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This newly launched book documents in-depth the story of a car that took Audi to the forefront of endurance racing – Audi R8, chassis ‘R8-405’ The Audi R8 was the first in a line of world-beating sports-prototype cars from the Ingolstadt marque which would dominate Le Mans and would see Audi remain at the forefront of international sports-car racing for over 15 years. If such an award could go to a machine, Audi ‘R8-405’ – the car featuring in this book – was surely the ‘Man of the Match’ for the 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours. In the end it would finish second, behind one of its teammates which had a far less-troubled run, but it was not for want of trying by Allan McNish, his co-drivers Stéphane Ortelli and Laurent Aïello and their mechanics. At Le Mans, ‘R8-405’ led the race for almost six hours, McNish setting fastest lap of the race in the morning, still chasing his teammates in the eventual winning sister car. ‘R8-405’ would race on in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), winning twice in the hands of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. In 2001, ‘R8-405’ competed for a further year in the ALMS, albeit in private – Champion Racing – hands, with regular drivers including Andy Wallace and Johnny Herbert. Despite its tender years, it would later go on to qualify as an historic car, and a host of new opportunities opened up as it became one of the most raced of all the R8s. Today, the Audi R8 series (of which ‘R8-405’ was one of the first) is revered as one of the most successful endurance-racing car designs of all time, with five Le Mans victories to its name. This lavishly produced book with 320 pages covering ‘R8-405’s racing career in-depth, is essential reading for all motorsport enthusiasts and devotees of the Audi marque. Fascinating and authoritative text from award-winning author Ian Wagstaff and published by Porter Press International is the fifteenth book in the acclaimed, award-winning Great Cars series. This book is extensively illustrated with over 350 images, including stunning period photography of the car in action during its two seasons of frontline competition, and a gallery of studio photographs depicting the car today. The book contains race-by-race coverage of R8-405’s two frontline seasons, as both a ‘works’ car in 2000, and as a privateer entry for Champion Racing in 2001 and includes interviews with the car’s leading drivers, including Allan McNish, Andy Wallace and Emanuele Pirro. Chapters documenting Audi’s motorsport heritage, the development of the R8, the car’s starring role at Le Mans in 2000, the car’s 2000 and 2001 American Le Mans Series seasons, biographies of the car’s drivers, Audi’s post-R8 endurance-racing story, and R8-405’s subsequent career as a ‘modern historic’ racer. The book has a retail price of £69.00

By the early 1990s the Rover Group sales were on the up. Their relationship with Honda had produced the success of the Rover 200, the flagship Rover 800 and the company was now in the hands of British Aerospace Unfortunately the world"s economy was not strong, with the world"s markets for both cars and planes, commercial and military, falling. It is in these times that the SK3 project started, stalled and was reborn as the R3 Rover 200. It has been called 'The last all-British, volume car' but that's not true... It is a story worth telling and now has been told by many of those involved at the time. They have revisited distant areas of their memories, their lofts and drawers to recover lost parts of a fascinating story. Versions have been told before, but they are based on facts released at the time, and are therefore only partially complete. The story covers the the genesis of the car, Honda's involvement, the switch to being a Rover-only project, the design and engineering, marketing and launch of, in Quentin Willson's words of the time, "This little Burster"! The Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club has compiled their stories into this 80-page full cover book. I recently reviewed the book and found the accuracy and detailed information to be of the highest quality. Having owned and operated an MG Rover garage for many years, my involvement with these cars during the period before and after administration, was based on mutual respect to both the cars and the owners. It was easy to see why these cars had an appeal to a specific market, unfortunately though not to the mass market due to media reviews of poor substance (Top Gear springs to mind) and the British public never really warmed to the brand as they should have done. I personally owned several 200 models, diesel, petrol and my particular favourite the 200 LE 'BRM' which was a superb car in every respect. Head Gasket failure was an issue but once the revised polyelastimer gasket of more substantial quality was fitted (without skimming the head) it resolved the issue and we never had one returned. Overall, it was a quality small car which should have enjoyed more success than it did and definitely deserves its place in British automotive history. Thanks to this very well written publication, the cars' history lives on and those lucky few to have owned one should enjoy reading this book which delivers plenty of factual and historic information. Enjoy!