THE story of Aston Martin racing car will be told at a free public lecture in Wiltshire on Thursday.

The DBR9 racing car and its track record is the subject of the lecture at the University of Bath in Swindon.

Team principal George Howard-Chappell will present the Aston Martin DBR9 story for this year's Prestige Lecture, organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the University's Swindon Innovation Centre.

Howard-Chappell became team principal of Aston Martin Racing in 2004 when it was set up by Prodrive and Aston Martin Lagonda. His career includes positions as technical director of racing at Prodrive, chief engineer for the Honda Touring Car Programme and technical director of the Lotus Sportscar Team.

Aston Martin built its DBR9 racing car in 2005. It retains some of the DB9 road car's features but was re-engineered for high performance competition use in 2005.

Bob Jardine, chairman of the local Automobile Division Centre of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: "We are extremely fortunate to welcome George Howard-Chappell to give our sixth annual Prestige Automotive Lecture.

"He is very well known within the industry and has an impressive career spanning some of the biggest names in racing.

The Aston Martin name speaks for itself and we look forward to hearing the inside story on the DBR9."

The lecture and networking event will start at 7pm for 7.30pm, with free supper.

The event is free but people are asked to email Chris Brace on enscjb@bath.ac.uk or call 01225 386731 to register in advance.