1963 Aston Martin DP215

This car was on display in the paddock at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992.

It's the Design Project Aston Martin DP215, the only one made, that was built to compete in the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hour race. The car was intended to have the Tadek Marek designed 5,064cc V8 engine but instead had the same 6-cylinder inline Aston Martin 3,996cc engine that powered the DP212 cars. It was driven at Le Mans in 1963 by Phil Hill and Lucien Bianchi but retired in the 4th hour of the race with gearbox problems, though not before registering a record speed of 198.6 mph on the Mulsanne Straight. Later that year it took part in the Reims 12 Hour race but again retired with transmission problems causing the engine to over-rev which led to the valves being bent. The Aston Martin racing department was closed at the end of that year and the DP215 was retained by Aston Martin as a development car in the hopes of a return to racing, but in 1966 the car was wrecked in an accident on the M1 motorway. The remains were sold and restored gradually over several years, at one time having the Indianapolis Cooper Aston Martin 4,164cc engine, but the car was eventually reunited with the original engine 400/215/1 which powered it at the 1963 Le Mans race.