Lister Storm GT: Race car buying guide

While many consider it a salesroom flop, Lister’s flagship Storm sports car went on to be a GT hero of the late 1990s

Lister Storm
Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

Current page

165

Current page

166

Current page

167

Current page

168

Current page

169

Current page

170

Current page

171

Current page

172

If you’re making a list of the fastest, most outrageous cars of the 1990s, this is the one you’re most likely to forget. Up against the might of the Ferrari F40, Lamborghini Diablo, Bugatti EB110, McLaren F1 and such, what chance did little old Lister have?

After all, Lister only built four, priced them well out of their league, and the Storm faded from showrooms as fast as it had blown in.

But here are some headline figures worth remembering. A hulking 7-litre V12 adapted from a Le Mans 24Hrs winner; a top speed of 208mph that made it the fastest four-seater car in the universe in its time; and after its road career came to a premature end it actually made a mighty fine race car.

Despite being a low-volume manufacturer, Lister already commanded respect in the racing world thanks to its work first with MG and Bristol power since its formation in 1954, and then its founder Brian Lister’s link with Jaguar that gave us the eternal Knobbly.

But following the financial trouble which led to the original company’s closure in the mid-1960s, all fell silent in the Lister camp, until engineer Laurence Pearce resurrected the company in 1986, primarily to tune special edition Jaguar XJS road cars. Pearce began by expanding the 5.4-litre V12 in each of them to a full 7 litres, endowing them with a 200mph top speed, adding new body panels and charging just over £100,000 for each of the 90 this new version of Lister produced.

But to truly get back to its former glories, Pearce knew Lister needed a flagship model of its own rather than a tuned version of somebody else’s car. The Storm was brewing.

Lister Storm with Newcastle United sponsorship

The forerunner to Superleague Formula? A sponsorship deal with Newcastle United boosted Bailey and Campbell-Walter’s FIA GT title bid in 2000

To start, Pearce used his Jaguar connection to secure a stock of engine parts from Tom Walkinshaw’s Le Mans-winning XJR-12 Group C operation, basing the Storm’s heart around the same huge 24-valve V12 that powered Britain back to glory at La Sarthe in 1990 – and in doing so gave the Storm the largest engine fitted to a production car since World War II.

Then came a lightweight aluminium monocoque chassis, with the engine slotted up front, but deep down and as far back as it could go to centralise the weight without needing the driver to sit on top of it.

Only then came the coachwork, with its distinctive sloping bonnet smoothly fitted over that lump of an engine. Lister used carbon fibre for many of the panels, and also raided the Storm for parts bin of other brands to complete the design – the rear GT racing… at lights are from an Audi 80.

img_133-3.jpg

Complete with its Audi 80 rear lights, the Storm boasted the largest engine fitted to a production car since WWII

When it was launched in 1993, the Storm was priced at a staggering £220,000. Few were prepared to pay that, so only four cars exited the factory doors before the project was canned and Lister did what it historically did best. Went racing. With a high-powered production model on its books, Lister homologated the Storm for GT racing… at exactly the wrong time. The first version – the GTS – debuted at Le Mans in 1995, right into the path of McLaren’s dominant F1 GTR. Then, just a year later, Porsche changed the game with its 911 GT1 – essentially a prototype race car for the road – and that spelled the end for production GT racing before the Storm even got a fair chance at it.

“Lister homologated the Storm at exactly the wrong time”

A second version, the GTL, was released for 1997, using a carbon chassis and bodywork and more streamlined aero in the hope of upsetting the GT1 establishment, but it stood little chance against the might of both Porsche and Mercedes’ CLK GTR. However, the company’s persistence did eventually pay off.

With costs rising, GT1 was finally canned in 1999, opening the way for Lister to shine. A GTL shared by Julian Bailey and Jamie Campbell-Walter won that year’s British GT Championship before the pair did the same in the 2000 FIA GT Championship, winning five of the 10 rounds in a works-run GTM (a GT2-spec car with less aero and a longer nose). Mike Jordan and David Warnock secured a second British GT title for the Storm in 2001, but its star was starting to wane.

Newer rivals from Porsche, Saleen, Ferrari and Chrysler’s Viper gradually pushed the Storm down the pecking order, and Lister lost focus when it began work on the ill-fated and expensive Storm LMP a few years later.

The Storm’s racing exploits eventually ended in 2005, but it had made far more of a mark in Lister’s traditional arena than its attempts at taking the road by, err, storm.


Lister Storm GT statistics

  • Price new N/A
  • Price now £400,000-£500,000
  • Engine 7-litre Jaguar SOHC 24-valve V12
  • Rivals Porsche 911 GT2, Dodge Viper GTS-R, Ferrari 550 Maranello
  • Verdict Ultra-rare on the road, but highly successful on track… eventually

You may also like

Related products