An unplanned trip to the Silverstone Classic yesterday gave us some welcome sights in witnessing racing cars from both Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing through the ages.

From racing examples from its DB2 era taking on the full Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone came more modern examples of cars directly associated with Aston Martin Racing - a DBR9, a Lola Aston Martin LMP1 prototype and two examples of the grandad to todays brand new Vantage GTE in the form of the Vantage GT2.


The four AMR built cars were all competing within the Masters Endurance Legends Series, a series that has taken these cars previously only seen within their respective private collection back onto the race tracks of Europe to be raced how their designers had intended.

The Strakka Racing DBR9 was back on track with then driver and now owner Nick Leventis behind the wheel whilst the former JWA and Villois Racing GT2's were being raced by others - Tom Kimber Smith in the latter. The Lola P1 was being entered by its current owner Christophe D'Ansembourg - all cars now regular attendees in the Masters Series.


Without going into too much detail of their two races over Saturday and Sunday, it wouldn't be amiss to say that class and overall successes werent too far away in any of the three classes in which they ran nor to say that the characteristic wails of their respective engine designs fully captivated the attending audience.


Over in the National paddock amongst the mainly Formula Junior entry we found one person who has helped to sculpt their national GT racing culture and another who is very instrumental in the designs of todays Aston Martin road cars.


Jac Nelleman, a partner of Jan Struve's Young Driver programme took great delight in sharing the reasons for his attendance at the event in the form of the Formula Junior car that he helped his father build back in 1959. With the car having been within the family ever since and having already entered every major Historic event around the world Silverstone was to be the swan song event for him and his Alfa Dana car.

If ever you get the chance to chat with this man, best draw up a couple of chairs and a coffee as you won't be disappointed.


Finally, and with the man who brings everything back to the present day was bumping into the Chief Creative Officer at Aston Marin Lagonda in Marek Reichman with his Cooper Formula Junior car. Chanced upon in the National paddock by accident we thought that the chances of their being two people with that name being slim and indeed once we found him he also gave us a large period of time in his race build up to speak with us.

Obviously enjoying his recent spate of racing events both at home and at Le Mans (in both the AMR Festival and the Classic) his obvious enthusiasm on Sunday for historic racing wasn't enough to secure him a decent finish after damage sustained on the opening lap ended his day before it had really begun.


His comments on the irony of following one or two of his recent creations (the events Safety cars being provided by Aston Martin in the form of a DB11 and Vantage) whilst aboard a pre 1960 formula car was refreshing!!

All in all it was a good day out!

With gratitude to those on Social Media who have made this images available.

Aston Martin Racing is today unveiling a 24 Hours of Le Mans art car designed by artist Tobias Rehberger. The unique creation gives the Gulf #97 Vantage GTE the illusion of movement and speed, even when static.

Having had sixteen of the thirty three teams pass through 'Le Pesage' today the remainder of this years LM24 entry shall do so tomorrow (Monday 8th June) with the five Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GTE's due to pass under the scrutineer's critical eye from 14.10Hrs local.

At about this time we should also have our first official glimpse of the 2015 Aston Martin Racing Art Car design that is to bedeck the #97 car of Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Rob Bell for this event. The last Art Car was back in 2013 when competition winner Jonathan Wesley from Kettering, UK won the coveted prize with his 'day into night' design but this year's design is thought to be a specially commissioned piece. Judging by 2013 thats going to be a hard act to follow for this professional!

Team photographer Drew Gibson has tonight teased the twitter-sphere with comments about shooting the car and its new design but sadly gives nothing else away.

We shall therefore have to wait after tomorrow lunch time to see for ourselves ……………………!!

Photo credit - Richard Leach

Despite the virtual lock out of the GTE Pro and GTE Am during qualifying, Aston Martin Racing were unable to convert that dominance into more than just a single podium finish by the end of the 6Hrs of Silverstone.

With the Young Driver "Dane Train' having put their #95 Gulf liveried Vantage GTE onto pole at what was their first race since elevating up to Pro status, having their sister #97 and #99 Pro cars immediately behind them and with the 2014 class champions apparently languishing further down the lap charts all weekend - all appeared good for AMR on paper at least!

The weather on race day was also due to play 'ball' being unseasonably warm and and dry all in direct contrast to last year's race, but there was to be a very strong prevailing wind running the length of the International Pit Straight that would ultimately plague all the cars for the whole race.

The race day rituals started bright and early for the #95 and #99 crews having made some small adjustments to the cars over night the team made the prudent choice of running both cars back to Scrutineering just to doubly check that the cars remained within permitted parameters. Then, just before the public were let loose down the pit lane for the customary pit walk last minute, driver change practices became the order of the morning.


Prior to the race the cars presented themselves at the grid, but this time they backed themselves towards the pit wall Le Mans style (new for this year). Then, having the cleared the grid from the VIP grid walkers the cars were careful choreographed by the leading safety car so that the thunderous grid would be ready to hit the start/finish line bang on 12 noon, ready to be unleashed for what was to be the first round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship.

