Aston Martin DP215 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Aston Martin DP215 was a prototype sports car

Sports car

A sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...

for grand touring

Grand tourer

A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....

-style racing in 1963. It was built alongside the similar DP214

Aston Martin DP214

The Aston Martin DP214 was a prototype sports car developed by Aston Martin for use in grand touring-style racing, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two DP214s were built in 1963, with one surviving today....

, both of which replaced the previous DP212

Aston Martin DP212

The Aston Martin DP212 was a prototype sports car developed by Aston Martin for use in the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans.The car was built on the chassis of a DB4GT, but featured longer bodywork specifically designed to handle the high speeds of Le Mans. It also featured a 4.0 litre Inline-6 cylinder...

. Only a single example was built, which survives today.

Again using a DB4GT

Aston Martin DB4

The DB4 is a sports car sold by Aston Martin from 1958 until 1963. It was an entirely different car from the DB Mark III it replaced, though the 3.7 L engine was externally visually related to the 2.9 L unit found in that car....

chassis, the DP215 was stylistically similar to the DP214

Aston Martin DP214

, but had the advantage of not only being slightly lighter, but also using the larger 4.0 litre Tadek Marek

Tadek Marek

Tadeusz "Tadek" Marek was a Polish automobile engineer, known for his Aston Martin engines.Marek was from Krakow.He raced and won with a Chevrolet Master sedan in the XII Rally Poland before moving to Great Britain...

Inline-6 cylinder engine which had previously powered DP212

Aston Martin DP212

. Even though the car was also intended to carry the Tadek Marek

Tadek Marek

designed 5 litre V8 engine, which later appeared in the Lola Aston T70 MkIII

Lola T70

The Lola T70 was built for sports car racing, popular in the mid to late 1960s. Developed by Lola Cars in 1965 in Great Britain, the T70 was made for endurance racing...

. Even so with this increased power and decreased weight, the DP215 was seen as better suited to Le Mans' Mulsannes straight than the DP214

Aston Martin DP214

Early history

The car never had the ‘planned’ V8 fitted and it made do with a dry sump 4 litre version of the well proven 6 cylinder, with twin plug head. More contentiously, it was also fitted with weakest link from the older and lower powered DBR1

Aston Martin DBR1

The Aston Martin DBR1 was a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time...

, its CG537 5 speed transaxle; clearly a big mistake and one admitted by John Wyer. Visually, and dimensionally, the body was the same as the DP214

Aston Martin DP214

's but with bonnet line, only 1.5” lower, enabled by the dry sump engine. The car was initially fitted with engine no. 400/215/1.

Le Mans 24 Hour 1963

Debuting at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans

1963 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 31st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 15 and 16 1963. It was also the tenth round of the World Sportscar Championship....

, the lone DP215, driven by Lucien Bianchi

Lucien Bianchi

Lucien Bianchi , born Luciano Bianchi, was a Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One...

and Phil Hill

Phil Hill

Philip Toll Hill, Jr., was a United States automobile racer and the only American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Hill was described as a "thoughtful, gentle man" and once said, "I'm in the wrong business. I don't want to beat anybody, I don't want to be the big hero...

, started alongside the two DP214

Aston Martin DP214

's. During practice the DP215 set a time of 3m 57.2s with Hill. During the race the DP215 was intended to be the ‘hare’ for the DP214

Aston Martin DP214

’s, trying to break the Ferrari

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

’s, lapping at 4m 05s. Hill lead away at the start but was passed by a Maserati

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...

on the Mulsanne

Mulsanne

Mulsanne is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France.-Motor racing:The Circuit de la Sarthe, which is used in the sports car endurance race 24 Hours of Le Mans, features the long straight Ligne Droite des Hunaudières leading to Mulsanne, making a...

straight. On the sixth lap Hill was in fifth place, but unavoidably ran over debris from an accident of a car, who was about to be lapped. Hill pitted so the mechanics could see if any damage had been caused to the under carriage, but no damage was found and Phil Hill was sent out again.

However during the third hour (2hr 12m) after 29 laps, DP215 retired from the race whilst running ninth. The transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

had broken and the teeth on the input bevel failed; it was assumed that the extra torque of the 4 litre engine was responsible, as this had never happened to the DBR cars. Both DP214

Aston Martin DP214

cars would also suffer problems and be forced to retire. However, both DP214

Aston Martin DP214

and DP215, were the first cars officially recorded as exceeding 300 km/h (186 mph) down the Mulsanne

Mulsanne

. But, DP215 was the quickest of all. Phil Hill

Phil Hill

, in practice had been recorded at 319.6 km/h (198.6 mph) and Ted Cutting, the Aston Martin designer, is certain that DP215 had, in fact, exceeded 200 mi/h since the timing was recorded before the cars had reached their maximum speed or the braking area. The car still remains the fastest front end Aston Martin ever made, with Phil Hill describing the car as light and controllable at such speeds down the straight.

