Leaving the Track Behind
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LISTER KNOBBLY CONTINUATION L E AV I N G THE TRACK BEHIND Here comes the road-legal version of Lister’s racebred Knobbly continuation. Who needs a modern supercar? Words Richard Heseltine Photography Alex Tapley 136 137 LISTER KNOBBLY CONTINUATION Left and below Gorgeous aluminium body takes 500 man-hours to craft; owner Brian Scowcroft (on left) commissioned Lister to make the first road-legal Knobbly. ‘IT’S GIDDYING STUFF, AS IS TO BE EXPECTED OF A ’50S SPORTS- RACER ON OPEN(ISH) EXHAUSTS’ marque revival, Lawrence Whittaker, even building the new Listers. It took several trips went as far as to persuade several company to the VOSA testing centre before they old boys to come out of decades-long approved a car. We had to adapt more than retirement to act as consultants during the 200 individual parts. construction of the initial batch of ten new ‘The major problem we had to overcome Knobblys, and to help train the next was the heat from the exhaust. The exhaust generation of car builders. The original plan gets very hot and this was unbearable for back in 2013 was simply to produce passengers. It was less of an issue when millimetre-perfect Listers with HTP papers racing, but obviously no good on the road. that could be used in Historic racing, subject Eventually, we ceramic-coated the exhaust he stark Cumbrian are dispatched with gusto. The horror-film to Highway Code adherence generally make concessions to IVA Type Approval, and to the discretion of event organisers. and put a lot of heat-resistant material in the landscape unspools fog of a few hours ago has made way for weak for a purgatorial driving experience in the doing so without deviations from the script ‘My father had bought an original Lister bodywork to deflect the heat, and in the in a blur, and winter sun and he’s revelling in one more real world: think ‘will it catch before it having an adverse effect on its looks or Knobbly to restore,’ Whittaker recalls. ‘While end it worked very well. However, a lot of conversation thus far opportunity to play with his new toy before catches fire’ start-up theatrics, Olympic- appeal. That’s quite a tightrope to walk, trying to find out more about the car and R&D and investment went into sorting has been conducted the roads are salted again. standard strop-throwing shenanigans in not least when your customers are, by order some parts, he contacted George Lister the problem.’ largely by means of It’s giddying stuff, but then that is to be traffic, and a spine-rattling ride quality. More definition, high-net-worth individuals with Engineering [Brian Lister’s grandfather’s Demand for the new Knobblys soon hand gestures. But expected of a ’50s sports-racer on open(ish) often than not, you soon pine for something correspondingly high expectations. company], which was still in existence. They outstripped supply. ‘We sold the first ten cars then it’s hard to be heard over the full- exhausts being exercised on challenging that bit more user-friendly. As such, you That would be individuals such as Brian invited us to their factory and we were within two months of release, which Tthroated howl of a Jaguar twin-cam six as it blacktop. Except this is nothing of the sort. approach this car with a degree of trepidation. Scowcroft, who commissioned the first overwhelmed to see that they had the surprised me a great deal. I am always reaches its sweet spot. The vast acreage of This Lister-Jaguar ‘Knobbly’ was completed It isn’t as though Lister doesn’t have form Lister Knobbly road car. The car collection of original chassis jigs, body bucks and other shocked at how well Lister is received bonnet rises and falls like cleavage, the point only recently. It is, in modern-day parlance, a when it comes to making road cars, mind, this sometime Formula Ford racer stretches parts just lying in storage. My father and I globally. People genuinely love the brand and of focus from the passenger seat being the ‘continuation car’, the important distinction but that was more in the realm of the from a V16 Cadillac to a Franay-bodied were immediately smitten and set about what it stands for. I am hoping for the same onslaught of fresh air that bypasses the being that it was ordered as a road car rather outrageous XJ-S conversions of the late Bentley via all manner of vowel-laden Italian acquiring the five different firms that now when we reignite our Jaguar Tuning Arm shallow wind-deflector and smacks you than as a track weapon. 1980s, and the uncompromisingly angular supercars. In this company, the Knobbly make up The Lister Motor Company Ltd, with the Lister Thunder [based on the F-type around the chops to the point that your face It blazes a trail for a new strain of street- Storm GT car that followed in the early ’90s. doesn’t appear out of place, that’s for sure. which was launched in September 2013.’ – see last issue]. Perhaps it was because we is frozen in a rictus grin. legal sports-racers from this resurgent This is something else entirely, a machine But, then, it was built using much of the Moving towards production was not started from such a low volume, but Lister Meanwhile, the helmsman displays not a Cambridgeshire marque, but therein lies the that aims to duplicate the wondrousness of original Brian Lister-era tooling, so that is to straightforward, however. ‘To be honest, was the fastest-growing UK car company in particle of doubt as speed rises and corners rub. Competition tools with a nod or two the original Knobbly while also making be expected. The architect behind the there were a lot of hurdles to overcome when 2017, which we were all very proud of.’ 138 139 LISTER KNOBBLY CONTINUATION It was Scowcroft who requested that his on your lap. That isn’t the case here. It’s damn car be street-legal, and this example has since near perfect to the point that you feel almost ‘IT’S NEAR- inspired a further run of ten purely for road as though you’re wearing the car. What’s use, with deliveries due to start in the more, the gauges are easy to read at a glance. PER FECT, summer. Resplendent in Rolls-Royce Black When describing Listers, it was once TO THE POINT Kirch (‘black cherry’) to match his Phantom, customary to mention that Brian Lister’s it looks much smaller than you might company made wrought ironwork and THAT YOU imagine. Save for the lack of wheel spinners cackhandedly imply that his racing cars were (denuded for reasons of pedestrian safety, unsophisticated when compared with more FEEL ALMOST apparently), and the addition of door exalted rivals, not least those from the mirrors, indicators, a sunken fuel-filler cap Continent. That wasn’t fair decades ago and AS THOUGH and twin roll-hoops, there’s little to tell it nothing has changed since. They beat those apart from a period-original Knobbly. All ‘foreign jobs’ hollow in the late 1950s after YOU’RE that’s missing are race roundels. And maybe all, albeit mostly at National level. The works one or two battle-scars. prototype, driven by the heroic Archie Scott WEARING It is a distinctive outline, too, with some Brown, swept all before it in 1957, winning fiendishly clever features that circumvented 11 races from 14 starts before the production THE CAR’ period Appendix K race regulations, and model arrived a year later. which led to the Knobbly moniker. These Beneath the skin, the new strain similarly rules mandated a minimum windscreen employs a robust tubular chassis plus double- height. To reduce frontal area while wishbone front suspension and a de Dion conforming with this clause, Brian Lister and rear end. Power comes from a 3.8-litre artist Cavendish Morton (whose resumé also straight-six using all-new remanufactured included several Tojeiro racers and the ill- parts around original Jaguar blocks, all starred Britannia) came up with a bodystyle assembled by Crosthwaite & Gardiner, a that was lower than the engine height company that knows a thing or two about demanded, with clearance over the cams and extracting improbable amounts of carburettors being provided by the large horsepower from the XK unit. This example ‘knobble’ on the bonnet. The scuttle sat low produces more than 330bhp – plenty, in a behind this prominent bulge, with the car weighing just shy of 800kg, to ensure regulation screen therefore being at super- excitement. Lister’s own performance figures low scuttle height. Genius. The rear deck was tout a 4.3sec 0-60mph sprint time, and a top level with the screen top, the overall effect speed in excess of 180mph. even now being almost cartoonish and all Not that there is any danger of us reaching the better for it. You would never mistake such velocities today, though that doesn’t a Knobbly for anything else. stop Scowcroft from trying. From my Lift up the scissor door and the cabin is position hunkered down in the passenger much as you remember of the ’50s original, seat, all the while ruing the decision to wear save for the slender leather seats and padded a flat cap, the Lister feels remarkably dashboard. The classic white-on-black composed. It helps that the pilot knows instruments look the part, and wanton the roads and knows what he’s doing, but luxury stretches to a low fuel-level warning still it comes as a shock that he isn’t having light (very Fiat 500 Nuova).