Aston Martin DBR1 – 1959 24 heures du Mans

This is my new laser-cut illustration, showing the Carroll Shelby/Roy Salvadori Aston Martin DBR1 which won the 1959 24 heures du Mans.
My illustration is laser-cut from stainless steel, the powder-coated green; I then hand-paint the additional colours using pin-strippers paint.

The hood opens to reveal my laser-cut brushed stainless steel illustration of the famous inline 6-cylinder DBR1 engine.
The side brackets are also laser-cut illustrations, and the back-plate is powder-coated in black crinkle finish.
The piece is very limited and comes in a custom-built box.

Here are the specs:
- 22” x 13” x 3” (55.8cm x 33cm x 7.6cm)
- 11 lbs 9 oz (5.25 kg)
- $2700 CDN/£1500 GBP/€1800 EUR/$2500 USD plus shipping/fees

© Paul Chenard 2013

Carroll Shelby 1923-2012

Carroll was a firstly a racer, and a successful racer at that.

He started in MGs, and quickly moved up to Allards, Ferraris and Maseratis. He joined the Aston Martin racing team, and shared a win of the 1959 Le Mans with Roy Salvatori.

Health issues forced him out of racing shortly afterward, so he set up a driving school.

Ken Miles in an A.C. CobraPen&ink and pencil crayons on corrogated cardboard
© Paul Chenard
His European experience showed him how more advanced the European and British sport car chassis and suspension setups were against their American counterparts.

He reasoned that a British sports car fitted with an American engine could be a successful combination. He ordered a modified A.C. Ace body and chassis and fitted it with a Ford engine. From Autumn 1961 till late Summer of 1962, Shelby American developed the A.C. Cobra into powerful performance sports and race car.
Shelby Cobra 289Pen&ink, paint markers and markers on blue archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2012

Orders flooded in and the car was a success. A further development of the Cobra came as an aerodynamic coupe, in a form more apt to beat Ferraris at the long distance races such as Le Mans.

 
Cobra Daytona Coupe – Le Mans 1965Pen&ink, paint markers and markers on blue archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2012
The Cobra Coupes beat Ferrari for the 1965 GT Championship, and Shelby was also instrumental in Ford Motor Company’s successful GT 40 wins at Le Mans for 1966 and 1967. At the same time, he developed their new Mustang into successful track car with the GT350. 
Ken Miles in a Shelby Mustang GT350Pencils on white stock, digitally painted
© Paul Chenard
Though working in performance development with mostly Ford, Carroll Shelby also worked with Dodge and Oldmobile. He was a “tuner” before the word was even coined!

Shelby American has also continued creating “continuation” Shelby Cobra roadsters.

Carroll Shelby saw opportunity where others didn’t and followed through with his vision and goals. Very few can match his legacy.

Stirling Moss – 1959 Nürburgring 1000 km

L’art et l’automobile is one of North America’s oldest and best known gallery and auction house of vintage automobilia and art.

They current have a wonderful auction on the go, and they are featuring one of my artworks.

As my friends and clients know, I do an annual signed and numbered Holiday card, for which I create an original artwork.

My very first Holiday card original artwork is included in the current auction, and it also includes an artist proof of the limited edition card, issued in December 2008 to a very limited run of only 75 cards.

Prismacolor pencils on gray archival stock 18"x 7" 
© Paul Chenard 2008

The original artwork shows Sir Stirling Moss driving at 10/10ths on his way to phenomenal win of the 1959 Nürburgring 1000 km in an Aston Martin DBR1. He is being chased by second-place finisher Phil Hill in a Ferrari TR59.

This is an opportunity to pick the first of what is now an annual tradition.

Les 24 heures du Mans 2011

The 24 heures du Mans is coming up this weekend, at the same time as Grand Prix du Canada. Talk about over-stimulation!

The 24 Heures du Mans race is the world’s oldest sports car race, with the first race being held in 1923.


