Aston Martin ready to steal Audi's crown at Le Mans

[Elmo187]

Source: Motor Authority

In 1959, racing legend Carroll Shelby along with Roy Salvadori raced to overall victory at Le Mans in an Aston Martin DBR1, followed by another DBR1 in second place - both cars 25 laps ahead of third place. This year, marking the 50th anniversary of that feat, Aston Martin will field two works teams in the LMP1 class in an attempt to repeat the title grab.

Aston Martin's history has never been far from the race track. Despite the luxurious and elite nature of the company's road cars, the real beating heart at Aston has been speed, and the struggle for victory.

“Racing has been, and still is at the heart of Aston Martin," said Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez. "Our cars today are subtle, elegant and handcrafted but they still have the genes for competition. I am happy that we have found partners who, with their support, will enable us to compete at the highest level of endurance racing. We will put all our heart and skill behind this project to demonstrate the essence of Aston Martin: Power Beauty and Soul.”

The LMP1 cars headed to Le Mans for the 2009 race will be liveried in Gulf Oil colors of blue and orange, just as the 2008 GT1 cars were. Under the colorful paintjob, a 2008 Charouz Racing System Lola will provide the chassis with power coming from a production-based Aston Martin V12 engine - the same engine drove the DBR9 to a GT1 title at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008.

Aston Martin chairman David Richards, who also chairs the racing outfit ProDrive, cautions that much work still lies ahead. "While we have won the GT1 class for the last two years," said Richards, "competing against the proven speed and endurance of the diesel-powered cars with all their years of winning the prototype class, will be a massive undertaking. Nonetheless, I see this as a great opportunity to showcase the ingenuity of British engineering talent.”

The momentous race will be held over a 24-hour period during the weekend of June 13-14, 2009 at Le Mans, France.

Audi, i'd be seriously scared shitless right now if i were you. the last 2 years, Aston has absolutely raped the Corvettes in GT1. the Corvettes that USED to be on top of the GT1 class.

[S POWRD]

Do you have any specs of the R15 yet? I don't know if they're released, but I do know that Audi's got some tricks up their sleeve.

[Elmo187]

Do you have any specs of the R15 yet? I don't know if they're released, but I do know that Audi's got some tricks up their sleeve.

no, sorry. i do know its going to use the same twin turbo diesel 6.0L V12 from the current R10, don't know if its going to get more power though. i do also know its going to be a closed cockpit. i'm pretty sure all specs of the R15 will be released 1 or 2 weeks ahead of Sebring since they're debuting the R15 at that race.

[S POWRD]

OK, so I was making sure that there wasn't anything out yet. Looks like you know about as much as I do. I'm pumped to see it. I wonder is ALMS will see it at all?

[Elmo187]

OK, so I was making sure that there wasn't anything out yet. Looks like you know about as much as I do. I'm pumped to see it. I wonder is ALMS will see it at all?

it'll be at the endurance races throughout the year (Sebring 12, LeMans 24, Petit LeMan). i heard something that if they win the Sebring 12, they might just do the whole ALMS season.

[Elmo187]

Source: AutoBlog

Given its relatively small current model line, you'd be forgiven for categorizing Aston Martin as a small automaker. But the British sportscar-maker is one of the busiest in the business. As if developing the new Rapide four-door coupe didn't demand enough resources from a company that recently went independent after years under the Ford umbrella, Aston rolled into Geneva with the new V12 Vantage, DBS Volante and One-77, while reviving its Lagonda marque with a new crossover concept. Oh, and while they were at it, they redesigned London's famous double-decker city bus.

With that much going on, most other automakers would have scrapped their racing programs - in fact, many have, and with less to show for it - but at Aston's headquarters in Gaydon, England, it's full steam ahead. Not only have they developed new GT2 and GT4 versions of the V8 Vantage, but after dabbling their toes in the proverbial waters last year with partner Charouz Racing to admirable effect, they're speeding head-first into the top-level Le Mans Prototype (LMP1) category to dice it up with Audi and Peugeot in pursuit of an overall Le Mans win this year, 50 years since Aston Martin's historic victory at La Sarthe in 1959.

To that end, Aston participated in the Le Mans Series group test at the Paul Ricard track in France, opened to the public for the first time in ten years as 3,500 spectators got a view of Aston's new challenger for the first time. With a Lola chassis and V12 engine from the DBR9 (which the works team won't be fielding this year while they focus on LMP1), the new car looks the business in retro Gulf orange and blue livery and bearing the numbers 007 and 009. We'll just have to stay tuned to see if Aston and racing partner Prodrive, both under the direction of David Richards, can translate their expertise from the GT1 category into overall victory.