The Road Rat Magazine

  • Home
  • The Road Rat Magazine

The Road Rat Magazine The Road Rat. World's most beautiful car magazine
(1)

Edition 21: ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’, now printing.The Road Rat team is enjoying a few days of watching printed shee...
19/09/2025

Edition 21: ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’, now printing.

The Road Rat team is enjoying a few days of watching printed sheets for Edition 21 emerge from a vast Heidelberg Speedmaster press. We can promise you, every charismatic image in ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’ has been reproduced in exquisite detail. See examples in this post of the first finished pages.

Spot here our printed covers – including a bonus top down view of ‘The Road Rat Formula 1 Helmet’ on the back cover. You’ll need to get a copy in your hands to witness the exceptional vibrancy to those orange tones, a result of the very special six-colour printing process our partners are world experts in. They’ve done a brilliant job of reflecting the helmet’s design by .

Pre-orders for ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’ are still open, so be sure to get yours in now – see link in bio. Those pre-orders for this one have rolled in at a faster rate than we’ve ever seen before for an edition of The Road Rat, so be careful not to miss out. Shipping to subscribers and those who pre-order is scheduled to start at the close of next week – just drying, binding, cover foiling and shrink-wrapping of the magazines to go first!

⁠
‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’ is available to pre-order at https://theroadrat.com/products/edition-no-21 and will ship at the end of September.

Behind-the-scenes at the printer’s – putting the final touches to The Road Rat Edition 21: ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’....
18/09/2025

Behind-the-scenes at the printer’s – putting the final touches to The Road Rat Edition 21: ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’.

Checks have now been completed to Epson hard proofs at our printing partner in Bristol, where we’ve been preparing this latest Road Rat to spring to life from their ultra-sophisticated £3.5 million Heidelberg Speedmaster press.

It’s always a joy to see a new edition prepare to print, and we can guarantee ‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’ will have the glorious production values – the vibrancy of printing, the feel of the mixed heavy art papers and even the sublime smell – that sets The Road Rat apart from the rest.

You can order Edition 21 as part of a subscription and save 20 per cent off the cover price. Subscriber copies will be at the top of our priorities for shipping, which will begin later this month.

‘A Love Letter to Formula 1’ is available to pre-order at https://theroadrat.com/products/edition-no-21 and will ship at the end of September.

A love letter to Formula 1.Every now and then we dedicate a whole issue of The Road Rat to just one topic – and Edition ...
16/09/2025

A love letter to Formula 1.

Every now and then we dedicate a whole issue of The Road Rat to just one topic – and Edition 21 is one of those occasions with 228 glorious pages dedicated to celebrating 75 years of Formula 1.

In the making of this edition, we’ve had unique access to many of F1’s greatest living champions, team leaders, cars, archival photography and untold tales. All covering 75 years of competition, fandom and technological achievement at the pinnacle of the sport. Our ‘Love Letter to Formula 1' has an exceptionally human focus. It is full of highly personal, often emotional storytelling. Some of those tales are outrageously funny.

New editions of The Road Rat routinely sell out and this one is likely to be no different. Pre-orders for Edition 21 are now open at https://theroadrat.com/products/edition-no-21
and will ship at the end of September. Or you can take out a subscription and save 20% on the cover price.

As always, for the latest from The Road Rat, sign up to our newsletter.

Germany, as a country and culture, tends to be averse to change. Which makes the evolution of the IAA Mobility – formerl...
12/09/2025

Germany, as a country and culture, tends to be averse to change.

Which makes the evolution of the IAA Mobility – formerly International Automobil-Ausstellung, now standing for It’s All About Mobility – all the more baffling. Having moved from Frankfurt to Munich, the public part of the show has moved from dozens of isolated hangar-sized halls to downtown Munich. Evidently, inspiration has been provided by Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the tremendously successful furniture and design fair that has become Italy’s unofficial car show, as well.

