1958 Lister Knobbly

This is a photograph that I took in the paddock at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's a Lister Knobbly and isn't listed in the programme of the event, but is one of the three 'Sanction' cars built in 1990. It's the third of these cars, chassis BHL148, and had a 5.7 litre V8 Chevrolet engine. At the time of this Gold Cup meeting it was owned by Mark Gibbon.

1958 Lister Knobbly

This was one of the competitors in the Classic Car Invitation Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at a typically wet Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1958 Lister Knobbly of David Clark with what the programme of the event says is a 5,300cc engine. Lister Knobblys were produced with both Jaguar and Chevrolet engine and this car may well be chassis BHL127 which had a Chevrolet engine and was owned at one time by David Clark.

1958 Lister Jaguar

I took this photograph on the exit of Lodge Corner during the Guards Trophy GTSR Race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2008.

It's Phil Bennett in his 1958 Lister Knobbly which has the 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine. Brian Lister started producing sports cars in 1954 first with an MG engine and later with a Bristol engine, but he had the most success with the 1957 car which used the Jaguar D-type engine. The first version of this car was known at the time as a Lister-Jaguar, but after the 1959 car was given a smoother aerodynamic body designed by Frank Costin (and designed to use the Chevrolet Corvette powerplant) the more bulbous earlier car became known as the Lister Knobbly.

1958 Lister Knobbly

This was one of the competitors in the Classic Car Invitation Race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1992.

It's the 1958 Lister Knobbly of David Clark with what the programme of the event says is a 5,300cc engine. Lister Knobblys were produced with both Jaguar and Chevrolet engine and this car may well be chassis BHL127 which had a Chevrolet engine and was owned at one time by David Clark. Behind the Lister is the 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza of Robert Brooks which was driven by Tony Dron in the same race.

1959 Lister Knobbly

This is a photograph I took at Britten's chicane during the Hawthorn International Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's Barry Wood in his 1959 Lister Knobbly leading Tom Walker in his 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans. Brian Lister started producing sports cars in 1954 first with an MG engine and later with a Bristol engine, but he had the most success with the 1957 car which used the Jaguar D-type engine. The first version of this car was known at the time as a Lister-Jaguar, but after the 1959 car was given a smoother aerodynamic body designed by Frank Costin (and designed to use the Chevrolet Corvette powerplant) the more bulbous earlier car became known as the Lister Knobbly. Barry Wood's car has the 3,781cc version of the Jaguar XK6 engine and is chassis BHL117. The Allard J2X Le Mans was developed from the Allard J2 which had motor cycle style mudguards and the J2X was introduced to comply with 1952 FIA regulations which said that cars must have all-enveloping bodywork. Tom Walker's car has a 5,425cc Cadillac V8 engine.

1950s Sports Racing Cars

I took this photograph at Redgate Corner on the first lap of the 1950s Sports Racing Cars race at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

Leading is the 4.7 litre 1959 Lister Corvette of Jamie McIntyre followed by the 2 litre 1959 Lotus 15 of his brother Ewan McIntyre. The green car on the outside is the 5.4 litre 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans of Tom Walker ahead of the red 2 litre 1959 Cooper Monaco of Paul Woolley. The yellow car is the 1.2 litre Widi-Climax of Rupert Wood and behind that are two Cooper Monacos, neither of which are listed in the programme of the event for this race. The one on the left, however, looks like that of Mark Clubb who competed in the BRDC Historic Sports Car race the previous day in his 2 litre 1959 model, and the other one could be the 2 litre 1959 car of Graeme Dodd who also took part in that race. The car with the motorcycle mudguards on the extreme left of the picture is the 2 litre 1953 Cooper Bristol T24 of Peter Mann, driven by John Ure, and next to that another Lister, which looks like the 3.8 litre 1959 Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood.

Crowded Pit Lane

I took this photograph at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in May 2008.

