1959 Scarab F1

I took this photograph at the Donington Park Museum in March 1996.

It's the 1959 Scarab F1 car built by American Lance Reventlow and has a 4-cylinder 2,441cc engine designed for Scarab by Leo Goossen, formerly of Offenhauser. The 1974 book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' by Doug Nye and Geoffrey Goddard says this about the car:

'The Formula 1 Scarab

Reventlow’s American Dream

In the late 1950s European-style road racing held a special fascination for a small but growing band of enthusiasts in Speedway-orientated America. Lance Reventlow – son of Barbara Hutton and heir to the Woolworth millions – was one such enthusiast, and he financed the building of some very successful Chevrolet V8-engined sports cars, which he christened ‘Scarab’, after the mystical beetle of ancient Egypt.

This was in 1957, and a front-engined Formula 1 project was also initiated, using an advanced 2½ litre four-cylinder engine developed from the Offenhauser unit which had dominated Indianapolis-type racing for many years. This was to use desmodromic (mechanically-closed) valve gear and Hilborn-Travers fuel injection, and was to be laid on its side in the new chassis to provide a low bonnet line, and place the drive-line on one side of the cockpit, so allowing the driver to be low-seated.

Delays with the engine and with a daring water-cooled an bladder-type braking system robbed Scarab of a chance to race before the rear-engined revolution took a hold. Reventlow had wanted his car to  be an all-American GP challenger, but as 1959 passed so only one season of 2½ litre racing remained and a ‘now or never’ spirit pervaded the works at Culver City, California.

So, with normal Girling disc brakes installed, the beautifully-finished Scarabs appeared at Monaco, Zandvoort, Reims and Riverside in 1960, driven by Reventlow himself and by Scarab engineer/driver Chuck Daigh. The cars made a lovely noise but made no other impression, and when the spares were all used up their season came to an end. In 1961 Daigh drove one car in British Inter-continental Formula events – a class intended to keep the old 2½ litre machinery in harness despite the unpopular change to 1½ litres for Formula 1, but after hurting himself in an accident Daigh withdrew.

Scarab did build a rear-engined car, and had further plans for Intercontinental racing, but in March 1962 Reventlow regretfully announced his company’s closure. The American tax system allowed an unprofitable business to be written off for five years, and after that time the proprietor had to close down or cover losses himself. This Reventlow was no longer prepared to do, and so one American dream came to its end.'

Just a few weeks after taking this photograph I went to the Coys International Festival meeting at Silverstone where what appears to be this Scarab took part in one of the races, and I posted photographs of it in my Blog on 23 May 2015.