Autographed Audi R10 Le Mans Winner Joins Toy Collector Audi’s 2008 Le Mans-winning team, Dindo Capello, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen have given a boost to the online Audi charity auction.
Audi is running in conjunction with Toy Collector by autographing a model of their winning Number 2 R10 to add to the auction. The three drivers have signed the 1/18 racer, made by French modelmakers Norev, on the rear engine cover.
Part of Audi’s Centenary celebrations, the auction - which benefits the Helen & Douglas House Hospice for Children and Young Adults – is being hosted in the Toy Collector site forum. It runs until Audi’s official birthday on July 16th. Interested parties can bid at any time up until then - all they need to do is to take out a free Toy Collector membership.
The first ever diesel-powered car to win the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the R10 is powered by a 5.5 litre turbocharged V12 engine which took the car to victory on its maiden race at Sebring in 2006, and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2006 and 2007.
In 2008, Audi entered its first ever Le Mans Series, winning a total of five races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans once again, to clinch the Constructors Championship and the Drivers and Teams Championships. France's Norev have been a fixture on the diecast scene since the 1960s, when they switched to metal models from the plastic cars they started out with. Their highly-detailed R10 is part of their recent, highly successful, foray into highly-detailed 1/18 scale models.
Over 20 other models are also up for grabs in the auction, provided by Audi from the Audi Miniatures Collection, and other manufacturers including Amalgam Fine Model Cars, CMC, Neo and Schuco. All the models available are also featured in Toy Collector’s special Audi Centenary Blog, which traces the marque’s history in small-scale. They span the whole Audi timeline and include CMC’s 1936 225 Front Roadster and 1938 920 Cabriolet, Brumm and Revell 1930’s Auto Union Streamliner Grand Prix cars, 1960’s DKWs and Auto Unions from Minichamps and iconic modern Audis like the Quattro, TT and R8 in various scales.
For further information, please see:
• www.toycollector.com/AudiCentenaryBlog
• www.toycollector.com/AudiCentenaryAuction
About Audi
Audi UK has enjoyed an exceptionally rapid rise to prominence in the premium sector. In 2000 just over 43,000 Audi models found homes in the UK, and from that point until 2008 the brand has continually broken annual sales records, successfully passing the milestone 100,000 sales mark in 2007 and 2008, when it ended the year with a record 4.7% market share from 100,845 sales. Globally, the brand exceeded 1 million deliveries for the first time in its history in 2008, marking the occasion with its best ever revenue figure and a record profit-before-tax total of 3.177 billion Euros (£2.94 billion) in the process. With its programmes for both road and race cars the brand continues to maintain its dramatic trajectory. On the road it is extending its reach into important new segments with strong offerings such as the A3 Cabriolet, A5 Cabriolet, Q5, RS 6 and R8,
