than a DB4GT. The production cars were built by Prodrive at the AMR facility at Banbury with the first customers taking delivery just before Christmas 2005.

When production of the DBRS9 ended during 2008, it is believed that 28 cars had been completed, one testing and development prototype (DBRS/X1), one works car (DBRS9/101) and 26 customer cars (DBRS9/1 to /26). There is some suspicion that the car unveiled at Le Mans in 2005, DBRS9/101 and the development prototype, DBRS9/X1 may be one and the same car as, following the Le Mans debut, the /101 has not been seen in public again. Aston Martin Racing replaced the DBRS9 with the V12 Vantage GT3 in 2012.

Aston Martin Racing contracted Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz for the 2008 season. All three were placed with Charouz Racing Systems and raced the Michelin-shod Lola/Aston Martin at Le Mans and in the Le Mans Series.

During the 2009 season, the car transferred to the Swiss outfit, Speedy Racing Team Sebah and carried the red livery of Rebellion Racing

The bonded aluminium chassis for the GT2 came directly from the road car although with the addition of an aerospace spec steel roll cage to FIA regulations. The aluminium roof panel was taken straight from the road car too but all the rest of the bodywork was made of lightweight carbonfibre. This came with an advanced aerodynamic package with carbon fibre splitter, flat floor and diffuser, and a carbon fibre rear wing designed using computational fluid dynamics.

The prototype car, chassis /X2 was finished in Gulf Racing Blue with orange highlights although without true sponsorship, was first seen in 2008. And although the car was a prototype, it has occasionally been ‘borrowed’ by private customer teams considering purchase in occasional races. In 2013, it was ‘dressed up’ to later GTE spec and displayed at the 2013 Aston Martin Centenary Celebration, Kensington Palace.

Drayson Racing began running chassis 001 in the 2008 American Le Mans Series and then entered the second chassis, 002 into the GT2 class at Le Mans in 2009.

Including the prototype, X/2, a total of 10 GT2’s were built before the car was replaced by the improved V8 Vantage GTE.

 www.racingforbelgium.be

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