Before Aston ruled the world

It is fair to say history has been less kind to the Aston Martin DB3 than many of its brethren. For even if cars like the DBR2, DBR4 and DBR5 were far less successful, they were at least knee-tremblingly gorgeous. The DB3? A certain pugnacious charm for sure, but it’s clearly less beautiful.

But 70 years after its greatest triumph, perhaps the time is right to revisit the DB3, strip away the benefit of hindsight, assess it on its own merits and, of course, see what it is like for ourselves. Aston built 10 such cars (five works, five private) and the example I’m going to drive is the very car that scored that greatest triumph. Better still, I’m going to drive it on the very same circuit.

Debate the success of the DB3 all you like, but you cannot really argue its importance. Not only was it the first Aston to be built from the ground up as a pure racing car, it also set off a chain reaction that would lead directly and without interval to Aston Martin winning not only Le Mans, but the World Sportscar Championship eight years later.