DBR9: The Definitive History presents an in-depth look at Aston Martin’s legendary racing car. For a mere $700, give or take.
Not too long ago we stumbled across this striking image of the gorgeous DBR9 RS LM, a road going version of Aston Martin’s GT racer. The looks and the basics – 750bhp from a 6.0-litre V12, 800kg carbon fibre chassis, 0-100kph in 3.4 seconds and 390kph top speed – blew us away, but we were simultaneously saddened, knowing that the chance of seeing one of the five limited edition models on the road hovered just above zero.
Downcast yet still consumed with the British Racing Green brute, we hit the Google playground to see what else we could track down on the DBR9, and came across DBR9: The Definitive History by Thomas A. Gruber and Christoph Mäder.
This 296-page colossus focuses on just one racing machine – the DBR9 GT1 – and the 19 chassis of which were developed. Since it’s track debut in 2005, the DBR9 – based on the original generation road going model from 2004 – has won the Le Mans Series Drivers’ Championship (in 2006), the Le Mans Series Teams’ Championship (in 2006) and the FIA GT Constructors’ Championship (in, er, 2006), as well as celebrated class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2008 with Darren Turner, David Brabham and Antonio Garcia), the 12 Hours of Sebring, and Laguna Seca among others.
For the perfectly reasonable price of (you might want to sit down for this) $610, The Definitive History offers over 400 previously unreleased high gloss photos, interviews with drivers and team personnel alike and – in a rather neat touch – transparent films for the double page spreads, allowing you to see the technical aspects and performance statistics of the DBR9.
So there we are, the answer to not owning a $235,000 DBR9 RS LM is a near-$700 hardback. Of course, since the office kitty is a little lean at the moment, the chances of crankandpiston seeing one of the these in the near future is a bit slim too.
