Aston Martin Garage Tour 2008
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On Friday 13th June 2008, 6 members of Team Langoustine were lucky to be invited for a tour of the Aston Martin garage. We were treated to a guided tour by Prodrive's marketing director Grahame Wright, who happily answered all our questions in great depth and detail as we mingled with staff and mechanics, who also freely answered any questions we put their way. Team Langoustine has been a great supporter of the Aston Martin DBR9 since Aston's return to Le Mans in 2005, so it was a great honour to see behind the scenes of one of British motor sports premier race teams. 2008 saw the Aston Martin DBR9's carry the light blue and orange of the Gulf Oil branding into battle, paying homage to Gulf's Ford GT40 historic triumph at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was a fitting end to the race for Aston, Gulf and their supporters, to see Aston's 009 win the LM GT1 class after completing 344 laps. Aston 007 finished 4th after 339 laps to Corvettes 63 and 64 finishing 2nd and 3rd after 344 and 341 laps respectively.
Along with the DBR9, Aston Martin have worked with the Charouz Racing Systems team on a Lola chassis fitted with the DBR9's V12. In previous races the car had shown great promise but prior to Le Mans had never proven itself over 24 hours. However, it still managed a very respectable 9Th place in it's class having completed 354 laps.
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