Aston Martin DBR1

David Brown acquired Aston Martin in 1947, then purchased Lagonda the same year, gaining access to a straight-six engine design that would underpin the competition programme. The racing operation was managed by John Wyer, who became one of the most respected team managers in British motorsport. The works team competed under the name David Brown Racing Department throughout the decade.

Chief designer Ted Cutting was responsible for the series of factory sports racing cars: the DB3 was superseded by the DB3S in the early 1950s, and the DB3S in turn by the purpose-built DBR1 from 1956 onward. The DB3S, using a 2.9-litre six-cylinder engine in a new lighter chassis, gave the works team its first significant results at international level, including third at the 1953 Le Mans.

For 1956, Cutting designed the DBR1 as a clean-sheet sports racer, no longer constrained by road-car requirements. The car used a new alloy racing engine initially of 2.5-litres, enlarged to 3.0-litres for 1957, and featured a much lower, more aerodynamic body evolved from the DB3S shape. Total production amounted to five works chassis.

The DBR1 scored its first major result at the 1957 1000km Nürburgring, where Tony Brooks and Noël Cunningham-Reid took an outright victory against the full works strength of Ferrari and Maserati. This result, achieved against Ferrari 335S and Maserati 450S entries driven by Peter Collins, Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss, and Juan Manuel Fangio, established the DBR1 as a genuine world-class competitor.

The 1958 season brought further promise: Moss and Jack Brabham won the 1000km Nürburgring again in DBR1/3, and a 1-2-3 at the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood gave the team valuable championship points, though Ferrari had already secured the title by declining to enter that round.

The 1959 season brought Aston Martin its greatest achievement. The team won the 1000km Nürburgring for the third consecutive year, with Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman driving. At Le Mans, DBR1/2, driven by Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori, won the 24 Hours outright — Aston Martin's only overall victory at the circuit — with DBR1/4 driven by Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frère finishing second. The next classified finisher was 25 laps behind.

The World Sports Car Championship title came down to the final round, the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood. When DBR1/3 caught fire during a refuelling stop while leading, the situation looked precarious. Privateer Graham Whitehead, who had purchased DBR1/5 as the only customer chassis sold during the works era, withdrew his car so that the Aston Martin team could use his pit stall and continue fuelling its remaining entries. Moss took over and secured victory, giving Aston Martin the championship. The team scored 24 net points to Ferrari's 18.

The company attempted to transfer its sports car success to Formula One with the DBR4 and DBR5 in 1959 and 1960. Neither car proved competitive and neither scored World Championship points. David Brown concluded the single-seater effort after two seasons.

With the championship and Le Mans title secured in 1959, David Brown decided to close the David Brown Racing Department and sell off the works DBR1s to private customers. The decision marked the end of one of the most admired factory racing programmes in British history. The 1959 Le Mans win with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori remains the definitive achievement of the team, and the original winning car, DBR1/2, sold in August 2017 for a then-world record price for a British-made car of $22,555,000.