Aston Martin has long chased success at Le Mans. Time with LM10, DB3S and DBR9 teaches us how nine decades of experience has informed today’s incredible Valkyrie hypercar
Words James Page Photography Tom Shaxson / Fiskens
Even though we can’t see it, we can hear it – the unsilenced V12 howl of an Aston Martin DBR9 ringing out across the wide-open spaces of a disused airfield. Eventually the sound fades and the car peels off the test track and back into view, onto the wide runway that leads up to our assembly area, but the driver has no intention of covering those few hundred metres at a gentle cruise. Instead, he buries the throttle again and runs it up through second gear, then third, then fourth. With headlamps ablaze and a rooster-tail of dust being kicked up behind, it’s genuinely an awe-inspiring sight – and that’s to say nothing of the ear-splitting soundtrack.
Only after that glorious final burst does the driver back off and bring the car to a stop, swinging open the door to reveal a huge grin. ‘I thought I’d better come in,’ says Darren Turner. ‘I was starting to enjoy myself too much.’
Although Aston Martin seems to be getting the hang of Formula 1, it is with sports cars that it remains most closely associated, and in recent years Turner has played a central role in that. Having grown up in a family that had little interest in motor racing, he got into it by spectating at his local kart track and now has a glittering CV that includes winning his class at Le Mans three times.
It’s easy to forget how long a history Aston Martin has at La Sarthe. Its first entry came in 1928, and it chalked up four class wins during the 1930s with its fabled series of ‘LM’ team cars. Company director Augustus ‘Bert’ Bertelli was a talented engineer and driver who always stressed the benefits of a successful motorsport programme – even if, in those days, Aston Martin occasionally struggled to find ways of financing it.
The team car you see here is LM10, which has a special affinity with Le Mans. It was part of a trio of lightweight cars built for the 24 Hours in 1932, when it finished fifth overall and won its class before being sold into private ownership. Bertelli then bought it back so that it could be a works entry for the following year’s race and he duly finished seventh alongside former Bentley Boy ‘Sammy’ Davis.
Having been repainted from green to red, it returned to Le Mans one last time in 1934, crossing the line tenth in the hands of new owner Reggie Tongue and Maurice Falkner. Three entries, three finishes and one class win – not
