1960 Scarab - a photo on Flickriver

1960 Scarab

            Pictured is a 1960 Scarab Grand Prix Car.

It was driven in 1960 by American trio Lance Reventlow, Chuck Daigh and, for one meeting, Richie Ginther.

After tasting success in sports car racing in the late 1950s Lance Reventlow decided to take his Scarab team into Formula 1.

The cars were intended to compete in 1959 but problems during construction saw their debut put back until 1960.

However by this stage, the rear-engined revolution was in full swing which pretty much rendered the car obsolete before it had even turned a wheel.

These cars are often referred to as Scarab-Offenhausers which, technically, isn't quite correct.

The cars were powered by a 2.5-litre 4-cylinder engine designed and built by Leo Goossen of Offenhauser fame and used the 'Offy' engine as a template. However, the engine was designed and built in-house so it is actually a Scarab engine.

The team's first appearance came in the second round of the 1960 season in Monaco with Reventlow and Daigh at the wheel.

Reventlow had wanted the Scarab to be an all-American affair, even down to the tyres.

During practice, however, the team soon realised that the Goodyear tyres they were using were too hard to be effective around the principality and quickly went British, changing to Dunlop for the rest of the meeting.

Whilst the cars performed better on the Dunlops they still didn't come close to qualifying for the race.

The team did persuade Stirling Moss to have a quick go in the car. The Englishman lapped seven seconds quicker than either Reventlow or Daigh but was still over eight seconds slower than his own Pole Position time (set in a Lotus 18) and nearly six seconds off the slowest qualifier (Maurice Trintignant in a Cooper T51).

The Scarabs reappeared at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix and both Reventlow and Daigh managed to qualify for the race, albeit outside the top fifteen which was a problem. The race organisers were only offering starting money to the top fifteen on the grid so the Scarabs were withdrawn from the event in protest.

Next time out at Spa-Francorchamps both cars again qualified for the Belgian Grand Prix (Reventlow 15th, Daigh 17th) but both would retire with engine failures, Reventlow after only one lap.

The following race at Reims saw Daigh partnered by Ferrari driver Richie Ginther, the American being loaned to Scarab for one event. This proved to be a troublesome event for the team. The cars suffered with multiple engine problems during practice and ran out of spare parts which ended their weekend early.

The team missed the next three events but returned for the season-closing United States Grand Prix at Riverside.

A single car was entered for Daigh who managed to qualify 18th (out of 23) and went on to finish 10th in the race, five laps down on race winner Stirling Moss' Lotus.

A change in regulations to a 1.5-litre formula for Grand Prix racing in 1961 spelled the end of the Scarab adventure in Formula 1. 

The car did make one final appearance in 1961 in the non-championship International Trophy race at Silverstone with Daigh ending the race seventh and last, three laps down on Stirling Moss' winning Cooper.

Pictured in January 2018 at the Autosport International show at the NEC in Birmingham.

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Birmingham (show map)

Taken on: January 13, 2018

Tags:

Formula 1

Scarab

Lance Reventlow

Chuck Daigh

Richie Ginther

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Camera: Canon PowerShot SX400 IS, f/3.4, 1/20 sec, 4.3mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX400 IS
Aperture:	f/3.4
Exposure Time:	0.05 sec (1/20)
Focal Length:	4.3mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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