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David Brown knew that 'Racing improves the breed', and soon after buying Aston Martin, he brought in Eberan von Eberhorst of pre-war Auto Union fame to develop a sports racing car using DB2 parts. The result was the DB3 which was first raced in 1951 under the famous Team Manager, John Wyer. Power was provided from a 133bhp 2.6 litre DB2 Vantage tuned unit using triple Weber carburettors; later the 2.9 litre engine was always tried which produced 163bhp. This brought success at Silverstone in 1952 in the Production sports car race with a 2nd (Reg Parnell), 3rd (George Abecassis) and 4th (Lance Macklin) place behind a Jaguar C-type. All three Works cars retired from the 1952 Le Mans race but the DB3 recorded an overall win at Goodwood in the 9 hour race (Peter Collins and Pat Griffith). But the car lacked power and was also too heavy. Thus the decision was taken to go with the plans of 'Willie' Watson to develop a smaller, lighter car (DB3S) and sadly von Eberhorst left Aston Martin.

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