Greatest racing car ever up for auction
A 1950s Maserati grand prix racing car, recently voted the greatest ever, is expected to fetch up to €2.2m when it is sold at auction next month.
The Maserati 250F, which won the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix in the hands of Stirling Moss, will be auctioned at Maranello, Italy in May.
Peter Haynes, of classic car specialist RM Auctions which is running the sale alongside Sotheby's, said the fact the Maserati was a single seater, grand prix racing car, which couldn't be driven on the road, meant it would be unlikely to fetch as much as comparable sports cars.
The 250F was recently voted the greatest racing car ever by readers of Octane, a British motoring magazine.
The top lot at the Maranello auction is a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa which, if it meets the pre-sale estimate of between $12m and $14m, will be the most expensive car ever sold at auction.
That record is currently held by a Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, bought at last year's Maranello auction by British radio and TV star Chris Evans for £5.6m ($10.9m at the time).
The market for classic cars has so far been more resilient to the global economic downturn than many other collectables markets. However, RM sold only two-thirds of the lots at its most recent sale at Fort Lauderdale in the US.
At its previous European sale in London last October, RM managed £15m of sales with the top lot, a 1997 McLaren F1, fetching £2.5m versus a presale estimate of £1m.
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