Aston's Endurance Hero

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Most of us will recognise the Aston Martin Le Mans as one of the quickest and most capable sports cars of the 1930s, but close enquiry is necessary to best appreciate the model, especially in the case of outstanding individual cars like LM10.

Built in 1932, LM10 is perhaps the most raced Aston Martin ever, with an aborted entry in the 1932 JCC 1000 Mile Race marking the start of a competition career that would continue to this day. Most famously, it would earn its renown in three consecutive Le Mans. In the 1932 race, teammates LM8 and LM9 succumbed to mechanical trouble, but LM10 kept going to win its class and finish fifth overall.

A C Bertelli sold it but then bought it back for the 1933 Le Mans. When it returned in 1934 it was in the hands of privateer Reggie Tongue, but its potential couldn’t be realised as pit-lane politics insisted on it not outshining the new Ulsters, which were faltering.

During the war, LM10 became the property of Spitfire ace and Goodwood circuit mastermind Tony Gaze, and shortly after it was sold to an AMOC stalwart who raced it vigorously through the following decades.

Now restored and enjoying a more sedate phase of its life, LM10 has been sampled by Mick Walsh, who relates its history in the January issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling. Photographs by Tony Baker.

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