By Johan Laubscher
The Audi R8 was one of the highlights in Audi's long and prestigious motorsport history. The car that dominated the first half of the decade of the new millennium with 63 wins in 80 races. The car graced the race tracks of the world from 2000 to 2006 and went on to win its final race at Lime Rock in 2006 in the ALMS.
The old girl was retired in 2006 being replaced by the then new Audi R10 TDI race car. This was however not the end to the legend that was the Audi R8. Since it was retired the first Audi sportscar for the road, the mid engined Audi R8 was launched in 2006 and quickly became a force to be reckoned with on the market. Baring the name “R8” it paid tribute to the legendary race car. A racing version of the road car, the R8 LMS (R16) debuted in 2009 and quickly became the most successful GT3 specification race car, notching up over a hundred race wins and many championship titles.
The R8 name is in good shape, being represented by both the road cars and the R8 LMS, but there is another side to this story. There are indeed still Audi R8 LMP cars racing today. Historic racing is a very popular formula which allows different cars from yesteryear to once again compete. The historic racing scene is very healthy in North America and there are some gems from Audi taking part. Various old Audi R8 LMP cars are still taking part in these historic races in a category for modern sports prototypes. It is interesting to note that the R8 LMP actually started racing in these historic series in 2003, hard to imagine these cars competing in histories while the R8 was still actively competing in race series around the world. There were clients/owners of R8s that wanted to compete in histories. Special waivers were allowed in the rules to allow for modern LMP prototypes to compete and #405 and #403 started competing. At present there are three Audi R8 LMPs competing in America. GMT Racing competes with Audi R8 #606 owned and driven by Travis Engen. Rogers Motorsport has two Audi R8s #405 and #607 which are driven by Andy Wallace, Doug Smith and Bill Adam. The two 2005 specification R8s, #606 and #607 actually have an interesting story. They are affectionately referred to as the “clones.” The last versions of the Audi R8 were all based on the R8 developed in 2002, the 600 chassis series. Officially only five chassis were built of this version #601 - #605. #606 was built from Audi R8 parts in 2005 and used for testing in America while #607 was built in 2009 using parts left over from the retired R8 program. The cars were not officially assembled by Audi in Germany, but they were given homologation papers and thus #606 and #607 were born.
In recent years a few other Audi R8 LMP cars also competed in America. #403 competed in the historic racing being driven by owner Aaron Hsu with #501 and the 2001 Bentley #002-3 also being added to his collection. He raced with all three cars. #403 was eventually sold to a British collector who restored the car back to Gulf racing colours and the car is now part of the ROFGO Gulf collection by Duncan Hamilton. #501 and the Bentley were sold to George Stauffer who competes with #501 at events based at Road America.
The ongoing racing legacy of the R8 LMP is thanks to the people and teams that maintain these cars and prepare them for races. Rogers Motorsport and GMT Racing do a great job in preparing their cars and special mention must be given to Kettler Motor Werks. Brad Kettler has been instrumental in keeping these cars alive and on the track. His company specialises in Audi R8s, among other things. They ensure the R8s still competing are well looked after. Kettler Motor Werks organised a special test day for all the R8s in America in 2008 at Sebring, to document and service the cars. Five cars were present at the test (As seen in the cover photo). The Bentley (which has a 3.6 V8 R8 engine) was joined by Audi R8 #605, #403, #405 and #501 at the test. Further test like this may be planned in future.
It is thanks to this kind of hard work which ensures that the Audi R8 still graces race tracks with its presence, and without any surprise the old girl is still winning races today.
More information:
Photos by Kettler Moter Werks (cover photo) and Robyn Pass Handy of SascoSports (photos bellow)
The Rogers Motorsports Audi R8 (#607) at Sebring in 2012
The GMT Racing Audi R8 (#606) at Sebring in 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment