Two sports cars join the line up

A couple of sports cars have recently joined the museum display. Both are models from well known British names but from very different ends of the sports car spectrum, yet are typical of the small volume manufacturers for which Britain is renowned. The first is an Aston Martin DBR9 GT car from 2005, the racing car developed by Prodrive for the company. It was the first DBR9 that was sold to a private team and raced in many international endurance events, including the 24 hour race at Le Mans. During five seasons of racing the car was the most successful DBR9 of all and became the most successfully Aston Martin racing car of any era. The car is now owned by an Aston Martin collector and on loan to the Trust. The second car is very different in style but not in spirit. It is a Marcos GT, built at the end of the 1960s. The GT was made in small numbers at the company’s Wiltshire factory; a fibreglass bodied sports model with a reasonably powerful engine. Marcos became synonymous with the ‘hairy chested’ British sports car of the 1970s and 1980s – lightweight with big engines. Like Aston Martin, Marcos history is one of mixed fortunes and, in spite of several attempts at restarting the company, is now dormant.