While owning one of the world’s fastest racing cars is nothing more than fanciful wish for most of us, for one lucky customer they now have the chance to purchase exactly that.
If your wallet allows for it, the Audi R8 LMP900, chassis No.405 could be yours.
The car was originally designed in 2000 by Wolfgang Appel and Michael Pfadenhauer in conjunction with German Sports Car Racing team Joest Racing as a successor to the Audi R8R.
The 405 model is powered by a 3.6 Litre V8 twin-turbo unit and produces over 450kW. The R8 quickly became the platform on which Audi launched their decade-long dominance on global endurance racing.
2000 was the inaugural year Audi raced the R8 and it immediately began making headlines in the world of endurance racing by winning its very first race at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The R8 would go on to win the illustrious 24 Hours of Le Mans five times (2000,2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005) and the American Le Mans series six successive seasons from 2000 and 2005.
It was under the stewardship of Joest Racing that the 405 achieved pole position in the 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished second overall at the hands of Alan McNish, Stephane Ortelli and Laurent Aiello.
After its stint at Le Mans, Joest handed the car over to Audi Sport’s North American factory racing team where the car achieved 3rd overall at the 1000kms of the Nürburgring.
The car claimed the 2000 ALMS LMP Championship under the Audi Sport North America banner with German Frank Biela and Italian Emanuelle Pirro behind the wheel.
The following season the car was sold and campaigned by ALMS team Champion Racing. Driven by Andy Wallace, Johnny Herbert, Ralf Kelleners and Dorsey Schroeder, the 405 finished third in the standings with two podium finishes at Sebring and the Petit Le Mans.
The car was finally sold to its current owner in England, who has raced it at European venues, including Spa in the Global Endurance Legends series.
The 405 is currently listed here with the price up for negotiation.
