Ferrari returning to the Le Mans 24 Hours was arguably the biggest motorsport story of 2021, while the famous Italian marque’s victory in the French classic will probably stand as this year’s feel-good moment. This week’s Aston Martin announcement should be viewed in a similar way.
For sportscar fans, Aston Martin’s comeback is a big deal and – whisper it – endurance competition is the British manufacturer’s true motorsport home. The Formula 1 team has certainly improved and added some much-needed spice to this season, but Aston Martin’s time at the pinnacle of the single-seater ladder still stands at just four seasons: 1959 and 2021-23, aside from a brief grand prix presence between the World Wars.
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Your writer grew up attending Aston Martin Owners Club meetings and, while the sight and sound of a DBR4 GP car certainly made an impression, it was the exception that proved the rule. Sports-racers and GTs provided the mainstay of the exotic machinery on show.
In long-distance racing, Aston Martin has a rich, albeit at times colourful, history. For British fans, only Jaguar is as big a name and it doesn’t have such a long story at the Circuit de la Sarthe, even though it has seven overall wins to Aston’s one.
For many years Aston Martin was a force in the smaller-engined classes before overall victories became a possibility. The 1.5-litre Ulster often punched above its weight and managed third at Le Mans in 1935, the same year future sister company Lagonda pulled off a surprise overall victory against Alfa Romeo.
An often-forgotten long-distance success came at the 1948 Spa 24 Hours, when Jock Horsfall – whose name lives on thanks to AMOC’s long-standing St John Horsfall Trophy – and Leslie Johnson won the first post-Second World War edition of the event in a 2-Litre Sports.
That victory came shortly after a key moment in the company’s history. Industrialist David Brown had just bought Aston Martin (and Lagonda) and made a concerted effort in endurance competition in the 1950s. It’s this period from which the most legendary Aston Martin racers come.
Source: Autosport