Lister’s Hybrid
Forget any preconceptions you may have about LMP1 hybrids – this one does not follow the pattern of anything seen before, be it a hybrid or a new / hybrid LMP2.

“It will be the greatest regret of my life if I don’t get the budget to convert this (the original LMP1) into a hybrid,” said a rueful Laurence Pearce six months ago.

But he did get the go-ahead, on the Sunday evening after the Spa 1000 Kms.

“Less than 14 weeks, that’s all it’s taken us.”

The Lister workshop had a visit from M. Daniel Perdrix of the ACO this morning (July 19), and the Lister “Hybride” (as it says on the form) is now fully homologated to race. It will make its debut at the Silverstone 1000 Kms next month, with Jan Magnussen and Jens Moller definitely driving.

With the Spa 24 Hours (for the GT1 Storm) before that, there won’t be a great deal of time for testing, so perhaps expectations for Silverstone shouldn’t be set too high – but Mr. Pearce does have very high hopes for this car.

An image of the complete car in the workshop wouldn’t do justice to it, so as a taster, here are some of the details – details that make this prototype very different from anything we have seen before.

There’s the step at the font of course, and the ramped floor – but otherwise the only details that look like anything like those of an existing car are the rear wheel arches (above), which have a Dome hybrid look about them.

Daniel Alexander is responsible for the design (with Laurence looking over his shoulder of course - right), and with Jan Magnussen driving, 15% larger restrictors than the LMP1 had at Spa (630 bhp is anticipated), as much downforce as necessary and such futuristic looks – prepare to be impressed!

The car needs to be seen on track to fully appreciate its purposeful looks – so be patient, and do get to Silverstone next month if you can, to see the public debut of this fabulous car.