Even in the Bavarian IAA's third edition, there remains a surreal element to walking across Munich’s historical city centre, only to bump into Audi’s Tadao Ando-inspired pavillon, a giant Porsche crest acting as canopy or Mercedes’ Close Encounters Of The Three-Pointed Star Kind light installation.

Regardless of the German brands’ inability to withstand the temptation to show off, it’s as accessible a car show as can be, being open to the public – including those citizens of Munich who are less than enchanted by the disruptions to everyday life this massive event inevitably entails – until well into the evening. Not just the sight of one-off show cars, but free tote bags and everything in between are available to anyone with an interest in the automobile – including many children, who are drawn not just to the free mango sorbet provided by Audi, but also to two dozen historical race cars at a cars & coffee event hosted at a local delicatessen.

Photographer:

Caption:

Sometimes, it takes an outsider’s perspective to truly grasp a culture. This certainly was true in the case of Bruno Sac...
11/09/2025

Sometimes, it takes an outsider’s perspective to truly grasp a culture. This certainly was true in the case of Bruno Sacco, Mercedes-Benz’ long-serving chief designer – an Italian who oversaw the design of the most inherently ‘German’ cars of all time.

Judging by the Audi Concept C, unveiled at this week’s Munich motor show, Massimo Frascella is closely following in Sacco's footsteps.

Having only moved to Ingolstadt a year ago, Frascella hasn’t reinvented Audi design – but re-discovered its essence. Not just some stylistic cues, but the fundamental design ethos established under some of his illustrious predecessors (Hartmut Warkuß, J Mays, Peter Schreyer) are given a new lease of life, which doesn’t so much hark back to the past, but lend the Audi brand some new-old – and badly needed – meaning.

After years defined by excessive mannerisms, Audi’s rediscovered ‘Clarity’ – hence the ‘C’ in Concept C – comes as a relief. And provides hope that other brands are to follow this example and go for a similarly clear design identity.

All of a sudden, the German car design sector's benchmark resides in Ingolstadt. Once again.

Photographer:

Caption:

Ferrari has revived one of its most evocative badges with the new 849 Testarossa, but is it worthy of the name?On paper,...
10/09/2025

Ferrari has revived one of its most evocative badges with the new 849 Testarossa, but is it worthy of the name?

On paper, it’s formidable: a sharpened SF90 with 1,035bhp, 0–62mph in 2.35 seconds, top speed of 205mph, and the option of an Assetto Fiorano pack for those who want it meaner still. But here’s the rub… while the numbers and the visuals are outrageous, the Testarossa connection is purely nominal. No side strakes, no ’80s bravado, just the latest iteration of Ferrari’s current design language, more F80 than 512 TR.

The tactic of borrowing past glories isn’t new (Fiat 500, Ford Capri, Lamborghini Countach), but Ferrari usually plays its history card more carefully. Has Maranello finally taken the easy road, or is this simply the modern way of keeping legends alive?

So let’s ask ourselves, does the 849 deserve to wear the Testarossa badge, or should some names be left in the history books?

"The 924 would eventually get a shot at full-scale factory-backed competition, pioneering the development of front-engin...
09/09/2025

"The 924 would eventually get a shot at full-scale factory-backed competition, pioneering the development of front-engined race cars at Porsche. The charismatic Carrera GT/S/R/P versions gained class victories and impressive overall finishes at Le Mans – the best of these, sixth, was in 1980 for a Carrera GT driven by Jürgen Barth and Manfred Schurti."

Extract from 'Blood Brother' – a story by on Porsche's underdog, the 924.

Photographer: Adrian Gaut

Read the full story in The Road Rat Edition 10 – purchase now via the link in our bio.

Formula One and film – two industries that go together perfectly. Since cinema’s beginnings, filmmakers have been fascin...
08/09/2025

Formula One and film – two industries that go together perfectly.

