VIN: the works Aston Martin AMR1 chassis 03
History of chassis AMR1/02
Chassis 03 raced just once. It appeared at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1989 alongside chassis 01, which had itself been drafted for active duty when chassis 02 was destroyed testing at Donington in February.
The destruction of chassis 02 was a major setback for the AMR1 programme. It delayed development and meant the two cars turned up at Le Mans without having done any high speed / low downforce testing.
Chassis 03 wasn’t even finished when it arrived at la Sarthe. The car was still being assembled during first qualifying and, consequently, arrived late for scrutineering. Fortunately, the organisers granted an extension to accommodate it.
At 940kg, chassis 03 weighed 40kg less than chassis 01 but, because it had not been tested, the practice sessions revealed myriad teething troubles. It also transpired that both cars were running too much downforce which was costing them 20mph in straight-line speed compared with the front runners.
As a result, drivers David Sears, David Leslie and Ray Mallok qualified 03 well down the order in 40th position. For comparison, the sister car of Costas Los, Brian Redman and Michael Roe was 32nd.
In the first hour of the race, a minor fire caused by a dashboard wire meant 03 was forced to make an early stop for repairs. It dropped to 47th position but, over the next few hours, recovered ground and eventually broke into the top 20.
During this time, Sears proved to be the fastest Aston driver in the race but he lost time in the Ford Chicane gravel trap when forced to evade a spinning car.
Meanwhile, the early fire meant 03 no longer had a functioning rev counter.
At around 2:15am on Sunday morning (when lying 18th), the engine was eventually over-revved which caused a bearing failure between cylinders seven and eight. Chassis 03 was forced into retirement while 01 went on to finish a creditable eleventh overall.
Thereafter, two lighter and even more powerful AMR1s were built.
These two cars (04 and 05) were used for the remainder of 1989 while chassis 03 served as the T-car at Brands Hatch, the Nurburgring and Donington.
Notable History
Aston Martin Racing
White, blue and red Mobil 1 livery
11/06/1989 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (D. Sears / D. Leslie / R. Mallock) DNF (#19)
23/07/1989 WSC Brands Hatch 480km (B. Redman) T-car (#18T)
20/08/1989 WSC Nurburgring 480km (B. Redman / D. Leslie) T-car (#18T)
03/09/1989 WSC Donington 480km (D. Sears / M. Roe) T-car (#18T)
Sold to a private collector
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
