PENDINE OFFERS ULTRA-RARE ASTON MARTIN V8 ZAGATO PROTOTYPE IN ZAGATO CENTENARY YEAR

PENDINE OFFERS ULTRA-RARE ASTON MARTIN V8 ZAGATO PROTOTYPE IN ZAGATO CENTENARY YEAR

An extremely rare 1986 Aston Martin V8 Zagato prototype worthy of the world’s finest car collections is for sale with Bicester Heritage based, specialist dealer, Pendine Historic Cars.

Chassis 20011 is one of just three prototypes, and one of two configured in right-hand drive built ahead of the original limited production run of around 50 Aston Martin V8 Zagato coupés, all of which were pre-sold before production had even started.

Finished in Gladiator Red and presented in beautiful, restored condition, this particular prototype was commissioned with a unique specification by Aston Martin enthusiast Wensley Hayden-Baillie, a close friend of former Aston Martin Lagonda chairman, Victor Gauntlett.

It comes to market from a private collection for the first time in 20 years in an unmissable opportunity for Aston Martin collectors and those looking to mark the 100thyear of the Zagato brand.

“Chassis 20011 is a well-known Aston Martin and is surely one of the finest examples of all of the V8 Zagatos built,” comments James Mitchell, founder, Pendine Historic Cars.

“According to the current owner, who has raced and driven more V8 Zagatos than most, it drives unlike the other cars and is visceral by comparison. This is a special car which seriously deserves recognition for its place in the marque’s genesis.”

Based on the Aston Martin V8 but with a Zagato coach built body, the car’s angular appearance and squared-off grille are paired with a lighter weight and shorter wheelbase than the ‘standard’ Vantage, with deleted rear seats.

The factory quoted 0-60 time of under five seconds with a top speed of around 190mph, making it Aston Martin’s fastest ever car at the time.

As with all cars commissioned by Wensley Hayden-Baillie, chassis 20011 has an exceptionally high specification and consequently is one of only four known to have been built with the 432bhp motor, and one of just two with an integral roll bar. Other features include black leather seats, leather-covered steering wheel and dashboard, walnut centre console and authenticity plaques.

Between 2009 and 2013 the car was subjected to a breath-taking restoration by Pebble Beach winning specialist, Auto Restorations, which took place in New Zealand and was overseen by the current, third custodian.

Today the car is listed by Aston Martin Heritage Trust as a significant car and in recognition of its status was invited to the highly prestigious Concorso Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como in 2016, one of only 52 cars annually, worldwide, to receive such an invitation. This was followed by an invitation to the inaugural City of London Concours in 2017.

The V8 Zagato prototype is for sale with an asking price of £530,000 and is accompanied by all of its original manuals, delivery and warranty documents as well as copies of the fascinating factory memos about this special build. There is an unbroken, complete and extensive history file along with the original service vouchers book and handbook.

Interested parties should contact James Mitchell at Pendine Historic Cars directly by emailing james@pendine.com or on +44 1869 357126.

For further details on the 1986 Aston Martin V8 Zagato prototype for sale with Pendine Historic Cars, visit https://pendine.com/portfolio/1986-aston-martin-v8-zagato/.

All images copyright “Pendine Historic Cars”

MOTORCYCLE ACE ZEF EISENBERG SETS NEW FLYING MILE RECORD AT WORLD-FAMOUS PENDINE SANDS

MOTORCYCLE ACE ZEF EISENBERG SETS NEW FLYING MILE RECORD AT WORLD-FAMOUS PENDINE SANDS

Motorcycle ace Zef Eisenberg sets new Flying Mile record

Record-breaking racer Zef Eisenberg survived a 195mph scare to establish a stunning new benchmark for the Flying Mile at Pendine Sands in South Wales. Riding a specially made 400bhp supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa that was built and prepared by Eisenberg’s MADMAX Racing Team, he set a two-way average of 182.40mph on Saturday 6 April.

In 1927, Sir Malcolm Campbell reached 174.8mph at Pendine in his iconic aero-engined Blue Bird. That record was unbroken until 2015, when actor Idris Elba achieved 180.361mph along the historic beach in a 650hp Bentley Continental Super Sport twin-turbo W12 – yet the intrepid Eisenberg needed only a single run in both directions on the ‘Green Monster’ to surpass them both, with a rear tyre that was found to be falling apart after the first run!

“The bike had been spinning the rear wheel for two miles at 240mph,” explained Eisenberg. “We were using a GP racing tyre, too – the best you can get, but I assume it’s not used to that much power or wheelspin. That’s why these records are so hard to achieve. You’re pushing human and engineering boundaries.”

The MADMAX team fitted a new tyre during the permitted one-hour turn-around time, enabling Eisenberg to complete his return run and establish the new record. For the third run, a harder compound of tyre was used, but the extreme demands of running at maximum rpm for nearly three miles – and constant wheelspin at such high revs – took its toll on the motorcycle’s highly stressed engine.

