ASTON MARTIN AMR- ONE

A raft of new rule changes for the 2011 season caused the senior sports- racing contenders to rethink their priorities. With these in mind, Audi and Peugeot both opted for closed- cockpit chassis and turbodiesel power – V8 in Audi’s case and V6 for the Peugeot. Aston Martin, however, chose a very different path for its Prodrive- built B09/60 replacement, the AMR- One, opting for a light (900kg) open- cockpit carbon monocoque chassis powered by a turbocharged 2- litre straight- six petrol engine.

Although lacking the aero profile of the Audi and Peugeot, this specification did offer a number of inherent advantages over its rivals – for example, an open- cockpit car is lighter, offers better visibility and avoids the complications and expense of designing and constructing ventilation systems and the like. It also makes for dramatically faster driver changes. In keeping with the new efficiency-focused regulations, the newcomer featured a prominent blade fin behind the driver, while the engine drove through a semi-automatic-shift, six- speed Xtrac transmission.

The intention was to build six AMR- Ones, but early problems meant that number was never realised. In the end, only two races were contested. The first was the Six Hours of Castellet, where the lone entry of chassis DBR1/3/1 driven by Stefan Mücke, Darren Turner and Harold Primat finished an unclassified 29th. The team’s second and final outing was the Le Mans 24 Hours, with Primat, Adrián Fernández and Andy Meyrick, and Mücke, Turner and Christian Klien, at the wheel. Sadly they were the first two cars to retire; DBR1/3/1 lasted two laps, while DBR1/3/2 managed two more, finally retiring after four agonising hours in the pits.

After due consideration, Aston Martin decided to cease development of the AMR- One and focus once more on its GT programme, so the cars were sold off. We are left to wonder what might have been, had those fabulous- looking machines enjoyed the research and development they arguably deserved.