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The Project 215 Aston Martin briefly led the 1963 Le Mans race with Phil Hill at the controls.
Aston Martin DP215 1963
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From Wikipedia. The emphasis is mine.
Debuting at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, the lone DP215, driven by Lucien Bianchi and Phil Hill, started alongside the two DP214's. During practice the DP215 set a time of 3m 57.2s with Hill. During the race the DP215 was intended to be the ‘hare’ for the DP214’s, trying to break the Ferrari’s, lapping at 4m 05s.
Hill lead away at the start but was passed by a Maserati on the Mulsanne straight. On the sixth lap Hill was in fifth place, but unavoidably ran over debris from an accident of a car, who was about to be lapped. Hill pitted so the mechanics could see if any damage had been caused to the under carriage, but no damage was found and Phil Hill was sent out again.
However during the third hour (2hr 12m) after 29 laps, DP215 retired from the race whilst running ninth. The transmission had broken and the teeth on the input bevel failed; it was assumed that the extra torque of the 4-litre engine was responsible, as this had never happened to the DBR cars. Both DP214 cars would also suffer problems and be forced to retire.
However, both DP214 and DP215, were the first cars officially recorded as exceeding 300 km/h (186 mph) down the Mulsanne. But, DP215 was the quickest of all.
Phil Hill, in practice had been recorded at 319.6 km/h (198.6 mph) and Ted Cutting, the Aston Martin designer, is certain that DP215 had, in fact, exceeded 200 mph (320 km/h), since the timing was recorded before the cars had reached their maximum speed or the braking area.
The car still remains the fastest front end Aston Martin ever made, with Phil Hill describing the car as light and controllable at such speeds down the straight.
Debuting at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, the lone DP215, driven by Lucien Bianchi and Phil Hill, started alongside the two DP214's. During practice the DP215 set a time of 3m 57.2s with Hill. During the race the DP215 was intended to be the ‘hare’ for the DP214’s, trying to break the Ferrari’s, lapping at 4m 05s.
Hill lead away at the start but was passed by a Maserati on the Mulsanne straight. On the sixth lap Hill was in fifth place, but unavoidably ran over debris from an accident of a car, who was about to be lapped. Hill pitted so the mechanics could see if any damage had been caused to the under carriage, but no damage was found and Phil Hill was sent out again.
However during the third hour (2hr 12m) after 29 laps, DP215 retired from the race whilst running ninth. The transmission had broken and the teeth on the input bevel failed; it was assumed that the extra torque of the 4-litre engine was responsible, as this had never happened to the DBR cars. Both DP214 cars would also suffer problems and be forced to retire.
However, both DP214 and DP215, were the first cars officially recorded as exceeding 300 km/h (186 mph) down the Mulsanne. But, DP215 was the quickest of all.
Phil Hill, in practice had been recorded at 319.6 km/h (198.6 mph) and Ted Cutting, the Aston Martin designer, is certain that DP215 had, in fact, exceeded 200 mph (320 km/h), since the timing was recorded before the cars had reached their maximum speed or the braking area.
The car still remains the fastest front end Aston Martin ever made, with Phil Hill describing the car as light and controllable at such speeds down the straight.
