Ford is just days away from selling its Aston Martin luxury sports car business to a consortium led by David Richards, the former accountant turned rally co-driver and motor racing team manager.

The US car giant is expected to confirm the completion of a deal at the beginning of next week, some six months after the group put the Warwick-shire-based carmaker up for sale.

The two parties are thought to be negotiating over the detail of a deal that will value the Aston Martin business at about £450 million. Ford is understood to have been seeking more than twice that figure when it first put the marque, which was famously James Bond’s car of choice, up for sale.

The consortium, led by Mr Richards’ Prodrive business, includes American and Middle Eastern investors.

Prodrive, which works with manufacturers, using its technology to improve the performance of their cars, already has close links with Aston Martin. It started working with the carmaker three years ago to develop its Aston Martin Racing team, which competes in sports car races, including the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Mr Richards is best known as the former boss of BAR, the Formula One racing team that is home to Jenson Button and has since been renamed Honda Racing after the Japanese motor company took a stake. He is also a former boss of the Benetton Formula One team.

Prodrive is set to enter the 2008 Formula One championship under its own name and also runs the Subaru team in the World Rally Championship.

Doughty Hanson, the private equity group, and Simon Halabi, the Syrian property developer, are both thought to have expressed an interest in buying Aston Martin.

Doughty Hanson dropped its offer to between £350 million and £400 million last week after discovering certain previously undisclosed items in Aston Martin’s books.

The items related to pensions, executive car perks and costs related to safety and engineering tests that were previously provided and paid for by Ford but that would now be the responsibility of Aston’s new owners.

Ford is not thought to have asked for nonpublic information on Aston Martin to be returned or destroyed, indicating that it had been keeping the door open for the other bidders.

Some 30 bidders are thought to have origingally expressed an interest in buying the group, which was founded nearly 90 years ago and which last year made 7,000 cars.

The sale comes amid turmoil in the US car market, where overseas entrants, including Toyota, are winning sales at the cost of local manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors.

Ford has been restructuring its operations after reporting losses of close to $13 billion for last year.

Business big shot David Richards

David Richards is one of the most charismatic leaders in British motor racing and has a passion for Aston Martins. A trained accountant, he started his career in cars as a rally co-driver and quickly progressed through the ranks until he partnered Ari Vatanen to the World Rally Championship in 1979.

With the knowledge he acquired of the carmakers that supported the championship and a contacts book full of names, Mr Richards launched his own business, Prodrive. Twenty years later, he employs 1,000 in a company earning about £160 million a year as one of the technology leaders in the motor industry.

Prodrive, based in Banbury, has a portfolio of blue-chip car companies using its research and technology capabilities, underlined by success on the track. The Subaru rally team developed by Mr Richards not only provided Britain with its first World Rally Champion driver in Colin McRae in 1995 but transformed the fortunes of Subaru.

But Mr Richards, 54, is best-known for his work in Formula 1. He turned a struggling BAR Honda team into contenders and rescued the career of Jenson Button (pictured, right, with Mr Richards). His own F1 team will be on Grand Prix circuits next year.

He convinced Aston Martin to return to sportscar racing, finding success at Le Mans. Proof of his love for the car can be found in the fact that Mr Richards drives an Aston Martin Vanquish to work. (Kevin Eason)

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