Le Mans Aston Martin DBR9 Up for Grabs

Back in 2009, David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner raced a famed Aston Martin DBR9 to a Le Mans GT1 class victory and a fifth place overall placing. This beautiful example of race car based on the standard DB9 road car was extensively modified to meet the strict need of the 24 Hour endurance race.

The name DBR9 is derived from the original Le Mans-winning DBR1 car, named for the marque’s then-owner David Brown. Back in 1959, the car not only won the 24 Hour race but also the World Sportscar title. So this good looking lump of metal has some real collector's value to offer.

According to JamesList, the DBR9 is now being sold by the UK’s Desmon J. Smail at about $1.5 million. So if you’ve caught the racing fever this year this will do you nicely as a cure. But if you plan to keep it in a museum, please reconsider.

Here is what Alain Dujean, Gulf Oil vice president international, had to say about the car when it was launched: "This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport. The famous Gulf racing colours first tasted victory at Le Mans in 1968, so 2008 already had great significance for us, but for Gulf to have joined up with Aston Martin Racing for this year is fantastic – the coming together of two great automotive names, for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership."

The two Aston Martin DBR9s for 2008 were entered as numbers 007 and 009. They featured custom carbon fibre composite body panels for racing - to help make the most of the 600 hp engine -, along with some other modifications built for speed.