A Porsche Turbo bonanza, with Mel Nichols on driving the very first 911 Turbo in 1974 and exclusive access for The Road Rat to Porsche's archive; plus Lotus V-P of Design Ben Payne on the boundary-breaking beauty of the original Esprit; Richard Meaden celebrates the Mk1 (and Mk7.5) Golf GTI; Estevan Oriol on LA's lowrider scene of the ’90s; Michael Harvey on Ferrari's remarkable sports car racing comeback with the 499P; Stephen Bayley on the dream of the SUV; and Paul Horrell on the Audi TT.
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THE ROAD RAT ARCHIVE
Buy editions from The Road Rat archive
- F40
- Edition No.15
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Celebrating five years of The Road Rat with a blockbuster edition, featuring not only Angus MacKenzie’s brilliant breakdown of Enzo Ferrari’s belligerent final act, but Jason Barlow on the last 911 GT3 of its kind; Richard Meaden on Red Bull’s pit stop sovereignty; Stephen Bayley and Adam Gompertz on the art of ICE; Noelle Faulkner on Rolls-Royce Coachbuild; Christopher Butt on the Korean Design Revolution; Paul Horrell on size; Matt Master on the McMurtry; and Paolo Tumminelli on Giampaolo Dallara.
- Le Mans
- Edition No.14
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
The 14th edition of The Road Rat is dedicated entirely to celebrating the greatest race of them all — Le Mans. We’ve ripped up the format of the publication, replacing it with a photo-driven scrapbook of the 24 Hours capturing its many moods and punctuated by The Road Rat’s traditional long-form features by writers like Richard Meaden, Dutch Mandel and Stephen Bayley plus commissioned visuals from the likes of Ashley Border and Paul Howse. Includes a 16-page appendix of all the winners.
- FOSTER
- Edition No.13
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Edition 13 is a unique collaboration with Norman Foster, arguably world’s greatest living architect. Topics covered include: The lasting influence on Porsche of the 356; how aerodynamics has obsessed car makers since Walt Chrysler hired Wilbur Wright; the E-Type and Pagoda effect; how the great artists see cars; how the Fiat 500, Mini and BMW 600 put Europe on wheels; homes for cars; the great factories; and how to stage the greatest car show of all.
- XJS
- Edition No.12
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Edition 12 of world’s most beautiful car magazine. Inside, on 244 high-quality, art-grade mixed papers, you’ll find: the astonishing origin story of the hot-rodding movement; the last Ferrari sportscar to race at Le Mans; how the XJ-S is shaping Jaguar’s future (and the Grandsphere concept, Audi’s); why F1 drivers look the way they do today; plus Sebastian Vettel and Edoardo Weber.
- BMWM1
- Edition No.11
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Edition 11 of The Road Rat features the BMW M colours on the front and back covers and over 20 pages of BMW M1 origin story by writer Richard Meaden. Also between the covers there’s Maserati, Matra, Ford F-Series pickup, Enzo Ferrari’s original V12, unseen images from Goodwood in the 1950s, and Paul Bracq, designer of the W113-series Mercedes SL, in the regular Retrospective feature.
- ENZO&DINO
- Edition No.10
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
The tenth edition of The Road Rat. Featuring VFX artist Josh George’s stunning ‘digitally sculpted portrait’ of Enzo Ferrari on the cover and a detailed examination of the Commendatore’s complex relationship with son Dino and the car that carried his name in place of Ferrari’s. Plus Porsche, IndyCars, Lotus, Giugiaro, Saab and Villeneuve.
- NSX
- Edition No.9
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
The ninth edition of The Road Rat features former Motor Trend editor Angus MacKenzie’s deep dive into the extraordinary Honda NSX. Inside there’s also Richard Meaden on European Touring Cars, Martin Scorsese, Jerry Seinfeld, Bentley’s R-Type Continental and Prince Jefri of Brunei.
- ELON
- Edition No.8
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Award-winning writer Jamie Kitman spent three months interviewing dozens for his profile of Elon Musk. Plus why everyone wants a bit of the Ferrari 250 SWB. And… 70 years of Toyota Land Cruisers, the bizarre tale of Nissan’s ‘Frontzilla’ Le Mans car, Rolls-Royce Boat Tail, faded old French garages, ’50s advertising and when ‘boxy’ was sexy. Free sticker set allows you to censor strong language on cover.
- 911
- Edition No.7
- Pages
- 244
- Size
- 290x230mm
Issue Seven sees The Road Rat disassembling the greatest of all sports car myths – that of the Porsche 911. Gordon Murray opens up his notebooks on the development of what may be the last great ICE sports car, the T.50. Plus muscle cars, Mercedes’ Großer and the German industry’s problematical Kleine, Jag’s internecine supercar battle, Bill Mitchell, BMW’s design departure, Brabham’s rock and roll years, and the lost British 24-hour race.
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A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE ROAD RAT
The Road Rat is a new kind of car magazine. Not overly obsessed with the detail of old cars nor over-impressed with the performance of new; the Road Rat instead firmly believes there are good stories — real stories, stories to consume with relish — in both old and new and in racing too. But above all The Road Rat believes in the glory of magazines; lush, beautiful, valuable, collectable and exquisitely crafted magazines.
Think of us as a carefully-curated bookshop or an horizon-widening record store. We are proudly analogue and believe some things - but mostly beautiful cars - just belong in print. Our name comes from a saying that climbers have. ’Feeding the Rat’ is the need to deal with an obesssive need to climb. For us an open road, a track, a messy old garage and not a snowy mountain summit, is our ‘rat’.
OUR MASTHEAD
The Road Rat’s logotype is set in a classic font. Futura Bold was created in 1947 so shares a birthday with Ferrari. Digital fonts, much like new cars can seem that little bit too perfect. So we’ve used wooden letterpress characters for a hand made look with tiny imperfections.
OUR FIRST COVER IMAGE
Once we’d decided on Lewis Hamilton for the cover we thought about how best to represent him as an icon of the sport — literally, so we turned to German ‘New Pop Realist’ Sebastian Kruger.
THE NUMBERS COMMISSION
Given that numbers are to be found all over cars and the world of cars, each issue of The Road Rat is punctuated by a commission based on the cardinal numerals 1 thru 9. In issue one artist Ian Bilbey created a fantasy series based on 1970s Formula 1 teams and another icon of the automotive world — the in-car air freshener.
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