Motor racing has never been inexpensive and consequently in the post-war years, as an interest in motorsport began to return to the UK, a number of impecunious privateer racing drivers had no option but to build their own cars with varying degrees of success.

One such was Brian Lister, a director of his family's Cambridge-based light engineering firm, who was better placed than most to become a racing car designer.

He enlisted the considerable talents of Don Moore and Archie Scott-Brown to help with engine tuning and driving respectively, and built his first car in 1954.

The MG XPAG-powered Lister proved an immediate success, notching up five first and eight second places in short order.

Upgraded that summer with a Bristol straight-six, the Lister won its class during the British Grand Prix support race and throughout the 1955 and 1956 UK racing seasons, was a serious thorn in the side of both the Aston Martin and Jaguar Works teams.

The company’s success with MG and Bristol-powe...