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| Aston Martin DB3S Team Cars (1953 - 1956) |
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In the Winter of 1952-3, the decision was made to develop a replacement for the
heavy and underpowered DB3. The 'Willie' Watson designed DB3S brought more power
from the 2.9 litre straight six engine (initially 182bhp in the works cars, but eventually upto 240bhp) with less
weight (down by 75Kg). The car was then clothed in the fabulous Frank Freely
designed body. There were three distinct body styles of the DB3S, the first of
which is very similar to that of DB3/4 shown on the DB3
page with a large 'egg crate' style grille. The second body style
is well illustrated by the production cars,
which features a more DB Mark 3 like grille and is sometimes referred to as the
'gothic arch' style body. And the third style is shown here
and featured a new oval
nose with faired in headlamps and the fitting of front disc brakes which requires
the characteristic offset wheel rims.
In total, 30 cars were built, 10 were works cars, the remainder were sold to customers who wished to go racing. |
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Arguably the most successful of the works DB3S cars, this is chassis number 6. Initially the car was built with a coupe body (see DB3S Coupe). Unfortunately it crashed during the 1954 Le Mans race and the original body was destroyed. After being rebuilt for the 1955 season with open bodywork, the car came in 2nd at Le Mans. After being sold off by the factory, the car again achieved 2nd place at Le Mans in 1958 when owned by the Whitehead brothers. | ||
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Chassis number 7, and sister car to number 6 above. Again originally built as a coupe and similarly crash at Le Mans in 1954. Also rebuilt with open bodywork for the 1955 season. After being sold off by the works following the 1956 season, DB3S/7 has continued competing in private hands. |
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Although 1956 also saw the introduction of the DBR1, the DB3S still also represented Aston Martin in major competitions. This is chassis number 9, together with number 10 were two new team cars for the year. Both cars feature an aerodynamic headrest not seen on earlier cars. At Le Mans in 1956, the car finished 2nd overall in the hands of Stirling Moss and Peter Collins and remained a team car for the following year also. After many years in Australia, it is now back in the UK. |
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| This car pictured below is chassis number 10 built for the 1956 season, the penultimate team car featuring the new style nose with faired in headlamps plus a streamlined head rest. Unfortunately it crashed out of the 1956 Le Mans 24 hour race. At one time the car was owned by Peter Livanos, who also owned AML during the mid 1980's. | |||
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Although this car, chassis number 11, was built to full team car specifications in 1957, it was never actually run by the factory. Its early competitive showing was in the US and Australia, though thankfully for me, it's now seen regularly in the UK at AMOC and similar classic car events. | ||
| The DB3S works cars were entered for races 35 times. The results speak for themselves - 15 first places, 13 second places and 7 third places. But an outright victory at Le Mans eluded AML owner, David Brown. | |||
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| Page Updated Mittwoch Juli 09, 2008 |
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