by Mike Gulett –
Regular readers of My Car Quest know what a big fan I am of Lance Reventlow and his Scarab race cars.
One of the Scarab Formula 1 race cars will be auctioned off by Mecum during Monterey Car Week this year.
Unfortunately for Lance Reventlow his attempt at Formula 1 racing was not successful. He had been accustomed to great racing success after his adventures in sports car racing where the Scarabs were feared competitors in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Even though this Scarab Formula 1 race car was not a successful racer it is still a part of American racing history. Reventlow wanted his Scarab F1 race cars to be all American designed and made and perhaps that contributed to his downfall.
1960 Scarab Formula 1
Auction Estimate: $800,000 – $1,250,000
Mecum writes,
VIN / SERIAL GP-2
America’s first Formula 1 car
1 of 3 Scarab Formula 1 cars produced for the 1960 Formula 1 season
The founder of Scarab was Lance Reventlow, who was the son of Barbara Hutton, the heir to the FW Woolworth fortune
Chuck Daigh finished 10th in this car at the 1960 U.S. Grand Prix in Riverside, California
Raced by Lance Reventlow
Driven in practice for the Monaco Grand Prix by Stirling Moss
Later driven by Richie Ginther
Comprehensive multi-year restoration by original Scarab engineer Dick Troutman and driver Chuck Daigh
Reventlow Automobiles Inc., the parent company of Scarab, comprised some of the top engineers in Southern California, including Dick Troutman, Tom Barnes, Jim Travers, Frank Coon and Phil Remington as well as pinstripe master Von Dutch
After a Scarab sports car won the 1958 SCCA Championship with Chuck Daigh, Lance Reventlow put together a team to build a car and compete in Formula 1
Leo Goosen of Offenhauser fame was employed to develop a purpose-built racing engine, which he laid on its side to reduce the center of gravity
Driven by Brian Redman at the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed
2443cc DOHC Inline 4-cylinder engine
Hilborn fuel injection
4-speed manual transmission
This looks like the same car, below, back in the day driven by Lance Reventlow.
Lance Reventlow and the Scarab F1 Race Car – Road & Track
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Auction photos compliments of Mecum.
We have said this here before. Reventlow’s life would make a great movie! I hope the right people are reading this.
Not too many U.S. privateer contenders trying to find a way into the Formula One ranks. Reventlow’s accomplishments and others like Pete Lovely are stories in themselves.
Back in 1960 – 61 I can well remember the battles between Pete Lovely and Pat Pigott at the Westwood Raceway in British Columbia.
I always liked Scarab’s spirit of adventure. I wish they would have made more of the sports car. But when they got to European races with their F1 they saw how slow their F1 car was compared to the current state of the art. They realized that the field was moving too fast and Lance didn’t want to spend the money to get up to speed literally and figuratively. Shelby learned a lot from hiring Lance’s ex- mechanics and with FoMoCo backing , was able to engineer cars that would beat the Yurrips on their own turf
That’s Phil in the striped shirt working on a Cobra in the painting advertised to the upper right.