► Audi R8 LMP 900 for sale
► Historic Audi Le Mans warrior
► Up for sale through Fiskens
In the highly competitive and cut-throat world of man-cave adorning, it can be tough to get an edge over your rivals. You put up a framed, signed photo of Alan Jones claiming his world title in 1980, the bloke down the road goes and makes a glass coffee table using a wheel off Senna’s McLaren MP4/4. And so it goes on.
But here’s a chance to really take a stranglehold on your man-cave competition, by buying this 2000-built Audi R8 LMP900, offered for sale by London-based specialist Fiskens.
It has everything the true man-cave enthusiast craves in a feature piece – exclusivity, providence, a fascinating development back story, and a rear spoiler at precisely the right height for you and your mates to rest your drinks.
Audi R8 LMP900: an historic Le Mans race car
For those in need of a quick refresher, the R8 LMP900 was designed in-house by Wolfgang Appel and Michael Pfadenhauer, developed for the 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours. Construction was handled by Italy’s famed Dallara Automobili, with the 3.6-litre twin-turbo V8 producing around 600bhp.
Straight out of the crate, the R8 LMP900 was a stunning car that succeeded where the previous R8R model had failed, scoring a first and second place in the opening race at Sebring, and going on to a podium clean-sweep at Le Mans.
This car, chassis 405, campaigned by Audi Sport Team Joest, and driven by Alan McNish, Stéphane Ortelli and Laurent Aiello, achieved pole position, fastest lap and second overall in that 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours classic.
After Le Mans, Frank Biela and Emanuelle Pirro co-piloted the car to third place in the gruelling Nürburgring 1000. Subsequently, Audi Sport Team Joest handed 405 over to the other works team, Audi Sport North America.
Once in the US and competing in the ALMS series, the car took numerous podiums in the hands of that pairing of Biela and Pirro. A guest appearance from Audi legend Tom Kristensen secured the car a second-place finish in the Petit Le Mans, the cherry on top of a spectacular year.
In 2001, 405 was campaigned in the 2001 ALMS series, driven by Andy Wallace, Johnny Herbert, Ralf Kelleners and Dorsey Schroeder, landing a third place at Sebring and numerous other podium finishes.
Sounds good! How much?
So, an amazing a roster of champion drivers have occupied this cockpit, and it’s had several litres of sprayed Moet wiped from the bodywork. What’s it worth? Price is by application, but based on the sale of other pedigree endurance racers, we’d expect little change from £1.5 million (coronavirus shakes notwithstanding).
We live with a modern-day Audi R8: check out our long-term test
Of course, if you can afford that, you can probably afford to do a few track days in it, with an estimated budget of around £5k per outing needed for accumulated running costs.
Probably just best to put it in the man cave and park a beer on that spoiler…
This article originally appeared in whichcar.com.au