7.29.04
>>Dirk
de Jager was
in Le Mans last weekend and popped into the Christies Auction. With
Aston Martin being in the news recently with the announcement of their
DBR9 GTS car, we thought it appropriate to show some of the DBR9's heritage
that happened to be up for sale. This is the circa 1982 Aston Martin
Nimrod, chassis NRA C2 003. |
Quite
rightly looking like something from a completely different era, the Nimrod
had more in common with prototypes of the early 70s than the new Porsche
956s that were emerging at the same time. The Aston was powered by
a 5.3 liter V8. |
The
chassis was designed by Eric Broadly. The Nimrod's flat bottomed
aerodynamics actually served it well at Le Mans as the car ran with relatively
little drag (and downforce). |
In
stark contrast to the Nimrod above, and separated by a mere 7 years, the
Aston Martin AMR1. The #19 Aston AMR1 AMR-03 was also up for auction
at the Christies event (image from Spa 2003 of car #18). |
The
Aston Martin AMR1 is a good example of late 80s contemporary Group C prototype
design. It sold for $354,542 in the auction. The Nimrod
went for $127,418. |
7.5.04
>>Dirk
de Jager attended
the Nurburgring round of the Le Mans Endurance Series and sent along these
images. |
>>"No,
you're
number 1!" |
"Touché!" |
>>The
Pescarolo-Judd finished the day 5th overall some 10 laps down. |
>>Creation
Motorsport's DBA 03S gave the Audis a run first by putting the car on the
pole and second by running very strongly in the race and eventually finishing
3rd overall. At one point during the event, according to dailysportscar,
the Creation DBA and Team Jota Zytek had 7-9 seconds a lap over the Audis. |