The history of Aston Martin in the premier class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

In 2025, Aston Martin will arrive in the Hypercar category as well as in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) that in IMSA. This announcement will mark the first time that a prototype bearing the winged logo will be entered in the premier category of 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2011.

The presence of an Aston Martin at the 24 Hours of Le Mans dates back to 1928. Two cars are lined up for Cyril Paul-Jack Bezzant and Augusto Cesare Bertelli-George Eyston, who will not manage to see the finish. Progress did not take long, because Gus Bertelli-Maurice Harvey entered the top 5 (5th) in 1931, then Charlie Martin-Charles Brackenbury climbed onto the Sarthe podium in 1935 (3rd) at the wheel of the Aston Martin Ulster.

But the golden decade, the one that remains in the memory of enthusiasts of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Aston Martin, arrived in 1951. The cars painted in British Racing Green were first GTs, like the DB2, then convertible sports cars. in line with the Classic Ferrari for sale TestaRossa. It is precisely against the red cars that Aston Martin breaks its teeth. In 1955, 1956 and 1958, the British brand narrowly failed to reach second place.

The team's manager, Reg Parnell, knew that another failure in 1959 would have disastrous consequences, both for Aston Martin's reputation and for his credibility at the head of the team. He launched the development of the DBR1 (for David Brown Engineering Limited), a magnificent creation with voluptuous curves.

With Le Mans in mind, we worked a lot on aerodynamics. Front fenders covering the wheels more, plastic passenger seat cover, rear part of the body more in line with the height of the windshield, removable flanges on the rear wheels: the work in the wind tunnel has borne fruit, saving valuable kilometers/hour in the Hunaudières. We have also improved the 6-liter in-line 3.0-cylinder, available in two versions. On the No. 4, Moss-Fairman are powered by a 4-stage block, more powerful (255 hp) but less reliable than the 7 stages (240 hp) assigned to the No. 5 of Shelby-Salvadori and the No. 6 of Trintignant-Frère.

If these two crews must follow a strict schedule, Moss-Fairman can be content to respect the maximum revs, Parnell's strategy being to send Moss to play spoilsport in the middle of the three Ferrari Testa Rossas, who start as big favorites . That of Dan Gurney is also the fastest in testing at 4'03''3 compared to 4'10''8 for Moss. Anecdotal times, since the starting grid is still made up according to engine sizes. Taking his role as hare to heart, Moss escaped at the head of the race, before being overtaken on the 17th lap by Jean Behra's Ferrari, which stalled at the start.

From the 4th hour, Allison-Da Silva Ramos' Ferrari suffered a gearbox failure (at Ferrari, it's always the gearbox that breaks, never the engine!). Three hours later, Moss-Fairman were eliminated by a broken valve, having fulfilled their role. Behra-Gurney lead the way until the 6th hour, before being betrayed by their mechanics during the night. Ferrari can only count on Gendebien-Hill, sandwiched between the two remaining Astons. The Reds regained the lead in the 11th hour, when Salvadori stopped prematurely with a strong vibration.

The schedule not being respected, the authoritarian Parnell sends his driver back onto the track, but he has to return again: the left rear Avon tire is on the canvas! More powerful, the Ferrari proved untouchable on a regular basis but, shortly before noon, it began to suffer from the heat. A porous cylinder head was the cause and, at the 20th hour, the leading car retired. Thanks to perfect preparation and strategy, Aston Martin is heading not only towards the much-desired victory, but towards a double, Shelby-Salvadori preceding by 10 km, Trintignant-Frère who respected the instructions.

The race, however, was not a walk in the park for the winners: a victim of colic, Shelby only swallowed Coca-Cola during the event, while Salvadori's feet burned from the proximity of the exhaust. What do these inconveniences matter, since this victory is a consecration for these two drivers, for David Brown and John Wyer, who will subsequently make the heyday of Ford, Mirage and Porsche.

A few months later, David Brown announced the end of the DBR1 program, which continued to shine in the hands of private teams. This is how in 1960, Roy Salvadori finished 3rd at Le Mans at Border Reivers in the company of the young Jim Clark.

Aston Martin AMR1, fleeting failure

You had to wait until the end of the 1980s for an Aston Martin to aim for victory in the general classification at Le Mans. Ecurie Scotland is joining forces with Newport manufacturer Pagnell to create a Group C. It will be the short-lived AMR1. The prototype is equipped with a 8-liter V6.0 engine derived from the production Aston Martin Virage.

It won't be a real success. Due to a lack of preparation, the attempt to take two chassis to Le Mans in 1989 went wrong. Despite the presence of a big name like Brian Redman, the #1 AMR18 cannot keep up with the pace of the Jaguars, Sauber-Mercedes Benz and other Porsches. She placed 11th (Redman being associated with Michael Roe and Costas Los), while David Leslie, Ray Mallock and David Sears retired following multiple electrical problems. Even in pure speed, the Aston Martin AMR1 was dropped, with 32nd and 40th places in qualifying practice out of a total of 56 cars entered.

Despite progress shown in the second half of the season in the World Championship, the program was stopped at the end of the year. The reason ? Ford having bought Aston Martin in 1987 then Jaguar two years later, the Oval brand found itself with two brands in Group C, which was counterproductive. Naturally, Jaguar is preserved because of its performances (victory in 1988 at Le Mans).

Lola-Aston Martin, the symphony

In 2009, Aston Martin Racing, under the supervision of David Richards at Prodrive, took the plunge into LM P1. Lola provides the chassis, and Prodrive only has to use the melodious naturally aspirated V12 already equipping the DBR9 in the GT1 class. Add to that a very beautiful Gulf livery and you obtain one of the most elegant LM P1s of the beginning of the century.

Not only is the Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 sleek, but it performs! Fourth behind the untouchables Peugeot and Audi diesels in 2009 (Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mücke), she then finished sixth in 2010 (Harold Primat, Stefan Mücke, Adrian Fernandez).

It will be different for the Aston Martin AMR-One, a total oven. Heavy, with a difficult physique, slow and reluctant because of a 6-liter turbocharged in-line 2.0-cylinder engine, it is 20 seconds behind the pole position at Le Mans in 2011! The failure is inevitable in the race. At 15:30 p.m., the two machines entered had already given up, their engines out of order.