Aston Martin Racing will return to Le Mans in 2008 to defend its GT1 title in the distinctive blue and orange livery of Gulf Oil.

Two Aston Martin DBR9s will look to emulate Gulf’s first victory at the 24 hour race 40 years on.

Alain Dujean, Gulf Oil vice president international, said: “This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport. The famous Gulf racing colours first tasted victory at Le Mans in 1968, so 2008 already had great significance for us, but for Gulf to have joined up with Aston Martin Racing for this year is fantastic – the coming together of two great automotive names, for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership.”

David Richards, chairman of Aston Martin, said: “Endurance racing is engrained in the heritage of both Gulf and Aston Martin and we have also both been intrinsically linked through Le Mans for many decades. It was perhaps destined that, in the year we defend our GT1 title and Gulf celebrates the 40th anniversary of its win, we would finally race together at La Sarthe.”

The two Aston Martin DBR9s for 2008 will be entered as numbers 007 and 009.

If this doesn't make your heart skip a beat or two, then your heart ain't working properly...

This is the DBR9 that will go to Le Mans in June to defend Aston Martin's GT1 crown. This time, however, the famous Aston Martin Racing green has been replaced with the distinctive blue and orange livery of Gulf Oil.

Two DBR9s, numbered 007 and 009, will be looking to emulate Gulf's first victory at La Sarthe 40 years ago with the Ford GT40s.

"This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport," said Alain Dujean, Gulf Oil vice president international.

"The famous Gulf racing colours first tasted victory at Le Mans in 1968, so 2008 already had great significance for us. But for Gulf to have joined up with Aston Martin Racing for this year is fantastic - the coming together of two great automotive names, for what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership."

But ignore the PR chaff, just look at it...

It's not often that we worship at the altar of Oil. For eight years, we've had to put up with a war-mongering Texan oilman in the White House, there are serious environmental concerns, and the big players continue posting huge profits while the rest of us arrange second mortgages just to fill our tanks with fuel. But like all motorsport fans of a certain vintage, I have one significant blind spot: Gulf.

The powder blue and orange livery, the 'disc' logo, the crisp, timeless type-face... for some strange reason, it's a graphic combination that hard-wires you straight into the heart of motor racing's main-frame.

And in 2008, it's back - emblazoned in all its evocative glory over the Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 endurance racer. The world's coolest sponsorship on the planet's sexiest racing car contesting the greatest race on the global calendar. Bedroom walls were made for pictures of things like this.

Announcing the three-year deal, Gulf Oil International VP Alain Dujean says, "This is arguably the most important year ever for Gulf in motorsport. The famous Gulf racing colours first tasted victory at Le Mans in 1968, so 2008 already had great significance for us. But for Gulf to have joined with Aston Martin Racing is fantastic."

Aston chairman and Prodrive kingpin David Richards adds, "It was perhaps destined that, in the year that we defend our GT1 title and Gulf celebrates the 40th anniversary of its first win, we would finally race together at La Sarthe."

So that's the spin: it's destiny. Neither party would say how much money Gulf is sponsoring Aston's increasingly successful Le Mans odyssey, but only the stoniest heart could deny that, when it comes to motorsport, these are two names that go together like Lennon and McCartney.

Mind you, Gulf's back catalogue is none too shabby either. Gulf helped Ab Jenkins achieve a land speed record in 1936 in his Mormon Meteor, and the then Pittsburgh-based company also backed renowned race car constructor Harry Miller (synonymous in the 1920s with Indy 500 success).

But the legendary blue and orange colour scheme didn't emerge until much later. In fact, it originally belonged to an outfit called the Wiltshire Oil Company, bought by Gulf in the 1960s.

It was around this time that Henry Ford II, piqued by Enzo Ferrari's infamous U-turn on the sale of Ferrari to Ford, vowed to wipe the floor with the duplicitous Italian in endurance racing.

Oddly enough, it was ex-Aston Martin team boss John Wyer - he presided over Aston's '59 Le Mans win - who ran the Ford operation that delivered a crushing 1-2-3 win for the GT40s in 1966. A Gulf-liveried GT40 didn't triumph at Le Mans until 1968, yet it's that car that still reduces grown men to drooling fools.