After Le Mans 24 Hour

Following Le Mans, the DP215 would appear at the 12 Hours of Reims

Reims

Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

(a race accompanying the French GP), driven by Jo Schlesser

Jo Schlesser

Joseph Schlesser was a Formula One and sports car racing driver from France. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, including the 1968 French Grand Prix in which he was killed...

. The car should have won easily, due to no serious opposition in the field. But after leading, Schlesser was having more trouble with the repaired CG537 transmission. Having difficulty changing gear, and missing gears, which caused over-revving of the engine, unfortunately leading to bending all the valves, forcing the car to retire on lap 4.

At the Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near West Kingsdown in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently holds many British and international racing events...

, the car only completed a demonstration lap (driven by Bill Kimberley), due to financial/tax reasons. Shortly after the DP215 was rebuilt with more conventional transmission which allowed the fitting of the David Brown

David Brown (entrepreneur)

Sir David Brown was an English entrepreneur, managing director of his family firm David Brown Limited and one time owner of shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft and automobile manufacturer Aston Martin....

S532 5-speed box, which was also in the DP212

Aston Martin DP212

. The car was soon retired from factory use as the DP214

Aston Martin DP214

's proved more reliable.

In 1966, while being driven/tested on the M1 Motorway

M1 motorway

The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

, DP215 was involved in an accident which badly damaged the car (at this time it carried the reg. no 'ENP 246B'). Whilst travelling at about 100 mi/h on the motorway a slower Dormobile

Bedford Dormobile

The Bedford Dormobile is a 1960s-era campervan conversion, based on the Bedford CA van, and subsequently on the Bedford CF. It was manufactured in Folkestone in Kent, southern England, by Martin Walter....

wandered out into the outside lane, with the Aston Martin

Aston Martin

unable to avoid a collision. Both vehicles were severely damaged but all occupants were OK. Aston Martin

Aston Martin

not wishing to gain publicity over the accident quickly sold the damaged engine and parted with the remains of the car. With the engineless car being bought for scrap value, by Malcolm Calvert, from the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, Calvert then set about restoring the car.

During the 1960s

The car was rebuilt using a spare DP214

Aston Martin DP214

/DP215 body and a dash, bought from the factory, with a DB6 engine planned to be installed, as the original engine had by then been fitted to DP214

Aston Martin DP214

(DB4GT/0194/R). The rare S532 gearbox had gone missing (possibly back as a spare to DP212

Aston Martin DP212

) so, at this time a ZF box, similar to those fitted to the V8 road cars was used to keep the car running. However the car was badly constructed, with the chassis

Chassis

A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

still bent and the body shell being fitted to match this bent chassis. More inaccuracies were that the headlight openings were incorrect and the dry sump system was put in the wrong place. Finally, the car was fitted with Cobra wire wheels (not original Borrani

Borrani

Ruote Borrani S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of wheels, famous for supplying single-nut lockable wire wheels to many Italian racing cars and luxury cars up until the 1960s....

) and not to mention the DB6 engine used.

Restoration period

The repaired car was then acquired by Nigel Dawes at a Sotheby’s auction at Donington Park

Donington Park

Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship...

in April 1978. Dawes left the car as it was for several years, but hoped to get hold of the original engine which was sold on after the crash, but this had ended up being a spare for DP214

Aston Martin DP214

and converted to wet sump. Dawes then bought a 12 plug head, like the original and by luck obtained a 4.2 litre engine (engine no. 1293/420/2) taken from the Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

Cooper Aston in America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Forward Engineering then restored the engine remaking the dry sump system as close to the original. Rubery Owen repaired the chassis based on the original drawings. Both the chassis and engine were then sent to Andy Chapman of Chapman Spooner who restored the engine to its former glory. With the engine producing 345 bhp at 5,750 rpm (330 lbs/ft of torque) and three 50 DCO Weber carburettors were sourced and added at great expense. Also, a lighter version of a 5 speed gearbox was fitted in the place of the foreign ZF gearbox. The body shell was restored by Dawes with help of the original designer of the Le Mans

Le Mans

Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...

series of cars, Ted Cutting. With a new roll cage

Roll cage

A roll cage is a specially constructed frame built in the cab of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured in an accident, particularly in the event of a roll-over. Roll cages are used in nearly all purpose-built racecars, and in most cars modified for racing...

being incorporated and a new fuel tank made as a copy of the original.

The interior was restored similar to the original, but this time there were a few differences. The gearbox was insulated and covered in leather, pockets had been built into the doors and a speedometer and electric fan was added for legality. Also Dawes bought another set of seats from the DP215 and matched the faded original cloth; he was none the wiser from where the second set of seats came from.

