Book review: Audi R8: The Autobiography of R8-405

So is it a new firm, this Audi lot? Or is it a DKW? What has Auto Union got to do with it? That was the branding muddle Audi had to deal with when its plain little saloons appeared in the 1960s. From that it became a prestige badge, a rally superstar and a serial Le Mans victor. Quite a journey. In the next of Porter Press’s Great Cars series, Ian Wagstaff homes in on the sports-prototype that in 2000 first pasted the four-ring symbol into the 24-hour winner list – the R8.

Well, not quite. Porter’s chosen example here didn’t carry the 2000 laurels, though it did back up its victorious sister car with a hard-won second place, fighting back from a series of niggling delays after six hours in the lead. And only a month afterwards it was off to race in the ALMS where it had an active two-year career, and two years on again began historic racing. It’s still going, making it the most-raced Audi R8, with appearances at many high-profile events including Le Mans Classic and Goodwood where it was reunited with its Le Mans pilot Allan McNish.

All this gives Wagstaff plenty of material to relate, but these books are so big, over 300 pages, that even with a multi-page salon photo feature on R8-405 he also takes us through Auto Union competition history, those rally and race Quattros, the endurance scene during the R8’s development, and a complete history of Joest Racing, Audi’s partner for many years. And there’s all the rest of Audi’s supremely successful later sports-racing career too.

Audi R8: The Autobiography of R8-405 Ian Wag Porter Press International, £69 ISBN 9781913089610

It’s a ton of background for the story of just one car, and you could argue that less would make a wieldier book. I could happily have swapped some of that extra material – for example, the birth of the ALMS – for more technical details. There is little about engine, transmission, running gear, aero – 350 photos but not a drawing to be seen. The nearest thing is shots of it dismantled at PCA in England, being prepped for more action.

Ian is a fine writer so I guess this is less due to him than to the Great Cars format, with its ‘pages per £’ emphasis. Still, in between the ballast he tells the car’s racing story well – and if I skipped the odd section I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.

The legend of American motors

Marc Cranswick

When you’re the underdog you try harder. That’s the message in the story of American Motors, which isn’t a name we immediately think of over here, but AMC fielded some memorable machines – the chopped-off Gremlin and the stubby Pacer with its unequal doors, to name just two. The firm wasn’t short of ideas – the 4WD Eagle estate came long before the Audi Allroad –  and competed in IMSA and NASCAR. Cranswick goes heavy on the details, (and invents the word ‘decontented’, meaning stripped-out), but it’s good to be reminded of some crazy ideas. GC

Veloce, £60

ISBN 9781787118034

Charles Montier 

Chris Martin

Hard to imagine that a Model T ever ran at Le Mans, but a French Ford dealer prepared Ts and later Fords for many events into the mid-1930s. Martin’s dedicated digging details these and much more about Charles Montier, his racing specials and bodywork, and reports on surviving cars. Not exactly glossy, yet a thorough look into a forgotten racing corner. GC

Available at Amazon, £25

ISBN 9798837757013

Joined Up Writing This Time Please!

Martin Tomlinson  & Andrew Marriott

A few issues ago, Doug Nye dedicated  his Archives column to the pursuit of autograph hunting which led to a riot of reminiscing in our Letters page. This 74-page softback runs along a similar theme. Martin Tomlinson is an artist whose output can be viewed and bought in the Motor Sport shop. His racing interest goes back to collecting signatures in the 1950s and many appear here alongside programmes, anecdotes and Tomlinson’s action-packed racing paintings. LG

Motor Racing Art, £25

ISBN 9781399938815