‘Awesome’ car restoration in Littlehampton

A championship-winning Audi R8, raced during the Le Mans 24-hour race in 2001, has been refurbished for the past few weeks by businesses on the Riverside Industrial Estate.

Now the supercar is back to its gleaming best and is ready to leave Littlehampton.

Mark Porter, 41, was one of the engineers at coachbuilders R W Masters involved in rebuilding the car’s carbon-fibre body work.

He said: “It’s phenomenal. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“You can’t appreciate how big the car is until it’s parked there in front of you.

“It was a huge effort to bring it back to its former glory. The engine was in fantastic condition, considering the amount of stress it had to go through.

“It’s an amazing piece of kit. Our biggest worry at the time was security. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if it was nicked.

“Fortunately, the police were brilliant. They even stopped to get a good look at the car.”

Bay Studio and Arena International Motorsport were also involved in refurbishing the car, worth a cool £1.5m-plus and with a cruising speed of 220 miles per hour.

The Audi was one of three to be made to compete in the endurance race.

The trio of cars cost more the £80m to research and develop, with each car receiving a podium finish on their debut at the 2001 Le Mans.

“This was one of the most successful Le Mans cars ever raced and it’s been awesome working on it,” said Mark.

The car is due to be shipped to Japan, later this week, to be added to a private collection.