A car transformed into an artwork by Damien Hirst is set to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds when it is auctioned off at Sir Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball.

Mr Hirst is known for his spin paintings - and the buyer of his latest creation will be able to take the valuable work out for a spin.

The candyfloss pink paint-splattered Audi A1 car has been spin painted by Mr Hirst in his Gloucestershire studio and is described as "fully driveable and road legal".

Sir Elton said: "This is one of the most exciting auction items we have ever had for White Tie."

The annual glitzy bash is held at Sir Elton's home with partner David Furnish and raises money for the Elton John Aids Foundation.

The event will be held today.

As part of the same lot, the car will be auctioned with a 6ft diameter canvas spin painting, which Mr Hirst completed at the same time.

The A1 will not be seen on UK roads until November, and the special artwork was created ahead of the car's mainland European launch dates.

Audi UK director Jeremy Hicks said: "We are enormously proud to support Sir Elton John's remarkable fundraising ball for the eighth year in succession with the donation of a priceless and unrepeatable work of art for auction."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.