Aston Martin will returned to international motor sport during 2005 with the DBR9. The car was shown to a selected audience for the first time on 4th November 2004 at Aston Martin’s headquarters at Gaydon in the UK. An intensive testing programme now followed prior to the DBR9’s debut race scheduled for the 12 hours of Sebring, Florida, in March 2005.
Aston Martin Racing will run two cars at Sebring and then move to Europe to prepare for the Le Mans 24 hours in June 2005. This will mark Aston Martin’s return to the race which was won outright in 1959 with Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby. In recognition of this, the DBR9 will follow the Le Mans-winning DBR1 and Works DB3S and carry the same green and yellow livery as the cars which dominated sports car racing in the late 1950s.
A new division called Aston Martin Racing has been created in a partnership with Prodrive, one of the world’s leading motor sport and automotive technology specialists. Prodrive will be responsible for Aston Martin Racing’s global operations and will play a pivotal role in the plans to see a competitive Aston Martin program return to the world sports car series.
Aston Martin Racing will build 12 Works cars, which will be run by three Works teams in the major international GT series. A limited run of only 20 racing cars, prepared to the same specification, will also be built and made available to selected customers to race or keep in private collections.
The DBR9 GT racing car is based on the latest Aston Martin production sports car – the DB9 – but is significantly modified for competition use. The DB9’s bonded-aluminium body architecture is shared with the DBR9 and provides both with a lightweight rigid chassis. The race engine uses the same aluminium cylinder block and head as the DB9’s 450bhp 6-litre V12 unit, but with racing modification it is expected to produce in the region of 600bhp.
The DB9’s double wishbone suspension configuration is retained on the DBR9, but features uprated components and a revised geometry for racing purposes. Formula One style carbon brakes are fitted front and rear and a competition, six-speed sequential gearbox is mounted at the rear axle.
The DBR9 was styled by Aston Martin Racing’s own design team who made extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to optimise the aerodynamics before producing the final body surface. The panels are hand made from carbon-fibre composite, helping the car to meet its 1,100kg minimum weight and giving it a power to weight ratio of 550bhp per tonne – more than double that of the road car.
| type | Racing Car |
| built at | Banbury, England |
| coachbuilder | Hydro Aluminium |
| engineers | Ian Ludgate, George Howard-Chappell |
| production | 32 |
| price $ | $ 900,000 |
| engine | 60º Aluminum V12 w/Inconel Exhaust, Pectel ECU, |
| position | Front, Longitudinal |
| aspiration | Natural |
| block material | Aluminum |
| valvetrain | DOHC, 4 Valves per Cyl |
| fuel feed | Magneti Marelli Sequential Injection |
| bore | 94 mm / 3.7 in |
| power | 447.4 kw / 600 bhp @ 6500 rpm |
| bhp/weight | 512.82 bhp per tonne |
| torque | 650 nm / 479.4 ft lbs @ 5500 rpm |
| body / frame | Carbon Fiber Body over Bonded Aluminum Chassis |
| driven wheels | RWD w/TCS |
| wheel type | OZ Forged Magnesium |
| front brakes | Brembo Carbon Discs w/6-Piston Brembo Calipers |
| rear brakes | Brembo Carbon Discs w/6-Piston Brembo Calipers |
| front wheels | F 45.7 x 31.8 cm / 18 x 12.5 in |
| rear wheels | R 45.7 x 33.0 cm / 18 x 13 in |
| f suspension | Double Wishbones w/Koni 2812 Dampers, Eibach Springs |
| r suspension | Double Wishbones w/Koni 2812 Dampers, Eibach Springs |
| curb weight | 1170 kg / 2579 lbs |
| wheelbase | 2741 mm / 107.9 in |
| length | 4750 mm / 187.7 in |
| width | 1979 mm / 77.9 in |
| height | 1194 mm / 47.0 in |
| transmission | Xtrac Speed Sequential |
| 0 – 60 mph | ~3.6 seconds |
| key drivers | Frédéric Makowiecki, Philippe Dumas |
| class victories | 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours |
