Model history: Like many of his contemporaries, Brian Lister entered racing with a machine of his own creation. Son of a wealthy industrialist, he first raced a MG engined Cooper chassis in 1951. This was soon replaced by a Tojeiro chassis with an air-cooled Jap motorcycle engine. It immediately impressed and Lister seriously considered marketing the racer, although several bugs still needed to be ironed out. During one of the races in the Tojeiro-Jap, he was nearly beaten by a young Archie Scott Brown in a much slower MG TD. This was even more remarkably considering the serious birth defects the Scotsman suffered, which left him with only one fully functional hand. Lister quickly realised that his business could move ahead quicker if he concentrated on building the cars and having Scott Brown race them. He in turn jumped at the opportunity to have his tired MG replaced by a state of the art racer and a lengthy partnership was forged.
In 1952 and 1953 Scott Brown successfully campaigned the unusual Tojeiro-Jap, frequently beating more powerful competition. This bought Lister some time to turn his ideas for a brand new racing car into metal. He had received in-house engineering training in his family business, but had little experience in designing racing cars. So it was not surprising that his first go at it was utterly conventional with a basic ladder frame made up of two large tubular members. Suspension was by double wishbones at the front and a DeDion axle at the rear. The relatively high unsprung weight of the DeDion axle was compensated by moving the rear brakes inboard. An MG engine was fitted and the rolling chassis was covered by a Brian Lister designed bodywork. He later admitted that he concentrated on keeping the frontal area as small as possible and all but ignored aerodynamics as he knew little about it anyway.
The Lister MG debuted late in 1953, but faced strong competition in its class from Lotus. Some extensive engine tuning by expert Don Moore made the car considerably more competitive. All looked well for 1954, when all of a sudden Scott Brown's competition license was withdrawn at the eve of the prestigious British Empire Trophy because of his disability. Universal protest followed and five weeks later his license was reinstated, but it would not be the last dispute the talented racer would have. Not much later the MG engine was replaced by a more powerful Bristol two litre straight six, which debuted victoriously at Silverstone, beating the more potent Jaguar C-Types. Scott Brown continued to impress on the British Isles, but he was refused an international license and for example could not take part in a Formula 1 race at Monza with Connaught. There was one F1 entry in the British Grand Prix, where he set the fastest lap, but his future lay in sports cars.
In 1955 and 1956 Lister experimented with various engines and also seriously considered Formula 2 racing. At the end of the year, Jaguar's retirement from international racing meant a turn for the better for Lister as the highly potent D-Type engines would become available for customers. The chassis was adapted to accept the Jaguar engine and a now legendary Lister Jaguar combination was born. Now matching the competition's power, the works Lister was easily the quickest car of the 1957 season and Scott Brown won eleven of the fourteen races he contested in, often humiliating factory machines like the new Aston Martin DBR1s and DBR2s. Understandably this success grabbed the attention of potential customers and Lister started with the production of privateer cars. To cope with the added power the chassis tubes were of a slightly wider diameter, but other than that little changed to the initial design drawn up in 1953.
Available with or without the Jaguar engine installed, the Listers were clothed in a tightly wrapped aluminium body with prominent bulges to clear the wheels, giving them the nick-name 'Knobbly'. The other engines available were Maserati's three litre six cylinder, a three litre version of the D-Type engine and the American Chevrolet V8. The interest in three litre engines was created by the sport's governing body to limit the World Championship eligible machines to that displacement. Admired by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Archie Scott Brown was now finally fully accepted and he had ambitious plans for the 1958 season, which started with a successful tour with the Lister Jaguar in New Zeeland. A few weeks after his return, he accompanied Brian Lister to Belgium to race in the Spa Francorchamps round of the World Championship. Sadly he crashed heavily on the damp track and lost his life in the fierce fire that followed. Britain had lost one of its most talented drivers and an example to handicapped people around the world.
If it wasn't for outstanding contracts, Lister would have most likely withdrawn from racing on the spot following his lead driver and friend's fatal crash. Thanks in no small part to Scott Brown's successes the demand for Listers was high and although there were complaints about the lack of top speed, victories were scored on both sides of the Atlantic. To cure the high speed problems, Lister commissioned aerodynamics expert Frank Costin to design a more slippery body. This new design was debuted late in 1958 and equipped to all production Listers for 1959. Costin also helped with the design of a brand new spaceframe chassis that was thought to be required to compete in the three litre class. This multi tubular chassis design offered the same rigidity as a conventional ladder frame, but at a lower weight. The rather complex project ate away at Lister's finances and before the new car could be marketed, the company was forced to close down at the end of 1959.
Brian Lister returned to his family business, which he successfully ran with his brother in the following decades. He remained active in motorsport and was involved as a consultant in various projects. Many of the fifty some cars he had built have remained active to this date, first in contemporary races and later in historic races; often with a lot of success. In the last four decades many replicas were also constructed and it's estimated that around twice the number Listers currently exist today than were ever constructed by Brian Lister himself. With his approval the Lister name has been used from the 1980s by Laurence Pearce's company, which first modified Jaguars and later produced cars of their with Jaguar engines. They were also frequently raced with an appearance at Le Mans and the clinching of the FIA GT World Championship as highlights. The company also produced a small batch of 'authentic' replicas in the late 1980s and early 1990s as celebratory 'centenary' models.
Chassis: BHL 108
Built in 1958, chassis BHL 108 was delivered new through Carroll Shelby Sports Cars to Jim Hall. The Knobbly Lister was fitted with a Corvette V8 engine and personalised with Hall's initials in the grill. The monogram was removed soon after its Santa Barbara debut. Still in Hall's ownership, the engine was fitted with a Latham supercharger. For reliability reasons this was quickly removed. In 1959 the car was sold. The new owner continued to race BHL 108 in Libre events. During the 1970s it was already restored and it was vintage raced by most of its subsequent owners. Restored to its original configuration, it is today part of a prominent Washington based collection. BHL 108 is seen here in action during the 2007 Monterey Historic Racses.
Chassis: BHL 114
This Chevrolet engined 'Knobbly' was sold through Carroll Shelby to Mrs. Harry Clark Boden; a member of the very wealthy du Pont family. She had the car prepared at no expense spared by Red Byron and entered the car in a support event of the 1958 Marlboro Six Hours for Bark Henry. He duly won the race but the next weekend the team nevertheless appeared with a new driver. Chassis BHL 114 was subsequently fielded for various other drivers before it was sold to Ed Lowther in 1960. He campaigned the car for another two years before it was retired from contemporary racing. It then only changed a few times before it was acquired by its current owner. In the hands of this prominent Californian collector, BHL 114 is seen here during the 2006 Monterey Historic Races.
Article by Wouter Melissen, last updated on November 26, 2007
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Like many of his contemporaries, Brian Lister entered racing with a machine of his own creation. Son of a wealthy industrialist, he first raced a MG engined Cooper chassis in 1951. This was soon replaced by a Tojeiro chassis with an air-cooled Jap motorcycle engine. It immediately impressed and Lister seriously considered marketing the racer, although several bugs still needed to be ironed out. During one of the races in the Tojeiro-Jap, he was nearly beaten by a young Archie Scott Brown in a much slower MG TD. This was even more remarkably considering the serious birth defects the Scotsman suffered, which left him with only one fully functional hand. Lister quickly realised that his business could move ahead quicker if he concentrated on building the cars and having Scott Brown race them. He in turn jumped at the opportunity to have his tired MG replaced by a state of the art racer and a lengthy partnership was forged.
