The Aston Martin DBR1 was a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time. It is most famous as the victor of the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, Aston Martin's only outright victory at the endurance classic, it is one of only three cars in the 1950s to win both the World Sports Car Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours in the same year. In addition the six World Sports Car Championship victories was a record for any car in the 1950s and remained a record in the championship until surpassed by the Ferrari 250TR; the three consecutive triumphs in 1959 at the Nürburgring, Le Mans and the Tourist Trophy equalled the record set by the Ferrari 250TR with its three consecutive victories at the start of the 1958 season. In August 2017, car DBR1/1 was sold for a world record price for a British-made car of US$22,555,000. Following changes to the rules for sportscar racing, entrants no longer had to use cars which were road legal, or based on road legal cars, such as the Aston Martin DB3S.

Therefore, with the ability to create a sportscar from a clean slate for 1956, Aston Martin created the DBR1, with Ted Cutting as chief designer. The body evolved from the DB3S's shape. Most notable was that the back of the front wheel well was no longer left open. Instead, the DBR1 featured full bodywork with a large triangular vent on the side, a design trait which would become standard on all future Aston Martins; the DBR1 was fitted with a smaller 2.5-litre new all alloy racing engine loosely derived from the racing version of the Lagonda Straight-6 engine to comply with that year's Le Mans 24 Hour regulations whilst the RB6.300 Straight-6, rated at 250 hp was developed for the 1957 season. Debuting at the non championship 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans, David Brown's Aston Martin racing team set out with the 2.5-litre DBR1/1 alongside two older 2.9-litre DB3Ss. Although performing well through most of the race against larger engined cars such as the winning Jaguar D-type with its 3.4-litre engine, the DBR1 suffered gearbox failure after 246 laps whilst lying seventh, forcing drivers Reg Parnell and Tony Brooks to retire.

Making a full debut in the 1957 World Sportscar Championship season as well as various non-championship races, Aston Martin started the season with DBR1/1 in 2.5-litre form and the car recorded its first finish, with a second place for Roy Salvadori at the British Empire Trophy, followed by another second place at the Goodwood Circuit's Sussex Trophy. DBR1/1 was upgraded with the newer 3.0-litre engine, joined by the identical DBR1/2. Together at the Spa Sportscar Race, Aston Martin took the top two spots, with Tony Brooks winning over Roy Salvadori; the DBR1s made their World Sportscar Championship debut in the fourth round, the 1000km Nürburgring. Here DBR1/2 took an overall victory at the hands of Brooks and Noël Cunningham-Reid, earning Aston Martin its first World Championship win since the Collins/Griffith DB3S had won the Tourist Trophy in 1953. Salvadori and Les Leston finished sixth in the same race in DBR1/1; the victory against the full works might of Ferrari and Maserati with their 335S and 450S models in the hands of drivers such as Peter Collins, Mike Hawthorn and Juan Manuel Fangio gave the Aston Martin team confidence that they now had a car that could compete against the best in the world.

These hopes were dashed at the 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans when both DBR1s failed to finish. The failure at Le Mans meant that any hopes of the World Championship had gone and Aston Martin missed the final two rounds in Sweden and Venezuela. Instead they entered the non-championship Spa Grand Prix, where DBR1/2 took the only other victory of the year in the hands of Brooks ahead of Masten Gregory in a Ferrari 290 MM and Olivier Gendebien in a Ferrari 335S with Salvadori fourth in DBR1/1. For 1958, DBR1/3 was completed and Aston Martin now had three cars with which to compete; the World Sports Car Championship was now restricted to cars of no more than 3-litres and the team's DBR2 model with its 3.7-litre engine was ineligible. David Brown therefore chose to concentrate on the Championship with the DBR1, leaving the DBR2 for non-championship races; the team did not enter the opening round in Buenos Aires, won by Ferrari, deciding instead to race at the following round, the 12 Hours of Sebring. Neither DBR1 managed to finish, both suffering gearbox failure, although in the hands of Moss it was the fastest car in the race.

This was followed at the Targa Florio, with the new DBR1/3 suffering a gearbox failure and not finishing but not before Moss had broken his old lap record set in the Mercedes 300SLR by over a minute. At the 1000 km Nürburgring, where the DBR1 had won the previous year, Aston Martin managed to repeat their victory, with Moss and Jack Brabham's DBR1/3 beating a large contingent of Ferraris and Porsches; the bad luck returned at Le Mans, with all three DBR1s failing to finish again. However, at the season ending Tourist Trophy, Aston Martin managed a 1-2-3 finish with Moss and Brooks driving the winning car ahead of Salvadori/Brabham in DBR1/1 and Shelby/Stuart Lewis-Evans in DBR1/3; however Ferrari had chosen not to compete having won the championship and the race was only of four hour duration and only half points were awarded. This victory allowed Aston Martin to finish second in the constructor's championship behind Ferrari. Returning again for 1959, Aston Martin had completed two more chassis, DBR1/4 and DBR1/5.

