Motorsport

The winning drivers on that day were Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. Brooks was born in 1932 and known as the “racing dentist” because as well as racing cars he trained at his father’s dental practice. He competitively raced both sports and F1 cars between 1956 and 1961 driving for Vanwall, BRM, Ferrari and Aston Martin amongst others. Moss was born in 1927 and described by many as “the greatest driver never to win the World Championship”. He drove competitively for ten years between 1951 and 1961 in both sports and F1 cars racing for Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, Aston Martin and Lotus to name a few. He notably won the 1955 Italian Mille Miglia 1000-mile road race in a magnesium alloy bodied Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. That drive was described as the “most iconic single day’s drive in motor racing history”.

The winning Aston in the 1958 TT driven by Moss/Brooks was chassis #2 which was originally designed in 1956 by Ted Cutting and his team. It featured a multi-tubular space frame chassis, advanced front and rear suspension and a lightweight 20-gauge aluminium and magnesium alloy body shell. The shape was sleek and had distinctive vents on the side, a design feature that would become standard on many future Astons. The car was designed primarily for sports and endurance racing and though between 1956 and 1959 had many different engine configurations, the DBR1 would go on to became one of the most icon sports car of all time.