During the 1990s

The 11 year restoration was completed in May 1991 and the car reappeared at a number of public events, but not raced. It was then that the car acquired the registration number’ XMO 88’. Soon after the car took part in the Ecurie Eccosse Tour. The car was then entered into the Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...

Concours at the Hurlingham Club, in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

by Dawes and won first in class and was second overall. In June the car went to Le Mans

Le Mans

and took part in the Historic Parade. The car was then paraded around the Goodwood

Goodwood Circuit

Goodwood Circuit is an historic venue for both two- and four-wheeled motorsport in the United Kingdom. The 2.4 mile circuit is situated near Chichester, West Sussex, close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood House, and completely encircles Chichester/Goodwood Airport...

circuit by Roy Salvadori

Roy Salvadori

Roy Francesco Salvadori is a former motor racing driver and manager from England. He participated in 50 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 12 July 1952, and achieved two podiums, scoring a total of 19 Championship points.During a varied career he also won the 24 Hours of Le...

and Willie Green

Willie Green

Willie J. Green is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New Orleans Hornets in the NBA. He was selected in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics and later acquired by Philadelphia from Seattle in a draft-night trade for the draft rights...

. DP215 then went to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

and took part in the Motoring Tour with 40 other exotic cars. Later the project car was an on the Aston Martin Owners Club

Aston Martin Owners Club

The Aston Martin Owners Club is one of the oldest one-make car enthusiast clubs, one of the largest with worldwide membership and one of the leaders....

(AMOC) exhibit at the NEC

NEC

, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....

in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

at the Classic Car Show.

In 1995 Dawes entered DP215 in the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Goodwood Festival of Speed, commonly abbreviated as FoS and referred within the United Kingdom as simply the Festival of Speed, is an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles that is held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England.Typically held in late June or...

, which was the last outing of the car with Nigel Dawes. In 1996 the car was acquired by Anthony (Tony) J . Smith and again appeared at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. In 1997 Smith then entered at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Concours d'Elegance

A Concours d'Elegance dates back to 17th Century French aristocracy, who paraded horse-drawn carriages in the parks of Paris during Summer weekends and holidays...

in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. DP215 was entered again at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this time with the Earl of Arundel

Earl of Arundel

The title Earl of Arundel is the oldest extant Earldom and perhaps the oldest extant title in the Peerage of England. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. It was created in 1138 for the Norman baron Sir William d'Aubigny...

at the wheel, and the car recorded the fastest time in the 24 Hour Heroes Part 2. Later that year DP215 went to the Silverstone

Silverstone

Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Banbury...

Coy’s Festival but crashed during the practice session with Smith driving.

During the 2000s

In 2000 at the Goodwood

Goodwood Revival

The Goodwood Revival is a three-day festival held each September since 1998 for the types of road racing cars and motorcycle that would have competed during the circuit's original period—1948-1966. It is one of the world’s most popular motor race meetings and the only UK event which recreates the...

TT Revival the car finished 15th in the R.A.C. 1hr event with drivers of Tony Smith and Joachim Folch.
Around 2002, the project was acquired by Neil Corner, who swapped a precious F1 car in a deal for DP215. Corner then went to the great expense of having a brand new S532 gearbox built from scratch by Crosthwaite and Gardner, using the box from DP212

Aston Martin DP212

as the basis. As only 6 of the original S532 were ever made, with two going into the DBR2

Aston Martin DBR2

The Aston Martin DBR2 was a sports racing car built in 1957 as a sibling to the Aston Martin DBR1, yet competing in a larger engine capacity group.-Development:...

’s, two into the works racing Lagonda

Lagonda

Lagonda is a British luxury car marque, founded as a company in 1906 in Staines, Middlesex by a former opera singer from Ohio, but of Scottish ancestry, named Wilbur Gunn . He named the company after a river near the town of his birth, Springfield, Ohio, United States...

’s, one to DP212 and the missing one, which miraculously disappeared after the crash on the M1

M1 motorway

.

Corner consulted Ted Cutting throughout and with the help of Richard Williams

Richard Williams

Richard Williams is a Canadian animator. He is best known for serving as animation director on Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit and for his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler...

, who also looks after DP212

Aston Martin DP212

. Williams got consent from the owner of DP212 to clone the gearbox, but with over 1000 parts in the gearbox it was not an easy task for Crosthwaite and Gardner. However, the task was quickly completed and the gearbox was fitted with some alteration to the car, as this had been altered to accommodate the ZF gearbox. There were a few problems with the box, with the synchromesh not being perfect, sometimes dropping out of third gear on the overrun and once locking in fifth gear. But these problems were not serious and the cloning of the box was a success.

In 2006 DP215 reappeared at the Goodwood Revival

Goodwood Revival

as part of the tribute to Phil Hill

Phil Hill

, in the Phil Hill

Phil Hill

Commemoration demonstration driven by Nigel Corner.

External links

AstonMartins.com - DP215

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.