Sponsorships

Life's a drag!

In January 2011, Gulf announced its title sponsorship of Ian King’s extreme power challenger for the 2011 FIM UEM European Top Fuel Bike Championship.

Normally associated with the world’s leading sports cars, Gulf’s distinctive powder blue and orange racing colours adorned a drag bike that - from a standing start - can outpace any Formula One car and even an F15 Jet fighter plane.

The 1500 horse-power Gulf Racing Top Fuel Motorcycle, capable of accelerating from 0 - 250 mph in under six seconds, is ridden by King, five-time European Top Fuel Bike champion and the most successful rider in European Top Fuel competition.  It competes on Gulf’s premium range of lubricants and gear oils as it aims to become the fastest accelerating motorcycle in the world.

King made a perfect start to its 2011 campaign on the notoriously tricky Kunmadaras track in Hungary with a 6.57 second run at over 200mph on only its third ever run on track – despite conservative power settings.

After qualifying on pole, King set the lowest elapsed time and highest terminal speed of the competition on his way to defeating Canadian rider Nate Gagnon to take an early championship points lead.

An incident-packed weekend saw him finish in second place at the new world class facility at Tierp in Sweden, extending his overall lead in the Championship and securing another entry into the record books.

In deploying his parachute during his semi final against former Champion Sverre Dahl of Norway, King became the first rider in UEM European Dragbike history to use such a device. In the process, he ran a best time for the bike of 6.3132s, defeating Dahl’s 6.4754s in what was pulsating viewing for spectators.

Though King was not crowned winner of the 2011 FHRA Nitro Nationals, taking place in Alastro, Finland, the gap at the top of the table now stands at 40 points.

Having finished second in qualifying, King lost his quarter final to local favourite Petri Paljakka, who moved into second overall after going on to win his home event.

Despite eventually being pipped at the post to final post by Peter Svensson, King remains upbeat about his debut season with Gulf.

Despite a personal best run of 6.251 seconds for the Gulf Racing Top Fuel Motorcycle in qualifying at Santa Pod, it was not to be for King as he was knocked out in the first round of eliminations by Sverre Dahl.

“We're obviously disappointed we couldn’t hold on to the number one spot, but we have achieved beyond our wildest dreams this season.” explains King.

“The competition peaked at the wrong time for us, but we hadn’t expected to be in such a lofty position with the new bike until this time next year, so we’re very happy overall.”

“I just can’t wait for next season to start now!”

Meanwhile, the newly developed Gulf-sponsored AMR-One LMP1 prototype race car was put through its toughest challenge to date as both the 007 and 009 compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

It was not to be as both the 007 and 009 were forced into early retirement, but, as always, the classic endurance event was not without its share of drama.

Both AMR-One LMP1 prototype race cars ran into trouble. Darren Turner spinning with mechanical trouble and Adrian Fernandez stopping out on the Mulsanne. The 007 of Turner was recovered to the pits where it was discovered an alternator belt tensioner was to blame.

Another disappointing performance at the Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone meant a return to the drawing board,

The team of Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Christian Klien, driving the Lola-Aston Martin that had secured the Le Mans Series title in 2009, finished ninth, 11 laps behind winners Peugeot.

LMP1 car wows crowd on world debut  

The new Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin LMP1 race cars made an impressive world debut at the official Le Mans Series (LMS) test days at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.
 
The sleek blue and orange prototypes are quite simply stunning and unsurprisingly attracted a huge amount of attention from media and public alike. This was magnified as for the first time this year the LMS organisers opened up the official tests for public viewing. Despite the tough economic times, the test session was a sell-out, which demonstrates the high level of interest in sports car racing. This bodes well for Gulf's 2009 racing programme, which covers both the LMS and Le Mans 24 Hours.
 
Gulf Oil International's Vice President, Alain Dujean was brimming with enthusiasm about the two-day event. "The air of excitement and anticipation around seeing the LMP1 car in the flesh and actually running has been intense since the announcement in January and I must say that it has been well worth the wait! The car is absolutely beautiful. It shows off the famous Gulf racing colours superbly and it is evidently quick even at this early stage".  Last year's programme with the GT1 car was excellent for Gulf and gave the brand a global uplift in presence. However it already feels like we have stepped up another level and we are very excited at the prospects for the season, both for the team and for what they offer to Gulf's businesses around the world."
 