The first car was a conversion from a DBR3, while DBR1/5 was a spare chassis sold to privateer Graha

Vocaldente are an a cappella quintet from Hanover, Germany. Vocaldente were founded in 2004 by five singers - Tobias "Tobek" Kiel, Johannes "Johnny" Gruber Niklas Turmann, Ansgar Pfeiffer, Arndt Schmöle; the group emerged from the Knabenchor Hannover and the Hanover University of Music and Drama. Their line-up has altered three times, in 2006, when Tobias Pasternack, né Wunschik replaced Schmöle, in 2008, when Michael Schöpe was recruited in place of the departing Turmann and in 2009 when Timo Klemm came in for Pfeiffer who retired. 2011 Christoph Grasse joined as new Jakob Buch as 2nd Tenor. Schmöle, Schöpe, Klemm and Turman left to pursue new musical challenges; the ensemble began by building their support base locally and began to perform across Germany. By 2007, they were undertaking foreign tours, most notably to the United States and South East Asia, where they've been continuously building up a loyal and enthused following of fans since. In 2007 and 2008, they won first prizes at several renowned international A cappella competitions such as the Tampereen Sävel Contest for Vocal Ensembles in Finland and the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival in the U.

S. The band performed a special concert in the Balver Caves in 2009, celebrating the 5th anniversary of their formation. A DVD of this concert is planned for release in Autumn 2009. Due to their varied musical backgrounds and instrumental professions, vocaldente cite many different musical influences; as a vocal group, they're most notably influenced by pioneering British a cappella ensemble the King's Singers, in whose workshops at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival they've participated twice, where they were honoured by some commending remarks from members of the King's Singers. The ensemble performs a varied catalogue of popular songs covering contemporary and modern music from the past 100 years, as well as its own compositions. All songs are arranged by members of the group themselves; when performing, vocaldente put great emphasis on singing acoustically without technical aids or microphones, as they consider this method as returning “back to the roots of a cappella”. In the last few years, vocaldente has dedicated its time more and more to pedagogical work with children and adults, individuals and ensembles, school classes and choirs.

With alumni from the Hochschule für Musik, und Medien Hannover, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, as well as the Universität Hildesheim in the fields of High School instruction for music, culture, as well as vocal pedagogy in their own field, vocaldente has collected valuable experience among the musically motivated. The internationally acclaimed, professional vocal ensemble represents as the Godparent for the natural art of creating music: singing in a group without amplification or technological tricks – to work with the sound of one's own voice. Vocaldente has, over the past few years, developed different concepts for workshops based on various themes such as voice, vocal sound, breath technique, group- and choir singing and voice, instrumental imitation, mouth percussion, blending, staging/stagecraft, presentation and marketing; the emphasis of these hands-on courses lies, respective of the workshop group, in the basic goals, such as the discovery of the voice as an instrument, singing together as an ensemble, up to complex material like layered patterns, group sound, polishing the performance art.

All recordings are released independently by vocaldente, are only sold through their official website or at their concerts. The group recorded all in studios in Germany. Albums "Let’s Misbehave" "gold'n' delicious" Singles "...dann ist Sommer" DVDs "Live at Balver Caves" 1st Prize - Tampereen Sävel 2007 1st Prize - Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival 2008 1st Prize - Taiwan International Contemporary A Cappella Competition 2008 Official website vocaldente on MySpace

Luka Yovetich, known professionally as Luka Jones, is an American actor and comedian, best known for co-starring in the NBC sitcoms Best Friends Forever and Up All Night. Jones was born in Evanston and raised in the Chicago and Denver metro areas, he graduated from the University of Kansas. He earned his master's degree in philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles and his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Southern California. Jones studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, he studied improv and has been a regular performer at both I. O. West and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. In 2012, Jones co-starred as Joe, one of the lead characters on the short-lived NBC comedy series Best Friends Forever, alongside Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham. Afterwards he joined the cast of NBC's Up All Night as a series regular in its second season, playing the role of Scott, Reagan's younger brother.

Jones joined the ensemble cast of People of Earth in 2016 as Gerry Johnson, "an amiable social dropout, tollbooth worker and enthusiastic expert on all things alien," noted Deadline Hollywood. An avid participant in a support group for alien abductees, Gerry is just an alien abductee wannabe, always craving to be one of the "special" but never chosen. Other roles include How I Met The Pretty One and Her. Luka Jones on IMDb