edit ] Tony Brooks with mechanic, Eric Hind parked outside the 1957 Le Mans Aston Martin base, the Hotel de France, at the wheel of his DBR1 race car.

The Aston Martin DBR1 is a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time. It is most famous as the victor of the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, Aston Martin's only outright victory at the endurance classic. It is one of only three cars in the 1950s to win both the World Sports Car Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours in the same year (the others being the Ferrari 375 Plus in 1954 and the Ferrari 250TR in 1958). In addition the six World Sports Car Championship victories was a record for any car in the 1950s and remained a record in the championship until surpassed by the Ferrari 250TR. The three consecutive triumphs in 1959 at the Nürburgring, Le Mans and the Tourist Trophy equalled the record set by the Ferrari 250TR with its three consecutive victories at the start of the 1958 season.But he became disillusioned when he had to switch to less physically demanding work after sustaining a knee injury. These are good people," Mr Westwood said. "I know that some people think that we're unskilled and this is a minimum wage for a 'minimum job'. But you need us during the pandemic. You applauded us and painted rainbows in the street. We're the same people." Julie Fyffe, Governance Manager for the centre said: “The Trustees, staff of BCC and the people of Belvedere are very grateful for this generous donation that will be utilised constantly to keep our grounds neat and tidy! We are overwhelmed by AMZL’s DBR1 generosity and interest in our community. We very much look forward to future cooperation and working together on upcoming projects including the new Belvedere Community Gardening Club to be announced soon. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rhod, his team and all at DBR1 for this fantastic donation and commitment to our community. We would also like to thank Francesca Waite of AMZL for her enthusiasm and support.”

The road-legal regulation was relaxed for 1956, although that was immediately offset by a 2.5-litre limit imposed in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans tragedy. Aston Martin nevertheless embraced this new freedom to create the DBR1 from a clean sheet of paper. The 2.5-litre limit didn’t suit Jaguar or Maserati and both pulled out of the championship, leaving Aston’s bespoke baby to face a lone but formidable factory foe in Ferrari. We got to Primark, we got our hi-vis on, we just started chatting to people,” recalls local GMB activist Rachel Fagan. “We just listened to what they wanted and what they wanted to do. And they were saying, ‘These workers have had enough, and they want to tell their story.’” It's 10 hours a day, standing on your feet. I do 18,000 steps and it takes its toll on people. I've got an injury to my shoulder. Some days it's just so painful. Some nights I can't sleep, it just keeps me awake. And that's from the repetitive strain of doing the same job over and over and over and over." But the GMB has reluctantly admitted defeat for now, rather than risk losing a recognition ballot, which would bar it from reapplying for three years. That first walkout was spectacular,” says Westwood. “I didn’t think it would work; not because I didn’t trust what we were doing, but because of the pressure. It was only 50 or 60 people, but because they were coming out in dribs and drabs, it just felt awesome.”He describes lifting weights of seven, eight or nine kilos repeatedly for a nine or 10-hour shift with just two half hour breaks - and they involve going through scanning machines and walking to the canteen. Following Aston Martin's success in 1959, David Brown decided to make a move to Formula One with the DBR4 and DBR5 that ultimately proved unsuccessful. Thus the factory's David Brown Racing Department would no longer compete in sports cars. The four DBR1s retained by the factory, including the rebuilt DBR1/3, were sold off to customers for use in various series.