17 October 2024
Archie Scott Brown’s Historic Race Car Up for Sale
4 minutes
One of the only surviving cars raced by driving ace Archie Scott Brown goes on the market.
There was an added air of excitement at this year’s Goodwood Revival as a rather special racing car, the Lister-Maserati HR1 once driven by racing star Archie Scott Brown, thrilled the crowd as it sped around the track.
It performed admirably – and anyone who loves 1950s British motorsports will know Lister is a very big part of that era. This car is one of the last remaining racing cars driven by Scott Brown.
Brian Lister and Scott Brown were one of the great UK racing private teams after Lister took over the D-Type project when Jaguar withdrew from competition racing.
James Mitchell, of Pendine Historic Cars, at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire, explained: “When Archie Scott Brown was working in Cambridge, he joined the local motoring club where Brian Lister was a member.
“Lister, heir to a family-owned engineering firm in Cambridge, was also a budding motorsport enthusiast and racer, but after being driven as a passenger round a local airfield by Archie in his MG TD, he realised he didn’t have the skills required to be a successful driver himself – but Scott Brown did.
“Lister and Scott Brown forged one of the greatest partnerships in British motorsport of the post-war era. Together they built one of the most respected motor racing teams of the 1950s.”
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(Image: Archie Scott Brown in the Lister Maserati) |
What made Archie Scott Brown even more extraordinary was his dogged determination. He was born with a malformed right arm and his legs were deformed. He was barely five feet.
It took his mother a decade to find a good surgeon willing to operate on her severely disabled son.
James added: “Despite his impairments, Scott Brown was tenacious and countered his disabilities with a great force of character; he was charming, witty, full of energy and always up to mischief.
“When he walked into The Rose pub in Cambridge to meet fellow members of the Cambridge University Auto Club, he did so with such swagger they all assumed he was a wartime RAF pilot (a myth that Archie did nothing to dispel.)
“Drinking with his left hand, his right arm hidden inside a battered flying jacket, his new friends had no idea of his physical impairment.
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He was an extraordinary driver. In most of the pictures you see of him, he is hiding his right arm and has his left arm firmly holding the top of the steering wheel. He would use the stump to steady the steering wheel as he changed gear.” Nobody within the motor racing world had a bad word to say about him and Brian Lister would recall: “Nature always compensates, and in Archie's case it had given him the most incredible sense of balance which is what made him such a superb driver.” |
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Through 1955 Archie Scott Brown continued to carve out his place in British motor racing history which was boosted when Lister developed the Lister Maserati ready for the 1956 season. Scott Brown went into the 1958 season with huge following. Even the great Manuel Fangio conceded Scott Brown was 'the King of Drift and a tremendous driver'. |
Tragically, Scott Brown was caught out by a rain shower when locked in wheel-to-wheel combat with American driver Masten Gregory in a rival Ecurie Ecosse Lister Jaguar during the Spa GP, Belgium on May 18, 1958.
Scott Brown’s car crashed, overturned and burned out. He died in hospital the following day, aged 31 – a glittering motor racing career tragically cut short after recording 71 wins, 15 in international competition.
Pendine Historic Cars
James Mitchell’s Pendine Historic Cars specialises in the sale of historic cars for road and track. While focusing on the immediate post-war period through to the 1970s, James’ experience ranges from Edwardian racers through to the supercars of the 1990s. He often travels the world to source and value vehicles.
The Blast House showroom is at Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire. Formerly RAF Bicester, Bicester Heritage is the country’s only site dedicated solely to historic car, motorcycle and aircraft specialists. It is also the best-preserved pre-war aerodrome in the country.
About the 1956 Lister-Maserati
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(Image: The ex-works, former Archie Scott Brown 1956 Lister-Maserati 2.0-Litre Sports-Racing two-seater is for sale. Registration no. MER 303, Chassis no. BHL 1. |
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