AUCTION house Bonhams chairman Robert Brooks was beaming last night after dropping the hammer on a world record-smashing price for a car sold at auction – close on £20m.

He said the price achieved for the 1954 Juan Manuel Fangio Grand Prix winning Mercedes-Benz – after bidding from four continents at the Goodwood Festival of Speed sale – was nearly double the previous record for the American sale of a Ferrari 250.

It also helped take the afternoon’s hammer totals to close to £36m – a new Goodwood sale record.

Mr Brooks, pictured with the car, who has staged sales at all 21 Goodwood Festivals of Speed, said: “We are absolutely delighted – it is a fantastic result!”

Also proud were Marchwood company bosses Wayne and Gill Loveland, whose Polygon International Vehicle Transportation team had been responsible for movements to the sale of the Mercedes and around half the other car sale lots, as well as competition cars for the festival from across Europe and from the United States.

Gill said: “Obviously we’ve had to keep it under wraps, but now we can say we’re really honoured to have been involved in such a prestigious sale!”