By the end of the first lap the AMR Pro cars were holding their starting 1-2-3 station relative to one another  and even mixing it with some P1 cars for the first couple of corners. Soon Nikki Thiim in the #95 Young Driver AMR began putting in a series of very quick laps to pull away from Darren Turner in the #97 who had himself just taken the #99 car of Richie Stanaway for second in class. At one point Thiim's lead was over twenty seconds.


Stanaway soon came under intense pressure from the chasing Manthey Porsche's and earned himself two track limit warnings in quick succession for pushing the boundaries of track limits at Turn 9 Copse. Back in GTE Am Stuart Hall in the #96 Gulf Racing car had already dispatched several cars who started in front of him and was hounding the rear bumper of stable mate Pedro Lamy in the #98. They would enjoy countless laps of 'enjoyable' racing together.

As a whole, and up till this point things were looking fairly good for the Aston Martin Racing cars in both classes. The turning point came just before the first hour with the first Full Course Yellow of the race due to a P2 hitting the barriers at Copse followed by a subsequent Full Course Yellow soon after.


The inability of the Vantage GTE to hold enough fuel to take it much past the hour mark was the achilles heal from last year and despite Thiim entering the pit lane with a twenty second advantage over his rivals the ability of both the Manthey Porsche's and AF Corse Ferrari's to positively make use of the these FCY's would see each AMR cascade down the order sheet as and when they made their scheduled stops. The problem wasn't of their making but they were to be the victims of the situation that presented itself.

In GTE Am the #98 Lamy/Dalla Lana/Lauda car was fairing a little better by maintaining a top position throughout the pit stop cycles of the leading GTE Am cars. In the #96 a hobbling Roald Goethe exited his #96 car to allow new boy, Francesco Castellacci to have his first competitive race of the weekend and in the Gulf Vantage.


At the end of each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th hours of the race the story on track remained the same. The Pro AMR cars, headed by the #95 Young Driver car were still playing catch up with the class leading #51 AF Corse of Vilander/Bruni who had at the end had a winning margin of over a lap to the fourth placed #95 AMR.

Turner and Mucke would finish in P5 with the #99 MacDowall/Rees/Stanaway car finishing P6.

From a team perspective Sundays results have to be taken away in a positive light. The cars showed good outright pace for not just qualifying but also average race pace in comparison with the Ferrari's and Porsche's. The team acknowledges that time was lost to their rivals during each of the pit stop cycles to a point where the #95 and #98 both had to do a 'splash and dash' in the final five minutes of the race just to make the chequered flag.

Without performance breaks for the team this mileage deficit is going to be hard to overcome to allow the cars to compete with the AF Corse Ferrari's and Manthey Porsche's on a 'level field' and without having to rely upon the misfortune of others.


In GTE Am Pedro Lamy brought home the #98 Northwest sponsored Vantage car that he shares with Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda for a fine GTE Am class victory that was thoroughly deserved, not just by them but by the team as a whole.

"Pedro and Mathias did a great job to get us a strong lead and this meant that when we had to do a quick ‘splash and dash’ we were still able to take the win. They both did a fantastic job!" said Dalla Lana afterwards.

The other #96 Am car of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Francesco Castellacci finished two laps down to the winning #98 car fourth in class in what has to be remembered as only their first race back in the WEC having taken 'a year out' in 2014 so that was still a decent result for them as well.


Round two of the WEC is at Spa Francorchamps on May 2nd - the last real race simulation before the big one at Le Mans in June and round three!! From what we have seen this weekend at Silverstone we know that we are going to be in for a good race.

Today, Aston Martin Racing released the final details of their 2015 aspirations for both the World Endurance Championship (including the 24Hrs of Le Mans) and the Nurburgring 24Hr.

Entering into what will be their eleventh year of competitive motor racing, Aston Martin Racing shall return to the WEC with three of its Vantage GTE's in the GTE Pro class and further two Vantage GTE's in the GTE Am class, a net rise of one car compared to last seasons entry.

An obvious deviation from the norm will be the liveries presented by each of the five AMR Vantages as partly seen above. The #95 Young Driver AMR Pro car and the #98 Am car retain a slightly revised adaptation of the classical blue and orange Gulf sponsored livery, the #99 Pro entry retains its beautiful blue and yellow Velero livery as first seen last year under the Craft Bamboo banner for at least part of the 2015 season and the #97 Pro car changes completely to a distinctive red and yellow livery from the team's Hanergy partner. It is understood the the Gulf Racing entry shall also be sporting a revised livery that won't be released until probably the WEC Prologue in a few weeks time.


The final driver placement has also now been confirmed following on from the disclosure at the private AMR test in Monteblanco that Rob Bell would be rejoining the team for Spa and Le Mans.


Final driver line up are as follows:-

#97 Pro - Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke, Rob Bell (Spa and Le Mans only)
#98 Am - Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda
#99 Pro - Alex MacDowall, Fernando Rees, Richie Stanaway
#95 Pro Young Driver AMR - Marco Sorensen, Christoffer Nygaard, Nicki Thiim
#96 Am Gulf Racing - Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall, Francesco Castellacci

Francessco Castellacci comes to the Gulf Racing squad as a highly accomplished GT driver with previous experience with Ferrari stalwarts, AF Corse amongst others and with recent experience in GT Open and Blancpain.