K&N Helps Make Aston Martin Racing GTE World Endurance Championship Possible

The Aston Martin V8 engine is limited to 480 horsepower by means of an intake restrictor

Though being formed in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford (the Aston name came from a hillclimb course). After WWII the company’s savior was tractor manufacturer David Brown, who's DB initials still grace models today.

A powerhouse in international sports car racing in the late 1950s, Aston Martin even won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 with future Cobra builder Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori driving an Aston Martin DBR1.

Over forty years would pass before Aston Martin would mount a solid effort with its production sports cars in international racing, and it finally paid off this year. Aston Martin Racing drivers Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen, both from Denmark, have won the GT world championship after taking victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale in Bahrain.

The GTE cars are built from a standard shell, as required by the rules, along with a number of standard specifications. Power of the V8 engine has been increased to 480 horsepower, and repositioned in the chassis for better weight distribution. The air inlet to the Aston Martin V8 is grabbed by scoops in the front bumper, squeeze down the required intake restrictors, then through custom pipes to a K&N air box.

This year's rules allowed for a larger rear diffuser, which helped Aston Martin greatly

Fitted internally is a roll cage to current FIA standards. Steering is hydraulically power assisted, while gear changes are made through semi-automatic paddle shifters to an Xtrac six speed sequential gearbox. Brakes consist of six pot Brembos on the front, four on the rear. Dampers are four-way adjustable products from Bilstein.

All up, the car weighs 2745 lbs or almost 1000 pounds more than Carroll Shelby’s DBR1’s 1765 lbs.

Coming into the last race of the season, the Danish driver team led the GT Drivers title battle by 12 points, with the team ahead of its nearest competitor in the GTE Pro championship with a two point advantage. While a third place finish would provide the points needed to take the GT Drivers title, the Danes claimed victory in style by taking their second win of the season, securing the GTE Pro championship for Aston Martin Racing in the process.

Qualifying went about as well as could be expected for Aston Martin, as the team took a 1-2 in GTE Pro and pole position in GTE AM for that weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Bahrain. After the sun set and temperatures dropped in the Bahraini desert, the #97 V8 Vantage GTE of Darren Turner (GB) and Jonny Adam (GB) set identical lap times of 1:56.953 to clinch pole position for the next day’s race. The pair were followed by GTE Pro and GT Drivers championship leaders Nicki Thiim (DN) and Marco Sørensen (DN), who brought their #95 entry home with an average lap time of 1:57.081 to lock out the front row of the GTE Pro grid.

Aston Martin utilizes a highly-modified K&N air box and filters

After battling hard in the race with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488GTE over the opening hours, the duo accrued a lead of over 20 seconds by the fifth hour. With their rivals pushing hard in the final stages to close the gap, Thiim worked hard to maintain the advantage to the checkered flag, finishing 12.695 seconds over second place.

Thiim’s teammate Sørensen added, “It’s absolutely amazing to win the championship and I’m going to say it’s even more incredible to win it with a Danish “brother” like Nicki. When we were 10 years old, we raced against each other in karting but to be here winning a championship with him and Aston Martin Racing is fantastic."