Since cinema’s beginnings, filmmakers have been fascinated by motorsport. The first motorsports movie premiered in 1913, with more following soon after. Some stories are told as fictional dramas, while other filmmakers create incredible documentaries using authentic footage.

took a deep dive into motorsport movies to create an ultimate guide to motorsport movies for Edition 20. “In terms of pure motor racing, Grand Prix (1966) still looms large. It’s a little uptight and airless, but John Frankenheimer remains one of the few movie directors who understands implicitly how cars move, and therefore finds a frantic sort of poetry in their kineticism. He used 70mm Panavision cameras for maximum impact.”

Photograph: John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966), Joel Productions, John Frankenheimer Productions, Cherokee Productions

Discover the full story of movies and motorsport in The Road Rat Edition 20, available now via the link in our bio.

As Audi reveals its latest all-electric two-seat sports car design, the Concept C, our thoughts return to the TT and Pau...
03/09/2025

As Audi reveals its latest all-electric two-seat sports car design, the Concept C, our thoughts return to the TT and Paul Horrell’s tribute to one of the most popular and influential sports cars of the past three decades.

“At Audi, the internal passion for the TT sprung from its origins in the design department, not product planning. Freeman Thomas, who claims authorship of the TT, including the name, had designed a small roadster in his spare time while working at Porsche in the mid 1980s. He names that Porsche as, in part, an origin car for the TT, although the actual styling elements were much different. Thomas doesn’t make the reference, but to my mind the 1994 Renault Argus concept seeded several designers’ ideas of removing from a small roadster the conventional sharp aero codes. In 1991, Thomas was recruited by J Mays, who ran the VW Group’s Simi Valley studio in California. He tells The Road Rat, ‘J and I did the concept for the Concept One, the Beetle. That was a foray into this very pure design. We called it “warm Bauhaus”. We designed the concept, and created the three-arch logo. J and I had a very good design chemistry, and J and Martin Smith had done the Audi Avus concept, the first time Audi tapped into its Auto Union history.”

Read the full story in The Road Rat Edition 16, which is available to buy via the link in bio.

“The ever-stylish Jacky Ickx strolls down the pit lane at the ’73 Monaco GP to the Ferrari team. His loose-fitting Nomex...
01/09/2025

“The ever-stylish Jacky Ickx strolls down the pit lane at the ’73 Monaco GP to the Ferrari team. His loose-fitting Nomex suit with protective polo top helped keep him cool during the tough street race with the uncompetitive 312B3, which retired with half-shaft failure. Although the Ferrari carried Heuer and Shell sponsorship, Ickx’s race suit and Bell helmet were adorned with his personal Marlboro deal. With his beautiful wife, Catherine, the Belgian ace’s pin-up persona inspired the actor Antonio Sabàto for the movie Grand Prix.”

Photograph: McKlein

Caption from ‘Style for Speed’ (The Road Rat Ed. 12) in which explores 114 years of the fastest fashion.

Buy single editions or four-edition box sets from the archive – link in bio.

29/08/2025

Designer and artist David Wiener has spent a lifetime shaping ideas, from high-performance product design to digital artworks inspired by the cars that captured his imagination. In this reel, David talks us through his process, his inspirations, and how his journey informs his art today.

You can see more of David’s works of art in The Road Rat Edition 20: Sanction Two (purchase yours via link in bio), where he reflects on putting on an exhibition with celebrated photographer Michael Furman, the two creative voices offering contrasting but equally captivating takes on some of the greatest race cars.

Images and voiceover:

Sometimes the most evocative stories sit in the margins. For our third and final post from this year’s Silverstone Festi...
25/08/2025

Sometimes the most evocative stories sit in the margins. For our third and final post from this year’s Silverstone Festival, photographer Joe Windsor Williams turned his eye to the textures and details, and the moments that create true atmosphere – the worn tyres, hand-lettered pit boards, familiar liveries and fleeting paddock scenes that bring historic motorsport vividly to life.

Look out for a lot more from us celebrating Formula 1’s 75th anniversary over the coming weeks.

Photography:

Address


Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 17:00
Thursday 10:00 - 17:00
Friday 10:00 - 16:00

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Road Rat Magazine posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Road Rat Magazine:

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share