A Lister Jaguar Monzanapolis, driven by Rod Jolley leaves the pit lane, during the Silverstone Classic Media Test Day 2016
The oddity in this article is the one off Lister Jaguar called the Monzanapolis. It was developed by Brian Lister and the very successful Scottish racing company of Ecurie Ecosse. Unlike other Lister Jaguars it was a streamlined single seater, built on a regular Lister sports car chassis and fitted with the usual Lister Jaguar components. It was intended to be Ecurie Ecosse’s answer to the United States racing machines in a small racing series which was held at Monza Italy in 1957 and1958. The American Indy cars all had Offenhauser engines offset in their chassis and were especially set up for their famous Brickyard race and as such could only race anti clockwise. Monza has always raced clock wise, but to suit the Americans it was changed to anti clockwise. The series known as the Race of Two Worlds on the banked Monza circuit was a walkover for the Americans in 1957, so Ecurie Ecosse felt they should do something about it. However, their Monzanapolis was a failure not being able to keep up with the several ageing D Type Jaguars. It was hastily built and little tested before the 1958 race. Prolific hill climber and sprinter Phil Scragg purchased the car and had considerable success in later years. Renovated and reconstructed this car has had considerable success in the 1970’s and 1980’s in classic car races.
Size: 3300px × 2630px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1958, 1959, 2016, brian, classic, day, jaguar, jolley, lane, lister, media, monza, monzanapolis, pit, rod, seater, silverstone, single, streamlined, test
