Prior to 1956, entrants into sports car racing had to use a road-legal car or a car based upon a road-legal machine. Come 1956, however, and there was a change in opinion on the matter, which may have been based on the horrific scene that unfolded at the 1955 LeMans race. Instead of hoping and praying that a standard road car would be sufficient for a racing machine, manufacturers were now authorized to create racing-only machines.

Aston Martin didn’t screw around in making the DBR1, their first race-only machine. The body was made from 20 gauge magnesium, which was fragile and easily injured. The engine was a dual overhead cam inline-six and the car ran a five-speed transaxle for weight distribution. It was simply meant to run hard and stay together long enough to claim a victory, which it did most notably at the 1959 24 Hours of LeMans.

Nowadays, Aston is better known for making GT machines that are more in line with the “be seen” crowd than anything else, but back when your grandpappy was watching racing going down, Aston Martin was deadly serious about putting the sport into sports cars. Check this machine out!