When you think Aston Martin, you often associate the British automaker with stunning, luxurious continent-crossing long-distance V12 GT cars, or with the glamorous world of James Bond. However, decades before Sean Connery’s DB5 ever hit the big screen, the marque forged its history through motorsport.
The company can trace its roots back to Aston Clinton hill-climb, in Buckinghamshire, England. Over a century ago, the brand’s founder, Lionel Martin, and his business partner, Robert Bamford, were regulars on the hillclimb scene, with their lightweight racing machines. It was at this venue that the pair got their first taste of victory, leading Martin’s wife to suggest naming the company after the Hill Climb, and Aston Martin was born. The final race at Aston Hill took place in 1925.
To mark the centenary of that final race, the company brought its F1-bred carbon fiber-clad 1,140 horsepower Valkyrie hypercar to run alongside one of Aston’s oldest surviving historic race cars, known as the Clover Leaf. The short clip released by Aston Martin shows both cars taking on the iconic hill climb in dramatic fashion. Designed by the legendary F1 designer, Adrian Newey, the Valkyrie’s 6.5-liter Cosworth-built V12 is seen howling through the same tree-lined bit of tarmac that once brought glory to its ancestors.
Aston Martin’s motorsport legacy dates back to the 1910s and the high-speed banking at Brooklands in 1914, a venue where a works car would top 103 mph a decade later with the Aston Martin Razor Blade. By the early 1920s, Aston was being backed by a wealthy investor, Count Louis Zborowski, and his funding propelled Aston into Europe’s premier Grand Prix scene, where the company saw even more success. While Zborowski’s death in 1924 almost killed the dream, Aston’s reputation stuck and is one that has helped it persevere through turbulent times and multiple ownerships in the past 100 years.
But it was under Sir David Brown in the post-war years that the company took a giant leap forward, with both its race cars and road cars. The ‘DB’ moniker seen on popular Aston models to this day honors Brown, who acquired the company in 1947 and resurrected it, steering Aston to a Le Mans victory and a World Sports Cars Championship in 1959. While Formula 1 was a tougher nut to crack back in the early 1960s, decades later, and after countless GT victories, Aston finally returned to F1 as a full works team in 2021, under Canadian businessman and billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
While the two cars seen in the film are over a century apart, both are at the cutting-edge of technology, innovation and top-tier performance for their respective eras and serve as a fitting tribute to the venue, where the Aston story all began.
Image Source: Aston Martin YouTube