Lister Le Mans

Founded by Brian Lister in 1954, Lister sports racing cars used a series of MG, Bristol and Maserati engines before settling on Jaguar power in 1957. Lister and fellow British engineer, Warren Pearce would totally strip cars like Jaguar C and D Types, redesign and rebuild them as Listers, then regularly embarrass the Brown Lane factory on the racetrack in their improved creations. The company ceased building race cars in 1959, but was revived in the 1980s through Warren's son, Laurence Pearce. Naturally, the new Lister firm chose Jaguar power for their return to sportscar racing, which coincided with Tom Walkinshaw's TWR Group turning the Jaguar XJ-S coupe into a race winner, regularly besting Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari in European Group C racing. The Jag revival continued with the XJR-9 winning the Le Mans 24 hour event in 1988. Pearce was concerned, however, that this racetrack success wasn't being reflected in Jaguar's road-going offerings. The XJ220 was compromised and TWR's version of the XJR-9 racer was impractical for road use.

Enter Lister's 'Le Mans' - the fastest Jaguar road car ever built. Lister had been tuning and tweaking XJ-Ss for some time, but the Le Mans (named in honour of Jaguar's success at the event) took this to a whole new level. The 6.0lt V12 was bored out to 6.2 litres and fitted with a turbocharger, with tuning input from Cosworth. However, the car shown here was unique among the limited (only 32 built) Le Mans production run, in that it was fitted with a normally aspirated V12 bored out to 7.0 litres, with additional work carried out by Cosworth. The engine work was merely the base for a comprehensive reworking of the XJ-S, both externally and mechanically. Only the doors, windscreen glass, suspension uprights & wishbones, power steering pump & alternator remain from a stock model. With a brief of creating four-passenger comfort at 320km/h (this car is actually the only one that can crack 328km/h), Lister started by adding an extra 75mm of rear leg room, through clever alteration of the wheelbase.

As you would expect, suspension is significantly upgraded and stiffened in the Le Mans, as is the front sub frame of the chassis. However, a high level of ride comfort is retained. Brakes are Group C-spec discs with specially-made AP Racing alloy calipers. The Le Mans also has sharper steering, with an improved steering rack that requires just 2.3 turns lock to lock. Wheels are bespoke 10" wide front and 13" rear rims, wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero rubber. Customers could choose a Getrag 5 speed close ratio manual or GM400 auto transmission. However, this car is the only one fitted with a 6 speed manual. The interior boasts full Connolly leather trim on custom-made Recaro front seats, deep Wilton carpets, black powder-coated brightwork and quality German fabric hood on the convertible models. On the outside, the bodywork is bold, aggressive and purposeful - all in Lister's signature black finish. While it looks great, what's even more impressive is that the body panels you see here are all metal - filler was actually banned from the Lister bodyshop! The convertible Le Mans shown here is believed to be the only one in Australia.