Virage Magazine – Aston Martin DBR2 Feature

This week saw Car Photographer Tim Wallace of AmbientLife have some of his work with the very rare and converted Aston Martin DBR2 featured in the Aston Martin Belgium Publication ‘Virage’
The infamous DBR2 is one of the rarest Aston Martins that exists and this week it was the task of car photographer Tim Wallace to capture this very rare and elegant beauty.
Only two DBR2s were built, and they both went on to race extensively in the United States. DBR2/2 was driven by Stirling Moss to victory in the Bahamas in 1958 and was later owned by the late Victor Gauntlet, Chairman of the Aston Martin Company in the 1980s. Today these cars can both command a price tag around £8m each.

There were only two examples of the DBR2 constructed and both were a continuation of Aston Martin’s racing efforts in Grand Prix competition, including the LeMans 24 Hour race. David Brown had purchased the company in 1946 and had made the necessary moves to guarantee Aston Martin would be a top contender. He had purchased the Lagonda rights including the designs of a six cylinder engine featuring two overhead camshafts. It was one of the last designs courtesy of the legendary W.O. Bentley and in the years to come, would be the foundation for Aston Martins success in racing.

The six cylinder engine was fast and provided the company with class victories, but it was never a contender for outright victory. The three-liter Aston Martin DB3S was introduced in 1953 and finally secured the company the podium finishes it was searching for, including the top three positions at Silverstone in 1954. A DBS3 finished in second place at the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1955. The cars would have many career highlights in the hands of factory drivers and by privateers.

The successor to the DB3S was the DBR1 and it was completely new, featuring a spaceframe type chassis designed by Ted Cutting, their chief designer. The design and construction resulted in a reduction in weight by 50 lbs when compared to the DBS3, all without compromising structural rigidity. The Lockheed disc brakes and suspension were similar to the DBS3. The engine placed in the first car was a 2.5-liter version of the twin-cam six while three-liter engines were used in a few of the other cars. The David Brown five-speed gearbox was mounted transversely in the car which allowed most of the weight to be properly distributed within the vehicle creating excellent balance. Ironically, the David Brown gearbox would later prove to be problematic.

At the close of the 1956 season, John Wyer was named General Manager and Reg Parnell was given the duties of Racing Manager for the company. Under their guidance development would continue during the winter that involved many changes throughout the vehicle. The car was campaigned during the 1957 season and quickly proved it was a capable machine, scoring second place finishes in its first two races. A first place victory was in the near future but it required a modified version of the three-liter DB3S engine. Two more outright victories would follow, at Nurburgring 1000 KM and again at Spa. The three-liter engine was able to compete in sprint race, but on tracks with longer, fast straight stretches, more was needed. For this, a 3.7-liter DBR2 was constructed. In the hands of Roy Salvadori, it was able to earn a class victory at Silverstone. Unfortunately, it was not able to secure a victory at LeMans.

As the 1957 season came to a close, new regulations were placed on GP racing limiting the displacement size of engines to just three liters in the sports prototype category. For Aston Martin it meant their DBR2s with the 3.7-liter engine were ineligible to compete, but still used in non-championship races. The displacement limitation worked in their favor, as it made many of their competition obsolete, leaving just Ferrari to contend.

The 3.7-liter DBR2s scored several important victories in the hands of Moss. They were later sent to American privateers who used them in local events. The engines were later modified to 3.9-liters and then to 4.2. After two seasons, they were returned back to the factory and sold to privateers.

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Why not join us here to enjoy over 4 hours of video tutorial classes on car photography Tim Wallace – Kelby Training Instructor

2013 Seminar Events with photographer Tim Wallace
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2013 Aston Martin Book – Work Begins

Exciting news this week as work has now officially started on a proposed Aston Martin book. This has been a long term personal for car photographer Tim Wallace and has been under discussion for over 2 years now. It is hoped that the book will be completed and available by the end of 2012 for launch in early 2013 and it will be a hard back book with the aim to bring together the very best collection of Aston Martin photography very before made available to the public. Featuring all the Aston Martin models through the ages from the very early DB1 right through the the current range and the infamous One77 super Aston’s.

Tim “Its a great honour to be asked to do this book based around the range of Aston Martins through the years. Over the last few years I have become quite well known for my automotive car work and most of all probably for my Aston Martin work, for me photographing cars has never been about just showing the viewer what a model looks like but more about trying to capture and represent its form and character, cars to me have a personality, each one slightly different to the other, its having the ability to capture this passion and drama in a single image that is for me the gift of great car photography. We started work on the book earlier this week and as the chief designer said, ‘this is going to be a little like eating an elephant, one mouth full at a time…’
Over the last 5 years I have shot a huge amount of Aston’s and at last count that is near the 200 mark however as with any commercial work the photography and its style is dictated by the final requirement for its output so not ever piece of work has been shot in a dramatic style, for instance people very rarely think that all the parts and engineering side of the work has also to be covered, not to mention the ‘clinical’ work as I call it for marketing and brochures, so it is quite a massive task to ensure that I produce enough high quality work to fill a 300 page book. Also we are seeking to shoot all through the range and some models such as the infamous DBR2 are rare to say the least with only two in existence and with a price tag of £8m we have our work cut out for us but we are very lucky that as this is a joint venture with our client we have amazing access to some of the Worlds most beautiful and best kept Aston Martin secrets.
An amazing project and one that will I feel prove to be both demanding and ultimately very rewarding all at the same time.”

Le Grand Feature

This month we are very honoured to announce a feature that will appear in ‘Le Grand’ a Worldwide magazine that has its roots based in high end luxury living and life style. The magazine interviewed AmbientLife photographer Tim Wallace earlier this year to talk to him about his work with some the Worlds finest prestige car manufacturers such as Aston Martin and Bentley as well as take a look at how his work has impacted on this market Worldwide to create a desire that drives and influences his clients customers. The magazine is published in both English and Chinese across the World and has an online version available for subscribers to the facility with many sections including not only prestige automotive but also high end fashion, jewellery, lifestyle products and yachting to name a few.