A victory in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans shows both the ultimate in speed and the high level of reliability of a car in the harshest conditions. Ever since he bought Aston Martin in late 1946, gearbox manufacturer David Brown has made it his goal to win one of the world's most legendary endurance races, that of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This happened as soon as he bought the rights to the Lagonda, and with it the plans for a six-cylinder engine with two overhead camshafts. This advanced for the time engine was one of Walter Owen Bentley's final designs and would form the basis of all Aston Martin's racing successes.
In the first half of the 1950s, Aston Martin raced its six-cylinder sports cars, winning mostly in its class, but still outperforming its British rivals such as Jaguar and Italians such as Ferrari and Maserati in overall victories. The three-litre DB3S model, introduced in 1953, proved to be a very capable racer, scoring many victories, including an incredible 1-2 win in 1955 at the Silverstone circuit in the Unlimited Sportscar class. The DB3S was raced by both factory drivers and many privateers, culminating in a second place finish with drivers Peter Collins and Paul Frère in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955.
Work on the new car began in early 1956. An entirely new spaceframe-type chassis was designed by chief designer Ted Cutting. The new chassis proved to be stiffer and much lighter by 23kg than that of the DB3S. Both the front and rear suspensions were carried over unchanged from the latest specification DB3S, as were the Lockheed disc brakes. The first car produced, the DBR1/1, was fitted with the 2.5 litre twin-cam engine and a gearbox built by David Brown, transversely mounted to keep the centre of gravity within the wheelbase.
Driven by Tony Brooks and Reg Parnell, the DBR1 made its debut in 1956 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unable to compete against much more powerful competition, the new car was eventually retired with engine trouble. This remained the DBR1's only retirement for the 1956 season. The end of 1956 also marked a new era for Aston Martin as John Wyer was appointed general manager of the company and Reg Parnell as race director. Under their leadership development continued throughout the winter. With various changes made, the 2.5-litre DBR1/1 engine raced in the first two races for the 1957 season, taking second place for two consecutive races.
The winning formula was found when an advanced version of the three-litre engine from the latest version of the DB3S was fitted. Two DBR1/2s with the new engines participated in the Belgian Grand Prix in May 1957. The DBR1/2 driven by Tony Brooks scored the car's first victory. In his hands the DBR1/2 scored two more victories that season, in the Nürburgring 1000 km race and again in Belgium in a three-hour endurance race. To compete with the more powerful cars in sprint races, the 3.7-litre DBR2 was developed. With this car Roy Salvadori scored a victory in a sports car race at Silverstone in the over 1500cc class. Although 1957 proved to be quite successful for Aston Martin, the coveted victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was still a long way off. Ironically, one of the DBR1's weak points was David Brown's CG537 gearbox. A sudden change in regulations at the end of the 1957 season limiting displacement to 3 litres for sports prototypes suited the DBR1 perfectly. These changes left behind Jaguar's D-Types, Maserati's 450S and the Lister-Jaguar Special. Already in financial trouble, Maserati announced its complete withdrawal from racing, leaving Ferrari as the only serious competitor.
With high hopes and an extra DBR1 for the factory entry, Aston Martin entered the 1958 season with high hopes. With Le Mans being the sole focus, the team did not enter any races before that one in June. Three weeks before the big race, the team took part in the 1000 Kilometre Nürburgring race, testing. As in the previous season, the DBR1 excelled at the Nordschleife, with Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham taking the chequered flag first with the updated DBR1/3, with Moss also being a fairly successful driver in non-championship races with the DBR2. At Le Mans the car's weakness was once again evident, with neither car finishing, leaving victory to Ferrari. Second place went to brothers Peter & Graham Whitehead driving an older Aston Martin, the DBR3S. Moss and Brooks won the Tourist Trophy in the DBR1/2. These results were enough for Aston Martin to secure second place in the Manufacturers' Championship behind Ferrari. David Brown and his team were not ready to give up and continued to work on the DBR1.
Only one DBR1/1 was allowed to race in the season leading up to the 1959 Le Mans race, as Aston Martin was busy designing an entirely new car for the new Formula 1 championship season. It was in this car that Moss won the company's third consecutive 1000 Kilometre Nürburgring victory in one of the best races of his career. Aston Martin built a total of four chassis. Three for the factory team and one for long-time customer Graham Whitehead. With a strong three-car presence, the team competed at Le Mans, with the cars equipped with a slightly revised engine with a changed diameter and stroke. Moss' DBR1/3 was fitted with a specially developed high-compression engine to build pace in the early hours of the race, forcing the competition to push their cars. By the time Moss's DBR1 decided to deliver spirit, this clever tactic had already led to two retirements for the powerful Ferrari team. Following the retirement of the third Ferrari car, Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby finished first in the DBR1/2, followed by Maurice Trintingant and Paul Frere in the DBR1/4. David Brown had achieved his coveted goal of winning Le Mans and Aston Martin was now only two points behind Ferrari in the World Championship, which was a new challenge for the rest of the season. Shelby, Fairman and Moss drove the DBR1/2 to win the Tourist Trophy and with the help of a fourth place finish for the DBR1/4 of Trintingant and Frere, Aston Martin were now World Champions!
With the evolution of the engine placement in the centre, modern sports cars and single-seaters quickly became obsolete. Unwilling to make the corresponding investment for the Aston Martin team to design and build new racing cars , the company retired from racing. With the DB4 GT, Aston Martin gave its customers a car capable of taking on Ferrari in GT racing, but its success was very limited. Long after the David Brown period, in the 1980s, Aston Martin with sports cars tried unsuccessfully to dominate Le Mans again. John Wyer won more Le Mans victories with the Gulf GT40 and Mirage, making him one of the most successful managers in Le Mans history.