Aston Martin Racing worked day and night in recent weeks to get both 007 and 009 cars ready for the test. Both cars ran well, despite this being the first time that either machine had turned a wheel on the track.
 
007, piloted by the now well-established driving team of Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mucke, was immediately on the pace of the other cars at the test, with Enge setting a then-fastest overall time for Day One.  Unfortunately an accident put an end to the car's track time, but happily Enge walked away uninjured.
 
009, crewed by Harold Primat, Miguel Ramos and long standing Aston Martin Racing team member Darren Turner, gradually worked its way up the time sheets. All three drivers used the two days to get valuable learning time in an LMP1 car, as well as providing the team with invaluable data for the cars' ongoing development.
 
Last year's victorious Le Mans 24 Hours GT1 champion - Darren Turner, happily admitted that driving an LMP1 car involved a steep learning curve, but it was clearly one he was relishing. "The main focus right now is to put miles on the new car and allow me and my team mates to get up to speed. For me it is a big step from the DBR9 to LMP1 but I'm happy that after two days of testing I am starting to feel comfortable. I'm really looking forward to the first race in Barcelona and the rest of the year".
 
Aston Martin Racing was also clearly satisfied with the test as Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell confirmed, "It's a credit to the team that both of our cars have run so reliably after such an intense and tiring build period. For a first test with two brand new cars we have run very successfully."

It is a brave decision from Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing to step up into LMP1 - the top category of world sports car racing. The 2009 programme seems to have found favour in the business community as the number of Aston Martin Racing partners has increased notably and the team used the opportunity afforded by the LMS test, to formally bring all of the partners together.
 
Gulf Oil International's Brand and Marketing Manager, Sam Cork is quick to highlight what this can mean to Gulf entities around the world. "Aston Martin Racing has attracted some excellent partners and there are a number of activities already scheduled by the team and its partner companies. Our discussions with our fellow partners indicate that they are happy to talk about joint promotional activities and business development opportunities, which should be excellent news for Gulf affiliates everywhere."

Aston Martin Racing now begins an intense period of testing and development prior to the cars' competitive debut at the first LMS race at Barcelona on 3-5th April and Gulf looks on with bated breath to see how the new cars fair.

Gulf at Goodwood

2008 has provided some real highs for Gulf in motorsport.  The victory of the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin DBR9 in Le Mans this year has proved to be one of a number of highlights for Gulf in its 40th anniversary year.

In Britain, the summer's largest enthusiast motorsport meeting, the famous ‘Goodwood Festival of Speed' honoured Gulf as one of the featured themes of the three-day meeting.

For more than fifteen years, Goodwood (stately home of the Earl of March) has been the venue for a unique combination of high-octane international motorsport and English ‘Garden Party'. The Goodwood Festival attracts more than 100,000 visitors, all of whom have the chance to mix with the legends of motorsport - both man and machine!

Mixing it with current Formula One cars, priceless Grand Prix cars, Indycars and Sportscars of all ages, was a mouth-watering selection of Gulf sportscars both past and present. These included the popular GT40, Porsche 917 and 908/3, Mirage GR7 and McLaren F1 sportscar (picture attached). These classic cars were also joined by the newest piece of Gulf success, in the form of the GT1 category winning 009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9. In addition to these Gulf motorsport icons, several other historically important Gulf-sponsored race cars were on display to complete the show. One of the all-conquering Gulf-McLaren M8 Can-Am cars, as well as two of the McLaren Grand Prix cars from the ‘60s and ‘70s highlighted Gulf sponsorship of the Marque's Formula 1 efforts during that period.

All of the Gulf cars attracted huge amounts of attention and especially when they were joined by some of the drivers who have contributed to Gulf's success over the decades; Le Mans winners Jackie Oliver (pictured) and Derek Bell, amongst them.

Such was the strength of the Gulf presence that at this year's event that ITV (one the UK's two leading terrestrial TV broadcasters), devoted a five minute segment of their coverage of the festival to the history of Gulf in Motorsport.
 
A big thank you is owed to Jonathan Turner of GLUK for such a high profile Gulf presence.


