A lifelong passion for racing and fast cars, naturally led Tiff to Lister, where he drove the mighty Lister Storm for 3 years of his racing career. Tiff has stayed a part of the Lister family ever since, driving, testing and reviewing every Lister to have been produced, including the new Lister Stealth.
In October 1956, Sir William Lyons announced that the Jaguar Works racing effort would cease for the 1957 season citing the “heavy burden on the Technical and Research Branch of the Engineering Division”.
Shell-Mex BP, the fuel sponsors for both Jaguar and Lister, were keen for representation of the British market and so was Jaguar. A cost-effective way of accomplishing this was for a Jaguar engine to be fitted to a different chassis.
Brian Lister, the owner of Brian Lister (Light Engineering) Ltd., was initially reluctant, but Jaguar agreed, via Shell-Mex BP, to supply a Jaguar engine and transmission to be fitted into a Lister chassis with full factory support.
The new car was entered for the 1957 season as a Lister-Jaguar and the 60-year dedication to the Jaguar marque began. 30 years later in 1987, under the new ownership of Laurence Pearce, development began on a tuned Jaguar XJS V12, which would become known as the Lister Le Mans. In total, ninety cars were completed and the project was deemed a great success. In the 1990’s Lister went on to have stratospheric success with the Jaguar V12 powered Lister Storm, winning the British Empire Trophy for a record 4th time, and in 2000, winning the FIA GT Championship. Lister’s place as one of the leading Jaguar tuning companies was sealed.
Report by lister.com