“I was doing 195mph approaching the end of the mile,” said Eisenberg of the moment the engine blew, “and my helmet visor and leathers were sprayed with black engine oil, obscuring my vision. I lost sight of the finish flags, but I couldn’t just slam on the brakes due to the sand. Fortunately, I managed to keep it straight and bring it to a stop.

“Then I noticed engine oil spraying onto the hot exhaust, but unless I jumped off and dropped the bike, I couldn’t get off because I couldn’t put the kick-stand down on the sand! Luckily, the oil never caught fire on the hot exhaust, as the bike would have burst into flames…”

The critical engine damage prevented Eisenberg and the MADMAX team from achieving their ultimate goal of 200mph for the Flying Mile, but they’d already done enough to break the all-out Flying Mile record for ’bike and car.

They will be back at the legendary venue during the Speed Week on 18/19th May with their 1200bhp Porsche Sand Racer. Painstakingly developed from a 2015 911 Turbo, this extreme machine will be driven by Eisenberg in an attempt to break the outright Flying Mile record.

His goal will also be to establish a new benchmark for the highest speed ever achieved at Pendine by a wheel-powered vehicle – a record that Eisenberg currently holds at 201.5mph on the MADMAX ‘Green Monster’, making the Suzuki the fastest-ever motorbike on sand.

WORLD’S MOST SIGNIFICANT JAGUAR COLLECTION FOR SALE WITH PENDINE

WORLD’S MOST SIGNIFICANT JAGUAR COLLECTION FOR SALE WITH PENDINE

1935 Jaguar SS90 Prototype Zumbrunn-Schmid

Some of the world’s rarest and most historically significant Jaguar cars are to be offered for sale on the open market for the first time ever by Pendine Historic Cars, the UK-based specialists in historic cars for road and track.

The ‘Jaguar Sports Car Collection’ currently belongs to one of the world’s foremost collectors of sporting Jaguars and contains 12 of the most collectable and valuable Jaguars in existence. Among the collection is the first ever Jaguar sports car prototype, the first ever E-Type to be seen in public and the famous ‘lost C-Type’.

Offered for sale individually, the collection presents Jaguar and classic car aficionados with a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire an exquisite piece of Jaguar history, each in Concours condition and restored by the finest marque specialists.

“This is without a doubt one of the most impressive and important collections of Jaguars in the world,” comments James Mitchell, founder, Pendine Historic Cars. “Each car in the collection represents a key milestone through the marque’s early history. Not only have some of these incredible cars played important roles in automotive cultural history, but they are also among the best examples in the world.”

The ‘Jaguar Sports Car Collection’ is the automotive life work of a notable collector, Dr Christian Jenny. Since falling in love with the marque in the early 1970s, Christian has been dedicated to building a collection of Jaguar sports cars that spans the most definitive period of the company’s development. So significant is the collection, a hardback book titled ‘The Jaguar Sports Car Collection; A Personal Endeavour’, which tells the story of each individual car, was published in 2014.

1961 Jaguar E-Type 885005 Geneva Zumbrunn-Schmid

The 1935 Jaguar S.S. 90 Prototype for sale is the first ever Jaguar sports car made and the car that would launch Sir William Lyons’ and Jaguar’s successful motorsport campaign at the very beginning of the marque’s sporting history.

The 1961 Jaguar E-Type in the collection is the first E-Type ever seen in public when it was unveiled to the press and VIP guests at the Geneva Motor Show. As one of the very first hand built, pre-production prototype examples of the model which changed Jaguar’s history forever, this is considered one of the most important non-competition Jaguars in the world.

A hugely significant historic race car in the collection is the 1952 Jaguar C-Type, known as the ‘lost C-Type’ after it became the only one of the 53 examples unaccounted for between the late sixties until 1997. Today it is regarded as one of the greatest ever sports racing cars of the 1950s.

Also in the collection is the first ever production 1935 S.S. 90 to leave the factory, a 1937 S.S. 100 2.2 litre, 1938 S.S. 100 3.5 litre, 1950 XK120 Alloy, 1950 XK120 Roadster, 1955 XK140 Roadster, 1960 XK150 3.8S Roadster, 1961 E-Type and a 1972 V12 Roadster. Each car in the collection, currently located in Switzerland, has been meticulously maintained and stored in a dedicated subterranean garage.

Interested parties should contact James Mitchell at Pendine Historic Cars directly at james@pendine.com or on +44 1869 357126, with sale prices available on request only.

To see the full ‘Jaguar Sports Car Collection’ for sale on the Pendine Historic Cars website, please visit https://www.pendine.com/jaguar-collection/.

1952 Jaguar XKC023 Zumbrunn-Schmid