World and National Motorbike Success

Moving from four to two wheels, the Gulf livered Ducatis, sponsored through Michel Majot, Gulf's distributor in Belgium, have again clinched a title for Gulf in motorsport.

In the French Hyper Challenge, Briton Sam Matthews rode to victory in the championship on his Ducati Hypermotard 1100S, entered by Ducati Chambourcy in the colours of the Gulf Racing Team.

On the world stage, France's second 24 Hour round of the World Motorbike Endurance championship, the Bol D'or (at the home of F1 in France, Magny Cours) also proved to be a notable weekend for the Gulf bikes.

Earlier in the year, a single Gulf-Ducati 1098R had been running competitively in the Le Mans 24 Hours Moto race, before gearbox troubles intervened and ultimately put paid to its challenge.

Further testing showed that the gearbox could still potentially be a weak spot. So for the Bol D'or the 1098R, as well as a smaller 848-engined Ducati, were entered. The latter ultimately proved to have the formula for success.

Despite the 50 BHP disadvantage over the 1098R, the 848's manoeuvrability and the reduced strain on the gearbox meant that the blue and orange machine was both quick and reliable.

Conditions for the endurance challenge were truly awful and unfortunately the 1098R succumbed to a crash early in the race. The other team bike (driven by Thierry Capella, Fred Notte, and Pierre Solari), also fell victim to the foul weather, when Capella came off the bike injuring his leg at around the 12 hour mark. The team lost 40 minutes repairing the bike, but of more concern was the fact that the team was now reduced to two riders.

This meant that Notte and Solari had to ride 90 minute stints instead of the original 60 minutes. However with the exception of an exhaust change in mid morning, the bike ran faultlessly and the brave riders ensured that the bike made it to the finish.

The end result saw the Gulf machine finish second in the Open Category splitting the two factory BMW entries in the process.

Team Boss Jean-Pierre Benveniste was clearly delighted, "Could we have imagined this before the start? The answer was "NO". He continues "but thanks to the Ducati 848, which went extremely well and ran reliably and efficiency, we took the podium place between the two official BMW machines."

A poster  has been printed to commemorate Gulf's success on two wheels.


Rallying

Gulf-sponsored machines have also been newsworthy in the world of Rallying.

In Poland, Gulf's official distributors - Oil Trading Poland (OTP) - have recently signed an agreement with one of the country's leading rally outfits.

October saw the unveiling of the first of two Gulf liveried Mitsubishi-Evos entered by Rentier Team Poland, which will spearhead an attack on the Polish National Championship in 2009. Experienced drivers Marcin Abramowski and Tomasz Trembicki will be driving the blue and orange machines. They have already gained reputations as two of the leading drivers in Polish Rallying and should help establish Gulf as true contenders in the country.

GOI Brand Marketing Manager, Sam Cork was present at the unveiling, held during OTP's Gulf dealer meeting (pictured), and was very impressed. "The car looks sensational, and the whole team including the support vehicles will be running Gulf colours. This should give the brand excellent visibility in Poland aiding OTP to strengthen their sales further"

GOI Vice President International, Alain Dujean, was also a keen rally spectator, as he witnessed the efforts of the the Gulf-Mitsubishi of rising Finnish rally star, Juha Salo during Finland's round of the World Championship. Finnish Distributors, US Parts Finn-AM OY, had sponsored the car especially for the event.

Salo was both fast and spectacular, heading his category until a huge accident, right in front of the TV cameras forced his retirement from the event. Salo fortunately emerged unscathed apart from his pride.

Gulf's new Irish official distributors have also been using Rallying as part of their marketing plans, with Gulf branding appearing on the Citroen of Junior World Rally star, Shaun Gallagher. We will keep you updated as to his progress.

 
Further Aston Martin Racing News

Gulf narrowly missed a position on the podium at the recent 250 Mile Race at the Nürburgring. The Gulf-liveried DBRS9, driven by Thomas Enge and Robert Lechner inspired with some excellent driving in one of the rare races on the famous 20.8 km Nordshcleife circuit.

