I'D HAD THE R8 about a month when a neighbour sauntered over and asked if I had won the lottery. Sitting on his drive at the time was a new Renault Zoe with a list price that would comfortably see him into an R8. Not as nice as this one, but a decent R8. And that is the beauty of this generation of Audi: it went into production 15 years ago and has aged so well that people just assume it is still a new car. Why shouldn't they? It still looks like one, it still drives like one and it still gets the reception of one wherever it goes. Please at least finish reading this before you start browsing.
For full disclosure, the original R8 is probably my favourite car of this millennium, especially the V8 with a manual gearbox, so when myself, my boss Steve Fowler and Audi PR man Johnny Burn hatched a plan to help the UK wing exercise some of its heritage fleet, my arm went up so quick I nearly dislocated my shoulder.
The car in question was a 2007 (T42 gen) manual 4.2 FSI V8, the one as far as I am concerned, with all the benefits of a Lamborghini Gallardo platform and none of its lairiness in styling or colouring. As you would expect from a company with a colour chart that resembles the Caran d'Ache graphite selection, it comes in a suitably sober and industrial palette of grey. But there is that two-tone 'side blade' that offends so many, but I think complements the main body colour perfectly.
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Back to a different future
Pontiac's Tempest was packed with improbable engineering and ingenious bodgery from a young John DeLorean. Sam Glover drives an early survivor
Rupert Keegan
A life in motorsport, from Formula 3 to Formula 1, via frustration with Sir John Surtees to turning down an offer from Paul Newman
RED & GOLD
What's the best classic bang for your buck? A fire truck, says Jay Leno, especially when it has a V12
NART BEFORE TIME
Unseen in public since 1988, this ultra-rare and forward-thinking Ferrari 365 GTB/4 NART Spider will soon be unleashed at The Quail, Monterey. David Lillywhite got to see it first
FORCE FED
The 911 Turbo also celebrates 50 years this year and it all kicked off with the G-Series
G FORCE
From under-the-radar collector status to realistic daily-drive prospect, the G-Series is the air-cooled 911 of the moment. As it hits its 50th anniversary, Porsche authority Steve Bennett tells us why
The Maestro remembered
A huge memorial service for Sir Stirling Moss OBE brought central London to a standstill
Nathalie McGloin
The only female tetraplegic racing driver in the world and co-founder of Spinal Track, charity supporting disabled drivers
Atomium
An iron molecule, 100m tall and scaled-up 165billion times, was the future in ’58
The Valjoux 7750
Rendered obsolete in the late 1970s, Edmond Capt's wonder movement is not only back, but selling 200,000 units a year
