Lister Costin Coupe WTM446

Please excuse my english, we do our best…..

Each Lister car is special but some of them are even more exceptional. This is the case of HCH736 whose story will be illustrated in a future article and also of WTM446, the only Lister Coupé.

The cars of the Lister brand have never been produced in large quantities but the Lister Costin Coupé is special because, WTM446 is unique.

Brian Lister created the Lister brand in 1954 in Cambridge. He worked on the design of a chassis, which will be tubular and wide enough, allowing the pilot a low position.

At first the cars will be equipped with the MG engine 1500cc without great success. He then installed a Bristol 2 liter engine.
The Lister Bristol will win several victories including Silverstone in a car driven by Archie Scott Brown, a driver who will remain intimately linked to the brand.

In 1956, Brian Lister replaced the Bristol engine with the Maserati A6GCS one.

The Great Lister era began in 1957, with Jaguar having retired from competition in late 1956, the Type-D engine was going to be available for private and independent builders. The famous 3785cc in-line 6cylinder with 3 Webber carburettors would be widely used in competition by many English manufacturers.

The aluminum body fitted with the Jaguar engine makes the Lister a formidable car capable of reaching 100 miles in 11s2.

Scott Brown won 11 of 13 races in which he participated.

In 1957 the car is further improved, and will carry a new bodywork that will be known as Knobbly. Which can result in « bumpy » nickname related to the multiple curves of the car.
The Lister Knobbly will won many races, beating big names such as Ferrari and Aston Martin on many circuits, unfortunately the story of Lister will be mourned that year by the fatal accident of Scott Brown at Spa Francorchamps.

In 1958, in order to gain top speed, a key element for a victory at Le Mans in the Mulsanne straight line, Brian Lister hired Franck Costin, a renowned aerodynamian, who had previously worked on the Lotus Mark VIII.
Franck Costin drew on a new bodywork and, with an identical engine from the Knobbly, the car will gain 45km / h in top speed.

Nine copies will be built, two lister Costin were equipped with the Jaguar engine and seven of the Chevrolet one.

In 1963 Peter Sargent and Peter Lumsden, will buy the Lister made in 1959 for Jim Diggory.

This car had a « spaceframe » chassis with multitubular trellis and ordered a special study at Playfords based in London for a model « Coupe » to participate in the 24h of Le Mans in 1963.

The front suspension will be a double wishbones, coil springs over telescopic shock absorbers. The rear one DeDion axle, twin trailing arms, coil springs over telescopic shock absorbers. The wheels will be Dunlop Magnesium 16 inches.

The car only weighed 1,105 kilo / 2,436 lbs for 306 bhp / 228 kW @ 5,500 rpm, 0 to 60 miles/h in 4,9 sec.

This car, WTM446, which will remain a unique model, will be extremely fast up to 275km / h.

Unfortunately the success will not be there and despite exceptional performance, a broken engine prevented WTM446 from shinning during the race.

After three hours of racing, where the car was very fast, the clutch bolts broke. Bolts provided by Jaguar but did not seem to be up to standard. Complaints that made controversy at the time.The car also participated in the 1000km Nürburgring led by Joachim Fairman. Again the car was extremely fast before the break of its rear suspension.

The Lister Costin Cup at Le Mans in 1963