The race is organized by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and it is run on the Circuit de Sarthe, about 2.5 hours south-west of Paris.


On the world stage, the race equals in stature to the Grand Prix de Monaco in the Formula 1, and the Indianapolis 500 in Indy car.


There have been cycles of consecutive winners starting with Bentley in the late 1920’s, followed by Alfa Romeo through the 1930’s, and two Bugatti wins late in the decade.


 The war years stopped the race until 1949, with the advent of Ferrari’s first win there. There was mostly Jaguar dominance through the mid-1950’s. Ferrari came back with a vengeance, winning six years in a row, 1960 through to 1965.


At this point, we were well into the Ford/Ferrari war, with Ford taking the next four years. Please read A. J. Baimes’ great book “Go like Hell” to get fabulous insight on the battles.





1970 heralded the Porsche years at Le Mans, with sixteen wins until 1998. These were interspersed with wins by Jaguar, Mercedes, Mazda, Peugeot, Dauer, McLaren, and BMW.


Since 2000, we have been in the Audi years, with the exception of Bentley (2003) and Peugeot (2009).


Aston Martin has returned “en force”, so this year is looking like a three-way battle between them, Audi and Peugeot.


Le Mans has never been so exciting!

Race Retro

This coming weekend, one of Europe’s largest shows for historic motorsport, historic racing and historic rallying will take place in Stoneleigh Park in Coventry, United Kingdom.

Race Retro, celebrating its 7th year, will be honouring the 100th anniversary of Alfa Romeo. The show has grown in stature each year, and is now one of the premier events.

I’m very honoured to be represented in the UK by the prestigious gallery Historic Car Art, and they will be set up at Race Retro, featuring my art and limited editions, along-side many well-known motorsports artist.

Historic Car Art also showcases a large selection of original vintage race posters. They will set up in Hall #1 at Race Retro.

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato – Jim Clark – 2VEV
The original is available from Historic Car Art at Race Retro – Hall #1

Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato: “Machismo” defined

After they introduced their stunning new Touring-bodied DB4 GT in 1959, Aston Martin decided to take on Ferraris SWB 250GTs with their own weapon.



Pen & ink and Prismacolor pencils on Canson green archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2009

They commissioned the Milanese firm of Zagato to make their new car competitive. Young designer Ercole Spada penned a fabulous lightweight “Superleggera” body, “super-light” in Italian, which refers to a Touring-developed construction method of a frame of small-diameter metal tubes built on the main chassis, and covered with aluminum body panels.

The car is a stunning purposeful-looking racer; Doug Nye described it as "a man's car" in his 1982 Salon feature review in Road & Track magazine. It is beautiful from every angle ... rolling sculpture.

Though the Zagato was slightly lighter the original DB4 GT, they were not competitive enough to beat the all-conquering Scuderia Ferrari, which introduced the GTO. They were raced by such famous drivers as Roy Salvadori and Jim Clark.

19 of the Zagatos were built originally, and in 1991, Aston Martin authorized the building of 4 more DB4 GT Zagatos, utilizing unutilized chassis numbers; these were labeled as Sanction II cars. The original cars rarely come up for sale, but if they did, the expected sale price would be at least $3 million USD.

1959 Nürburgring 1000 km Race

Prismacolor pencils on gray archival stock
© Paul Chenard 2008

In 1959, Sir Stirling Moss convinced Aston Martin Company owner Sir David Brown to lend him an Aston Martin DBR1 sports car to participate in the Nürburgring 1000 km. Brown’s only real goal for 1959 was to win at Le Mans, so allowed only one car to go.

Moss was completely convinced that he could repeat his previous year’s win there, against some strong Ferrari opposition.

Driving at 10/10ths for the whole race, Moss did indeed reel in his second consecutive Aston Martin win at Nürburgring, with the assistance of his co-driver Jack Fairman.

In the illustration, Sir Stirling Moss gets ahead of second place winner Phil Hill; Moss’ win gave Aston Martin the additional points required to clinch the World GT Championship.