The car created a real stir in the pit lane when it appeared in Gulf livery and qualified third overall. When the race got underway the DBRS9 proved to be even faster, chasing down the leader for most of the race. A puncture on the penultimate lap saw the car finish fourth overall, only missing the rostrum by the narrowest of margins, but with the consolation of setting the second fastest lap of the race.

Gulf used the event as the centre of a global distributor promotion with Aston Martin Racing Team drivers, Enge and Lechner making a competition draw.  The draw saw Gulf distributors from Ireland, Nepal, Poland, Sweden and Turkey all winning VIP tickets to the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours.

GOI Vice President International, Alain Dujean, was also present to witness this stirring performance in Germany. "It has been an incredible season so far, with Gulf having a huge amount of success and using its motorsport programme to an extent unseen in recent years. Although the racing season is drawing to a close, Gulf is still busy with various activities that will take place before the end of the year. This will help to further promote the brand, its products and its distributors' businesses around the world."

Glory for Gulf at Le Mans 2008!

Gulf Celebrates Aston Martin Racing's Superb GT1 Victory.

Gulf has celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first win at Le Mans in the finest possible style, with an incredibly hard fought victory in LMGT1 going to the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing DBR9, number 009, driven by David Brabham, Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia.

In front of the assembled ranks of Gulf affiliates from all over the world, the blue and orange factory Aston Martin race cars successfully defended their GT1 title at Le Mans. In doing so, they created another memorable chapter in Gulf’s long and glorious motorsport history, something that David Brabham was quick to mention in his victory interview on the winners podium.

The Le Mans 24 Hours forms the opening portion of Gulf Oil International’s 2008 Global Convention and its theme, “Winning Then, Winning Now, Winning in the Future” could almost be the story of the weekend.

“It is an incredible weekend for Gulf,” comments Gulf Vice President International, Alain Dujean. “On Friday we commemorated the 40th anniversary of Gulf’s first and Pedro Rodriguez’s sole win here in 1968, with a beautiful tribute from the Scuderia Rodriguez  (the family and friends of Pedro) as they handed on their “racing colours” to Aston Martin Racing. Now we have this fantastic result to celebrate with our racing partners.”

David King, Head of Product Communications at Aston Martin Lagonda, is also delighted with the way the partnership and, of course, the weekend, have developed. “We are absolutely thrilled with the victory. We really thought we had a tough task on our hands to win here this year and the whole team has been fantastic. The atmosphere, with all of the guests from Gulf and our other racing partners has been excellent and the Gulf relationship is really working well. We had fantastic coverage in the media all over the world before the event, and now we will all look to capitalise on what is an absolutely brilliant result.”

Race

From the start of the race, it was obvious that the competition was going to be as close as the testing and qualifying times had suggested. The leading GT1 contenders swapped places on pitstops in the opening hours but, by the evening, the blue and orange 009 car had established the slenderest of leads. This it held to the finish, coming home to victory by less than a lap at the end of 24 hours. The factory Chevrolet Corvettes took the finish right down to the wire, they too running at almost exactly the same race pace as the Aston Martin Racing DBR9s throughout the 24 Hours.

The race had started in bright sunshine on Saturday, but as it went on, conditions changed and much of the second half was contested in the rain, making driving conditions extremely tricky.  The leading four GT1 contenders – the Gulf-liveried DBR9s and Chevrolet’s Corvettes - all had to stay out of trouble, as the slightest mistake from any of them would have handed victory to one of the others. As cars were spinning out everywhere, incredibly, all four GT1 leaders barely missed a beat, ensuring that nobody could relax, all the way through to the end.

The Gulf-sponsored 007 Aston Martin of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini finished fourth, only missing out on a GT1 podium place by two laps – the time lost during the night when they had problems restarting at a pit stop – on what was an amazing team performance.

Summary

Gulf Oil International’s Alain Dujean sums up this epic weekend for Gulf, “Huge congratulations are due to David Richards, Dr Ulrich Bez, the Aston Martin Racing Team and everyone at Aston Martin Lagonda. They have done a superb job and can be truly proud of what they have achieved. They have worked tirelessly both on and off the track to make this Le Mans an excellent one for Gulf and I am sure that I speak on behalf of all of the Gulf people here this weekend when I say that they have truly given us a race to remember.