It's a line of cars in the pit lane waiting for a practice session for the BRDC Historic Sports Car race to begin. Number 78 is the 1955 Jaguar D-Type of Benjamin Eastick and is chassis XKD 133, not a genuine 1955 car but apparently constructed in the 1970s using genuine Jaguar D-Type parts. I showed photographs of  this car on 11 July 2017. The car in front of the D-Type is Barry Wood's 1959 3.8 litre Jaguar-engined Lister Knobbly, and is chassis BHL 117, a car I featured on 31 October 2017. In front of that is the Cooper T39 Bobtail of John Clark who shared the driving in the one hour long race with (I think) Emma-Jane Gilbart-Smith, and I showed a photograph of this car on 13 March 2018.

Lister Knobbly

I photographed this car in the pit lane at the SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in June 2008.

It's Barry Wood's 1959 3.8 litre Jaguar-engined Lister Knobbly, so-called because of the contrast between the bulbous body compared with the smooth body of its successor, the Lister Chevrolet Costin bodied car. Barry Wood's car is chassis BHL 117 and I've featured it a couple of times before, on 30 July 2015 and 13 June 2017.

McLaren M1B

This is one of the cars that competed in the Historic Motor Racing News Gentlemen Drivers Sports Racing Challenge race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2005.

It's the 1965 McLaren M1B driven in the 60 minute race by Chris Wilson and Richard Pilkington. A note in the programme of the event says this about the car:

'Stubbier evolution of Bruce McLaren's Elva built M1A, with body styled by artist Michael Turner, the model served privateers well for years in USRRC and early CanAm events. Chris Wilson's car, with its 4.7 litre Ford engine, was raced by Keith St John in Radio London colours in British events of the mid-1960s.'

Here's the McLaren during the race at Britten's chicane behind a Lister Knobbly that isn't listed in the programme, but is one of the three 'Sanction' cars built in 1990. It's the third of these cars and was originally owned by Tony Ditheridge, but later by Mark Gibbon, and has a 5.7 litre V8 Chevrolet engine. Behind the McLaren is the 1.7 litre Elva Mk7 of John Wilkes.

On 26 February 2017 I showed a photograph of Chris Wilson driving a McLaren M1B - presumably this car with a slightly different central stripe - at the same corner at Oulton Park in the Gold Cup meeting a year earlier.

Lister Jaguar

This is a photograph I took at the Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Donington Park in May 2001.

Neither car is listed in the programme of the event and car number 6 in the race in which these cars could have competed was a Lotus Eleven. The car on the right is a Lister Jaguar of 1958, or possibly one of the Lister Knobbly continuation cars. The car on the left is the 1959 car that Frank Costin designed with an aerodynamic body round a Chevrolet Corvette engine for Brian Lister. It was intended for the Chevrolet power plant, but some of the cars were fitted with the Jaguar engine.

Lister Knobbly

Brian Lister started producing sports cars in 1954 first with an MG engine and later with a Bristol engine, but he had the most success with the 1957 car which used the Jaguar D-type engine. The first version of this car was known at the time as a Lister-Jaguar, but after the 1959 car was given a smoother aerodynamic body designed by Frank Costin (and designed to use the Chevrolet Corvette powerplant) the more bulbous earlier car became known as the Lister Knobbly. the photograph below shows one of these cars at the Hawthorn Memorial Trophies Race Meeting organised by the VSCC at Oulton Park in June 2008.

It's a 1959 car owned by Barry Wood

Here's Barry Wood at Britten's chicane during the Hawthorn International Trophy race followed by Kerry Horan in a Kurtis SX500.

Last year Lister Cars announced plans to start a new production run of the Lister Knobbly.

Allard J2X Le Mans

The entry list for the Hawthorn International Trophy race at the Vintage Sports Car Club meeting at Oulton Park in June 2008 included the car shown below.

It's a 1952 Allard J2X Le Mans. The Allard J2 had motor cycle style mudguards and the J2X was introduced to comply with 1952 FIA regulations which said that cars must have all-enveloping bodywork.

Here's the owner of the car, Tom Walker, leading the Cooper Monaco T49 of Paul Woolley and the Lister Knobbly of Barry Wood at Britten's chicane during the race.