Retro GT: Aston Martin DBR9/102

Aston Martin DBR9 chassis number 102 is one of the British marque’s most powerful cars ever built. This unique machine was the second customer example of the classic GT1 introduced in 2005 as a thoroughbred racer for Le Mans, bought in 2006 by Alcides Diniz, a wealthy Brazilian businessman and owner of the Capuava Racing Team in order to race in South America. The Paulistano was a great passionate fan of racing which brought him to bring together a fabulous collection of race cars easily recognisable by the scarcely dressed lady painted on the hood of his cars and even going as far as building a race track on his own farmland.

Despite the fact that the team is not very well known in Europe, Capuava Racing earned a good reputation in Brazil and the South American continent, entering its cars regularly in races at tracks such as Curitibia and the famous Mil Milhas Brasileiras.

Aston Martin delivered chassis 102 with a unique configuration. First of all, the original 6-litre V12 was boosted by 75hp over the 2005-spec engine already capable of 600hp and the gearbox system was made quicker than the original one by the addition of a paddle-shift gear change system. Furthermore, chassis 102 was fitted with a high-downforce aerodynamic kit with a bigger front splitter combined with a larger rear wing.

The car never raced and made only a single competition appearance in practice for the Mil Milhas Brasileiras in 2006 when it was forced to retire from the weekend due to an issue with the engine. With the trio of Paul Boesel, Pedro Lamy and Tony Kanaan lined up to race, it’s only possible to speculate what could have been. Sadly, the death of Alcides Diniz in 2006 rang in the end of the team’s existence and the DBR9/102 was put up for sale the year after.

Today, the car is managed by Tim Samways’ racing team and raced regularly with great success by Nikolaus Ditting in both Global and Masters Endurance Legends where the V12 can sing its songs after all.

Photos by Erwan Seite.