“Gulf’s presence at Le Mans this year has been a major step forward on years gone by. The partnership with Aston Martin Racing has given the Gulf brand huge global media exposure and a massive international boost. Here at Le Mans, the Dakota stores selling Gulf clothing have been extremely busy with legions of Gulf fans making the Gulf presence at the track extremely visible, as a result. Gulf is also proud to have sponsored Radio Le Mans, whose work continues to excel. But this weekend truly belongs to the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing team. With our Gulf affiliates from all over the world present here this weekend, there will be a celebration of global proportions in the Gulf ranks tonight!”

Images

Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing DBR9 009 makes its final pit stop en route to victory.
Aston Martin Racing DBR9 007 lines up for the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
009 Thunders on to victory watched by guests in the Aston Martin hospitality unit.
Presentation of presentation of Scuderia Rodriguez 40th Anniversary Plaque.
Victory Podium

Gulf Oil International Motorsport Update in partnership with Aston Martin Racing.

Aston Martin racing DBR9s on the pace in Le Mans qualifying.

The Gulf-liveried Aston Martin Racing DBR9s have come safely through the long and arduous qualifying sessions for the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours.
 
With the 009 Gulf–sponsored car having set setting the fastest GT1 time in the Official Test, the suggestion that the category was likely to be very closely contested already seems to be coming to fruition. The competition, in the shape of the factory Chevrolet Corvettes and Larbre Saleen, have responded, and the top five GT1 cars have all qualified within two and a half seconds of each other.
 
The cars have now completed eight hours of competitive motoring on the circuit and the blue and orange factory Aston Martins will start fourth and fifth in the GT1 category. The defending GT1 Champions, the 009 Gulf-sponsored DBR9, crewed by David Brabham Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia have qualified only just over a second shy of the pole.
 
The 007 car – with its ex-Formula 1 crew of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Carl Wendlinger, together with Andrea Piccini is less than a second behind its sister car.
 
Aston Martin Racing pilot, Darren Turner, gives an overview of qualifying. “ We have been using the sessions to try different things in setting up the car for the race. A good race set-up is not necessarily the same as the fastest qualifying set-up. I’m confident that we have found something which works for all three drivers and I’m very much looking forward to the race.”
 
With this being the 40th anniversary of the first Gulf win at Le Mans, Gulf’s presence here is extremely strong and the public’s affection for the brand can be seen throughout the circuit, with people sporting Gulf colours seemingly everywhere one turns.
 
Gulf is involved in a number of activities around the race weekend and two are worthy of special mention.
 
Gulf – together with Official Clothing Licensee, Dakota - are proud sponsors of Radio Le Mans, the official English language radio station of the Le Mans 24 Hours. At 40 minutes past the hour, Radio Le Mans is airing its “Gulf 40 at 40” slots – a selection of short features about Gulf and its motorsport history. 
 
The Radio Le Mans broadcast crew are all kitted out in special Gulf-Radio Le Mans clothing, provided by Dakota and this helps add to the Gulf presence at the circuit.
 
Radio Le Mans broadcasts live throughout Le Mans week. It is available over the internet at http://www.radiolemans.com/ <http://www.radiolemans.com/> or, live in the region, on 91.2 FM.
 
Friday also sees the arrival of delegates from all over the world, for the 2008 Gulf Oil International Convention. The programme of activities will naturally commence with   the ‘Great Race’ itself.
 
The Le Mans 24 Hours will be broadcast live and non-stop through the Eurosport networks – Eurosport and Eurosport Asia-Pacific.
 
The race will commence at 15.00CET on Saturday. It will also be streamed live, with commentaries on Eurosport websites throughout Europe.
 
Further live updates and information can also be obtained through the official Le Mans website http://www.lemans.org/ <http://www.lemans.org/> .
 
The attached pictures show the Gulf-sponsored Aston Martin Racing 009 car in action and the 007 car in a night session pit stop.
 


Encouraging start for Gulf at Le Mans Official Test

The two Gulf sponsored DBR9s of the factory Aston Martin Racing squad, emerged from the Le Mans official test day in a good position, ahead of the race itself, in two weekends’ time.
 
