1956 Maserati Lister A6GCS

William Archibald Scott Brown was a well-respected and admired sportsman despite having a malformed right arm with no proper hand from birth. He stood barely five feet tall due to his legs being short. Despite these physical deficiencies, he was a very accomplished racing driver, beginning with his own MG TD. He met Brian Lister in the early 1950s, who began building sports-racing cars, and his friend Archie began driving them. Archie's success led to orders being placed by privateers, birthing the Brian Lister (Light Engineering) Limited. The early Lister cars were powered by Bristol and MG engines. During the 1955 season, Roy Salvadori driving a Maserati A6GCS provided plenty of competition for the 2-liter Lister-Bristol works car.

Impressed by the A6GCS, Lister acquired a two-liter Maserati engine and a Maserati four-speed gearbox which he mounted in a new tubular chassis he designed - which turned out to be lighter than the standard Maserati. With assistance from engineer Don Moore, the all-aluminum twin-cam Maserati engine was tuned to produce plenty of power and torque. Complimenting Scott Brown's driving ('drifting') style, the suspension consisted of a DeDion axle at the back and double wishbones at the front. Stopping power was provided by 10-inch Girling disc brakes, with the front being outboard and the rear-mounted inboard. The body was formed from lightweight aluminum and its design with the minimal frontal area was inspired by the MG Racing Special (EX 172) which had been built to run at Le Mans in 1952 and further modified over the years for speed record attempts. The overall body width was a mere 4 feet 7 inches and its height was just 2 feet 3 inches. The exceptionally low front area was a reduction of 20 percent from the original Lister works body.

The completed car was given the identity of a previous works Lister, chassis 'BHL 1' and the recycled UK road registration number 'MER 303' of a prior works car.

During the 1956 season, the car was only raced by Scott Brown to three 1st place finishes, plus 2nd places at Brands Hatch at Oulton Park. Further performances were often hindered by reliability issues of the Maserati engine, convincing Lister to switch to another power source for the following season.

After the 1956 season, the one-off Lister Maserati was sold to a private owner and raced by Allan Moore during 1957 and 1958.

by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2020