Lister Returns To The Road With Lister Thunder
Jaguar F-Type-based Lister Thunder hits the road.
Britain really knows how to do sports cars of a particular type. Then another British company takes that sports car and turns it into a total nutter. Lister is just such a company and almost thirty years since the mad 7.0-litre V12 XJS called the Lister Le Mans, they’re back.
The new car is a called Thunder. That’s appropriate before they throw a single spanner at the supercharged V8 F-Pace because as we discovered in our SVR review, that engine is possibly the most gloriously anti-social out there.
But throw spanners Lister did and the V8 now kicks out a massive 457kW (627bhp). That extra grunt cuts almost a second from the 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time which now stands at 3.1 seconds. Top speed is a whopping 335km/h.
It’s an F-Pace, but not as we know it
All that extra power obviously requires some modifications. Liberal application of carbon fibre not only drops a few kilos from the F-Type’s portly frame, but brings some good weight in the form of downforce.
The 22-inch wheels will likely make a mess of the ride but prevent you making a mess of yourself, with gumball Michelins painted on. Bigger brakes also help while the go-faster adjustable dampers will have the handling nerds rubbing their hands in delight.
You can take the standard interior or pay more and choose from 36 colours or go even madder and start specifying it yourself.
How many and how much and what is Lister anyway?
Lister might be back, but there’s only 99 available for the princely sum of £139,950, which is quite a lot of money but it is a lot of performance. Options include a carbon fibre bonnet but the lovely enamel Lister badge in the grille is part of the package.
And, if you’re interested, Lister says there is more to tell, so we’ll keep an eye on it for you.
If you’ve already got an F-Type, Lister will sell you a retro-fit carbon fibre body kit for a mere £19,950.
The Lister Thunder will be built alongside the Knobbly, which will be road-legal for the first time. The Knobbly uses a Jaguar D-Type 3.4-litre six-cylinder unit clothed in an aluminium body. Raced by Stirling Moss, it’s one of those famous classics that has kept the Lister name alive.
The company itself claims to bet the Britain’s “oldest surviving racing car company,” which Bentley might want to challenge, but we’ll let them have it.
Lister’s CEO, Lawrence Whittaker, is in charge of Lister’s comeback and is rightfully pleased with himself. “Like Brabus and AMG with Mercedes and Alpina with BMW, we are hoping to become synonymous once again with tuning Jaguar vehicles, giving customers new enhanced, bespoke performance and design alternatives to Jaguar’s acclaimed model programme. Although we are not directly affiliated with Jaguar Land Rover, Lister has a Jaguar tuning heritage dating back 65 years.”
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Peter Anderson is the Editor and founder of the theredline.com.au. He’s been writing about cars for years and finds it difficult to talk about anything else.
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