It was a day of extremely mixed conditions, which went from wet to dry and back again – making driving, at various stages of the test, extremely tricky. Both of the blue and orange Aston Martin Racing DBR9s emerged unscathed and the 009 Gulf car of David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner was the fastest of all of the GT1 entries during the course of the test day. The 009 entry, therefore, started the defence of its GT1 title in some style, in this early pointer to potential race form. Its sister, 007 car, crewed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini and Karl Wendlinger posted the fifth fastest GT1 time, a handful of seconds slower.
 
It is obvious, even at this stage however, that things are shaping up for it to be a very hard fought race, as the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R and both of the factory Chevrolet Corvettes C6 Rs all ran within two and a half seconds of the blue and white Aston Martin over the 13.5km (8.45mile) circuit.
 
The cars have now returned to Aston Martin Racing’s facility in the UK to be completely stripped down and rebuilt, in preparation for qualifying at the Le Mans 24 Hours itself. This takes place over Wednesday the 11th and Thursday 12th of June.
 
Gulf Oil Vice President International, Alain Dujean comments, “The conditions at Le Mans started - and finished  - fairly wet and very treacherous. It was good, therefore, to see the Gulf –supported Aston Martins come through this initial test ok and, when conditions were dry, post a good early marker for race week. ”

Aston Martin Racing Le Mans Drivers Announced

Gulf-Sponsored DBR9 Racer Stars in India

The design centre at the Aston Martin Lagonda factory at Gaydon, England, was the scene for Aston Martin Racing to announce the works driver line up for the Gulf-liveried DBR9s at Le Mans in June.
 
A select crowd of specially invited media assembled to learn the identities of the drivers who had made it into the final line up.
 
There was, perhaps, one major surprise - but it was all for the good, as David Brabham, one of Aston Martin Racing's key drivers in the DBR9 over its racing history, was announced as part of the line up for 2008. It was thought that other commitments would prevent Brabham from being able to take up the drive, but David is now able to team up again this year with Darren Turner and the pair will aim to defend the GT1 title they took in 2007. 
 
"The Gulf history and heritage is, in many senses, legendary," commented Brabham. "when I saw the car at the launch at the NEC in Birmingham I thought ‘Why is my name not on it!'. From a driver's point of view it doesn't get much better...."
 
Brabham is one of three drivers with a Formula One pedigree. The others, who will drive the 007 car, along with rising star Andrea Piccini, are Austrian Karl Wendlinger and F1 Vice-champion, Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
 
Frentzen described what it means driving in a Gulf car meant to him. " Gulf is a very famous brand name. It's a classic motorsport name - something really special which the company can be really proud of."
 
Next up for the Gulf-sponsored GT1 machines is a test at Snetterton in the UK. 
 
It almost goes without saying that wherever the Gulf-liveried Aston Martin DBR9 race cars go, they create a lasting impression. Rarely, however, can they have created more of a stir than at the recent launch event in Mumbai hosted by Gulf's parent organisation the Hinduja Group.
 
Aston Martin Racing brought over one of the factory blue and orange race cars, together with a crew and no less than two AMR contracted drivers - Darren Turner and Thomas Enge (who will drive the Aston Martin-engined Lola LMP1 prototype at Le Mans). Key personnel from Aston Martin and the Hinduja Group were in attendance together with a number of celebrity and VIP guests.
 
The event spanned two days, under the general heading of  "The ultimate test of endurance." On the first day, a section of Mumbai's famous Marine Drive, near the InterConinental Hotel, was closed off so that the cars could perform spectacular burn-outs in front of a huge crowd of onlookers.
 
This was followed up by demonstrations of racing pitstops, similar to those that the team will carry out at Le Mans. Such was the impression created that video of the event appeared almost immediately on the global media website, You Tube.
 
The evening also included a star-studded gala dinner at the InterContinental Hotel
 
The following day saw a number of invited VIP guests being treated to high speed passenger rides at Mumbai's Bandra Reclamation airfield, which had been specially rented out for the occasion.
 
The AMR drive days generated a large amount of media coverage - both in the press and on TV - and created a huge amount of goodwill with key Group personnel and their VIP guests.
 
While the activities were going on, large lorries were touring the city with billboards on them showing the Gulf-sponsored DBR9 in action and promoting the Gulf - Aston Martin Racing partnership as well as Gulf's endurance history.