IIRC it was in memory of legendary sportscar team manager and owner John Wyer, who died shortly before Le Mans- April 1989 I think. Before running the Gulf GT40s and 917s, JW had been Aston's team manager during the 50's, and at the time of their 1959 Le Mans win
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wyer
I think the AMR1s carried the band all season- they debuted at Dijon in May, missing the first round after a testing shunt at Donington- a suspension breakage putting David Leslie into the wall and wrote off the first chassis