Ferrari 1957 250 Testarossa news - Ferrari hits £8m - 2009

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A 1957 Ferrari 250 Testarossa has become the most expensive car ever to be sold at auction.

The gorgeous, curvy Testarossa fetched nine million Euro (£7.97 million) at Maranello's Leggenda e Passione event this weekend, breaking the previous world record - paid for by Chris Evans for a black 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California - by almost two million Euro.

Just 22 of the Scaglietti-designed 250 TRs were built between 1957 and 1958, winning 10 international championship races between them. This car - chassis 0714TR, if you're keeping notes - finished fourth at the Buenos Aires 1,000km in 1958 before racing in the SCCA championship in the USA.

As you can see, though, it's in pretty tidy nick. No details are known about the large-walleted buyer, who remained anonymous and conducted their bidding by telephone. Rumours that the giant cheque was signed by a Mr S.Tig could be neither confirmed nor denied.

And what about that gorgeous Ferrari 330 P4 we flagged up a few weeks ago? Well, that failed to reach its 7.25 million Euro reserve. Which just shows what we know...