Aston could smash record

This isn’t any DB4 GT Zagato, it’s the DB4 GT Zagato

The racing car known to fans simply as 2VEV is to go under the hammer later this year and experts predict it could shatter the record for a British model in this country. It could even challenge the outright world record and become the most valuable British-built vehicle in history.

The 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato will be auctioned at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July and Bonhams, the auctioneers, have given it an estimate of “more than £10million”. Some experts, however, have valued the car at closer to £15m. The previous most expensive British car sold in the UK is the Tim Birkin Bentley Blower, which sold in 2012 for £5.4 million, while the world record for a British car is held by the Aston Martin DBR1 which sold last year for £17.5m.

The news that the Zagato – one of 19 built – is to be sold has caused a flurry of excitement among the world’s wealthiest collectors. It competed in period at Le Mans and the Nürburgring but perhaps most famously it was the car driven by Jim Clark at Goodwood when it was involved in an infamous accident.

During the 1962 Tourist Trophy, Clark spun into John Surtees’ Ferrari 250 GTO and the two cars crashed into the banking. A Ferrari 250 SWB driven by Robin Benson subsequently collided with them too. The thought of what are now three of the most valuable classics in the world crumpled against the Goodwood banking has kept race fans entertained ever since.

2VEV has been owned by the same family for the past 47 years. It was bought by the late Roger St John Hart in 1971 for £3600.