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Before the First World War, Lionel Martin
sold and raced Singer cars. When he began building his
own cars in 1921 he called them Aston Martin after the
Aston Clinton hill in Buckinghamshire where he had some
success in a speed hill climb. The firm was financed by Count Zborwski but when he was killed at Monza in 1924 driving a Mercedes a temporary halt had to be called on the car building. In 1926 A.C. Bertelli designed a new 1 1/2 litre car with OHV 4-cylinder engine. |
| In the Aston Martin Le Mans of 1931 the engine developed 70 BHP. The Ulster model developed from the Mk. 2 had twin S.U. carburettors and a higher compression resulting in a rated HP of 80. |  |
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In 1947 David Brown took over the Aston Martin Company. DB2 had a 6-cylinder 2 1/2 litre engine originally designed by W.O. Bentley for Lagonda. The DB2/4 G T coupé became the Mk.3 with triple Weber and 162 BHP. That car was developed for sports car racing with open body and 210 BHP as the DB3S and later the DBRI/300 winning the Sports Car Championship in 1959 |