This one-off Aston Martin could sell for $25m next month

It’s the most important racing Aston Martin ever built

How much would you pay for a one-off racing prototype built by Aston Martin? Well, according to RM Sotheby's auction house, $25m should do the trick.

It's offering the car – the Aston Martin DP215 - for sale at its Monterey auction in August. And incredibly, that price tag doesn't look ridiculous.

DP215 was built as a pure one-off, a prototype designed to be at the cutting edge of competition and to dominate the 1963 running of the Le Mans endurance race.

And that it most certainly did, hitting a record 198.6mph on the circuit’s Mulsanne straight, becoming the first car to officially break the 300kph barrier and eclipsing its Ferrari contemporaries.

Now, this most fabled of racing Aston Martins has been fully restored and is up for sale. Read on for the full story.

Strong form

In the late-'50s, Aston Martin was a force to be reckoned with in sports car racing: following back-to-back wins at the Nürburgring, Le Mans and Goodwood, David Brown’s marque won the World Sportscar Championship in 1959.

Calling it quits

Rather than continue its run of success, though, the works motorsport department closed down, leaving the racing to privateers so that the marque could focus on developing new road models.

Given the green light

Aston’s official absence from the track wouldn’t last, though: with dealers clamouring for a racing return to spark road car sales, David Brown gave new projects the green light.

Kick-off project

The first project car – DP212 – appeared in 1962 as an aerodynamic derivation of the DB4GT, with a top speed of 175mph.

Two successors

It was followed the next year by a further pair of cars with the DP214 moniker. Built for the GT class, this evolution was 200kg lighter than the DB4GT it was theoretically based on.

Ultimate evolution

But it was the DP215 – built alongside the DP214 for the 1963 Le Mans prototype class – that was the ultimate competition Aston Martin.

Short notice

The project began a mere two months before the great French race, when team manager John Wyer sent his specifications for DP215 to the Aston Martin engineering department.

Cutting room

On a tight deadline and a tighter budget, Chief Engineer Ted Cutting set to work creating the ultimate racing Aston.

All-new underneath

As with the DP214, the final project car took used a DB4GT-derived body – but it was a very different beast beneath the sleek, alloy shell.

4-litre alternative

The car was originally designed to carry a new 5-litre V8 developed by Tadek Marek, but for the '63 season it instead gained a 4-litre variant of Aston’s existing straight-six engine.

Record breaker

Despite the smaller capacity, the motor was still good for 323bhp and, given the lowly one-tonne kerbweight, it did plenty to propel the DB215 to record-breaking speeds.

Better aero

Improving aerodynamics and weight distribution was a focus, too, especially given that the DP212 had experienced issues with lift at high speed.

Strong and stable

As part of the plan to improve matters, Aston’s engineers moved the engine back 10 inches in the box-frame chassis, and also added independent rear suspension.

The big 300

Thus equipped, DP215 headed to the 1963 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours – where it became the first car to officially break the 300kph speed barrier in a practice session.

More in the tank

In fact, it went on to record a scintillating speed of 319.6kph down the long Mulsanne Straight – and that measurement wasn’t even taken at its fastest point.

Ferrari-beater

Such was its pace that the DB215 posted times rivalling those of Ferrari’s own rear-engined prototypes – and it was six seconds a lap quicker than the Ferrari 330 LMB.

Five-speed regrets

With such pace at its disposal, DP215 looked set to challenge for the overall win. Alas, an earlier engineering decision – namely, to use the five-speed gearbox from the DBR1 – came back to bite the team.

Early retirement

A mere two hours into the race and running in ninth place overall, that gearbox went kaput – likely because of the high torque of the 4-litre engine.

Proven potential

Even so, DP215 had proven itself to be a truly astonishing prototype, capable of world-beating speeds – and it wasn’t finished there.

The bad 'box comes back

Duly repaired, it turned out the following month at Reims with Jo Schlesser at the wheel. Sadly, the gearbox woes weren’t behind the super-fast Aston.

Lost lead

Leading the race, Schlesser missed a gear, which over-revved the engine and terminally damaged the transmission – forcing the car to retire from first position.

DNFs all round

After these two DNFs, a suitable gearbox was finally fitted – but it was too late for DB215: it couldn’t compete at a Brands Hatch event due to tax reasons and, shortly after, team manager Wyer tendered his resignation.

One kept back

As a result, in November '63, the motorsport division of Aston Martin closed down. The other team cars were sold off, but DP215 was retained in the hope that the company might one day return to racing.

Motorway nightmare

This, too, wasn’t to be: the prototype was heavily damaged in a collision with a slower car on the M1 motorway and that was the end of the DB215 – in Aston’s hands, at least.

Bits and pieces

The scraps of DP215 were sold to Isle of Wight man Malcolm Calvert, but the 4-litre engine wasn't included with it and was instead purchased by Colin Crabbe, owner of a DP214. The final generation S532 gearbox, meanwhile, had been lost somewhere along the line.

Sum of its parts

Indeed, DP215 was, at this point, something of a Frankenstein’s monster: its shell had been fitted to a bent chassis, and a DB6 engine and ZF gearbox had been added to make it a runner.

Ready for a restoration

Used by Calvert on the road for several years, the shonky prototype was then sold in 1978 to one Nigel Dawes – and here began a restoration project for the ages.

The hunt begins

Set on restoring the one-off racer to its former glory, Dawes worked with the car’s original designer, Ted Cutting, to track down – among other things – DB215’s factory motor.

4.2-litre reincarnation

When it came to light that the engine had been fitted to one of the two DP214 machines, Dawes instead found an Indianapolis Cooper-Aston 4.2-litre engine and, with Ted’s approval, had Forward Engineering convert it to dry sump to match the original.

Better carburettors

Sparing no expense in his pursuit of the true DP215 specification, he had a trio of correct Weber carburettors added, before the whole package was sent to a specialist for further period-appropriate modifications.

Ready to roll

Naturally, the body was also restored, with Cutting consulting on the work that needed to be done to return the shell to how it was in its '60s heyday – albeit with a new roll cage.

Fresh perches, period

Similarly, the interior underwent a full restoration, with Dawes locating original seats which were recovered in period-correct fabric – though certain modern additions were fitted, including a speedometer and an electric fan.

Back on track

Thus restored, DP215 was sold on again to Anthony J Smith, who took the Aston Martin back to its rightful place: the track. Over the next six years, it would appear at several events, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Hot swap

Then, in 2002, the DP215 was swapped for a Ferrari Formula 1 car. Stabled with new custodians Neil and Nigel Corner, Ted Cutting was once again commissioned to help complete the restoration.

Brand new 'box

With further help from Richard Williams, owner of DP212, a new S532 gearbox – identical to the one that went missing years before – was painstakingly built up from nothing by specialists Crosthwaite & Gardner.

Original block

This wasn’t quite enough, though: to seal the deal, the original engine – the one that had been fitted and converted in DP214 – was finally sourced and refitted to DP215.

Back to its best

As such, this remarkable machine is now as close to its original state as it ever will be – comprehensively restored over several decades, carrying its original engine and bodyshell, and a correct, bespoke gearbox.

Bang for buck

With a such a storied past – from hitting record-breaking speeds at Le Mans to undergoing perhaps the most painstaking restoration of all time – there’s little wonder DP215 is expected to fetch between $20m (£15m) and $25m (£18.9m) at auction.

Big numbers predicted

Will this most rare and fabled of Aston Martin machines really sell for that much? We’ll find out at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction weekend, on 24 and 25 August this year – and we'll be sure to tell you if it does.

Click here to watch a video of DP215 in action!