Thursday 14th June 2018

Aston Martin DBRS9: Spotted

Because race car...

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There's a little thing called the Le Mans 24 Hours happening this weekend, you may have heard of it. You may also have heard that Aston Martin has enjoyed quite a lot of success there over the years, from the early days of the DBR1, to last year's Vantage GTE class victory.

Back in 2007 and 2008, though, it was the DBR9 that was giving British racing fans cause for celebration, taking back to back Le Mans victories in the GT1 class. With a lightweight carbon fibre on aluminium construction, its 5.9-litre naturally aspirated V12 - producing 635hp and 550lb ft - made it capable of 0-60mph in 3.4 seconds, with 100mph coming up in just 6.4.

What we have here is not a DBR9, but a DBRS9, a car designed to bridge the gap between the road going DB9 and the full-fat Le Mans racer. Like the DBR9 it made use of double wishbone suspension with Koni dampers, an Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox and a carbon on aluminium design. It was also powered by a naturally aspirated 5.9-litre V12 - here producing 560hp and 460lb ft of torque - for a power to weight ratio of 435hp per tonne.

Some examples were produced with a regular old six-speed 'box and stick, though, and that's the case for our Spotted. It's a 560hp Aston Martin race car with a proper manual transmission - what could be better than that? Well, a 560hp Aston Martin race car with a proper manual gearbox and no livery. I put it to you that almost all race cars look best in plain white (not that I'd want to do away with liveries, of course) and the DBRS9 is no exception.

Available for around £170,000 it's hardly what one would call accessible - plus there's the small matter of repatriating it from the other side of the planet - but for what it is, that price still seems a bargain. After all, you could spend over five times that on a Brabham BT62, and will anyone who does so have the talent, or inclination, to get five times the enjoyment out of it?

The previous owner of this certainly seems not to have, the ad stating that it's seen only 150 miles in its dozen years. Still, that just means there's more life left in it for the new owner to hopefully enjoy. There's surely no better way to celebrate Le Mans weekend than getting your very own taste of the action. And maybe, just maybe, by the time your purchase arrives we'll have seen yet another Aston Martin race car write its name into the history books...

See the full ad here.

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SPECIFICATION: ASTON MARTIN DBRS9

Engine: 5.9-litre V12
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 560
Torque (lb ft): 460
Weight: 1,230kg
MPG: N/A
First registered: 2006
Recorded miles: 150
Price new: £175,000
Price now: £170,000

[GroundEffect]

Not so much "bridging a gap", more it's a GT3-spec car. Yes, these are more production-based cars.

What I am surprised by the price is that this car is not competitive any more - a modern GT3 car (Merc AMG GT GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Ferrari 488 GT3) would destroy it. So what are you paying £170k for? A track day toy, or (pretty) static model?

[rampageturke]

GroundEffect said:

Not so much "bridging a gap", more it's a GT3-spec car. Yes, these are more production-based cars.

What I am surprised by the price is that this car is not competitive any more - a modern GT3 car (Merc AMG GT GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Ferrari 488 GT3) would destroy it. So what are you paying £170k for? A track day toy, or (pretty) static model?

Collections, penis waving I guess (who am I kidding, like most rarer cars now, it's manufactured investment)

People have paid a lot more for cars that'll never get driven, and they're often road legal.

[Krikkit]

Why would you want a race car to try and be competitive with as a manual? It'd be a great track toy, but I'd take a proper sequential setup with flatshift every time.

I'll take this one instead: https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/92292/as...

[ZX10R NIN]

That looks like a serious piece of kit.

[spikyone]

GroundEffect said:

Not so much "bridging a gap", more it's a GT3-spec car. Yes, these are more production-based cars.

What I am surprised by the price is that this car is not competitive any more - a modern GT3 car (Merc AMG GT GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Ferrari 488 GT3) would destroy it. So what are you paying £170k for? A track day toy, or (pretty) static model?

I thought the same on the "bridging a gap" comment - just weird to describe an outright race car in that way. Coincidentally that same description appears on the DBRS9's Wikipedia page. I'm not one to bash PH's journalistic standards, but...

I'm sure a car like this would still be eligible for something like Britcar if you were so inclined. Nobody's going to be racing it against current GT3 cars in the same way that no-one is using an Audi R10 in LMP1.

[saxy]

Owning a car for that long and putting so few miles on it means a terrible investment. A depreciating Car at least has miles enjoyed.

[GroundEffect]

spikyone said:

GroundEffect said:

Not so much "bridging a gap", more it's a GT3-spec car. Yes, these are more production-based cars.

What I am surprised by the price is that this car is not competitive any more - a modern GT3 car (Merc AMG GT GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Ferrari 488 GT3) would destroy it. So what are you paying £170k for? A track day toy, or (pretty) static model?

I thought the same on the "bridging a gap" comment - just weird to describe an outright race car in that way. Coincidentally that same description appears on the DBRS9's Wikipedia page. I'm not one to bash PH's journalistic standards, but...

I'm sure a car like this would still be eligible for something like Britcar if you were so inclined. Nobody's going to be racing it against current GT3 cars in the same way that no-one is using an Audi R10 in LMP1.

If you want to be more competitive:



https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/89367/as...

Especially that if you run it without restrictors they're saying over 700BHP...sounds a bit iffy, but either way, won't be slow.

I'd have this

[mikEsprit]

Exposed carbon fiber has been around over a decade? I thought it was more recent than that.

[GroundEffect]

mikEsprit said:

Exposed carbon fiber has been around over a decade? I thought it was more recent than that.

?

It's been around 30 years...

[British Beef]

I lremember seeing the same or very similar DBRS9 about 2 years ago, for $120k, seemed like such good value I got some quotes to import, in my garage for about £135k which makes this one seem very expensive.

[godzilla84]

Purely out of interest, I wonder what would be required to make such a vehicle road legal.

[Talksteer]

GroundEffect said:

Not so much "bridging a gap", more it's a GT3-spec car. Yes, these are more production-based cars.

What I am surprised by the price is that this car is not competitive any more - a modern GT3 car (Merc AMG GT GT3, Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Ferrari 488 GT3) would destroy it. So what are you paying £170k for? A track day toy, or (pretty) static model?

As a mid 2000's GT3 car it's quicker than a whole bunch of track only specials like FXX and similar.