Lister on the right path

[Félix]

--Bware: overly enthusiastic and optimistic thinking/dreaming--

I remember having started a topic on the IMSA forum about how the Mugen-Panozes had what the potential to beat Audis for 2003... I always loved the awesone projects that came out of Andy Thorby's head, their enormous but rarely fully exploited potential, and the Lister just turns me on as much as the potent and unloved Panoz.

After their great performance at Le Mans, I think Lister have what it takes to be a good surprise in the remaining races of the 2004 season. They have put together what a project like that really needs: solving the main reliability issues and finding money for development. The way the untested team and car got through the LM24 using a development engine and all those hi-tech bits on the Lister is great. The engine was making solid power for the first time, the Hewland gearbox went through its first 24 and the rest of the chassis stayed functionnal even though it's experimenting in a lot of ways. The Nielsen "Danish connection" is really what the team needed to run the car regularly and start exploring the car's potential a bit more deeply. They are good drivers, and John Nielsen seems to have unconditionnal backing from his main sponsors. They have brought him to FIA SCC wins with the Dome and twice to America with the Reynard. And Lister seems to have gotten much more involved in the car's development (with unfortunate help from the problems in FIA GT?), which is confirmed by clever new endplates. All that bodes well for the Lister Strom LMP.

This car simply has, to me, the most advanced chassis in the LM field. The interesting aero choices strike you at first, but they don't seem to bring any disadvantage. The team was boasting about having the highest rooster tail at Le Mans in November last year... The very interesting suspension design lowers the center of gravity, and the tight packaging around the solid Lister/Vette V8 allows fine aerodynamic tricks that make an Audi or Zytek look quite simple. The focus in the next races should be on getting the most out of the car on every single lap, and not on settling on a Dome race pace in qualifying. It has what it takes to rank quite high, after a perfect run in a perfect world...

We'll see how the effort unfolds, but it looks promising. I'm obviously supporting the Essex Invest team and hoping for maybe a lucky podium spot later this year. That would justify a trip in the US for the last races... The future also sees plans of selling the engine to privateers becoming more possible, and the prospect of all the development being rendered useless for 2005, unless plans are already in place to upgrade or redefine the car for LMP1 rules. At least, they have a proven powertrain, but they'd need someone like Andy Thorby for the redesign I wonder how his single seater-project is coming along, and what it is exactly...

--End of enthusiastic and optimistic thinking/dreaming--

[Fab]

The team's report on PlanetLeMans is quite encouraging too : this may not be the end of optimistic and enthousiastic dreaming, Félix !

[Osella]

go Lister! great to see the word 'Essex' on a car again, also was glad to see the Essex lorry parked in amongst the hoi polloi!