Lystonia

The Lystonia car was a development of the Jomoro, overall it was a larger car (almost accommodating an adult) to cater for the potential US market, the styling is more reminiscent of F1 cars of 1971 -72 with a more edgy look, the chassis is built around a steel monocoque tub, the engine and rear suspension is carried on a sub frame attached to the tub, it has fully independent rose jointed suspension all round, all body panels are fiberglass, most of the key components on the Lystonia were bespoke, designed and tooled at their Angmering factory in West Sussex.

The Lystonia didn't progress much past it's development stage before the company ran into financial difficulty, so many of the 14 cars ended up having slightly different final specifications, the biggest difference was with the engines, some of the different engines I know of to specific cars, are a white car with yellow tub which was originally fitted with a 7hp Kohler engine, this car also had a battery in the front for the electric push button starter, a blue car with a 6hp Briggs & Stratton, this car was later fitted with a 5hp Honda engine (fitted by the late Jim Morgan, one of the founders of both Jomoro Ltd and Lystonia Ltd), a black car with yellow tub which had a two stroke 175cc single cylinder Triumph Tigress engine, these cars were capable of around 60-70mph with a bit of fettling, others were fitted with more powerful motorcycle engines, single cylinder 2 stroke Bulltaco or Suzuki engines with sequential gearing, these 250cc powered cars, also had some significant strengthening, using mini drive shafts, anti roll bars, riveted tub, all round disc brakes from an Italian scooter, larger mini lite wheels and electric push button start, these cars were capable of over 100mph. The lower powered Lystonias, had pull starts, drum brakes, the smaller cast aluminum wheels from the Jomoro and spot welded tubs, saying all this there are various combinations of all of the above specs.

The exterior styling was almost identical on all 14 cars, apart from one early car having a different nose cone, fashioning a central air scoop and side fins, but most had the wide (Tyrrell 005) style nose. A later accessory produced by the factory were side panel fins for the rear aerofoil/engine cover, I only ever saw these fitted to one car, some cars had satin black wing mirror stalks and roll over hoop rather than chromed.

Bodywork colours were either solid colours or 2 tone, the tub colour was sometimes different to the bodywork panels. Colours I know of are: black with a yellow tub, white with a yellow tub, blue with a red tub, solid yellow, solid blue, solid green, solid orange, solid red and solid white. Standard graphic decals were pin striping, typical of the period (JPS Lotus style) of the body work shapes, these were either black, white or gold pin stripes, the standard logo decals were Castrol, Champion and Britax logos positioned on the tub sides, some had the Goodyear logo along the rear aerofoil/engine cover and a black number on a white circle on the sides and front nose cone.

As for these cars now, I know the whereabouts of only 2 cars, but back in the 70's & 80's there were 3-4 cars in the Chichester area (south of England), 5-6 cars in the Midlands, the cars up North were raced as part of the MJRDC (Midlands Junior Racing Driver Club) they competed against Barnard Formula 6 and Jomoro cars. The MJRDC organised race events at Hendesford Hills Raceway, Curborough Sprints in Lichfield and also with other groups, one nr Warrington at the disused Burtonwood Aerodrome and also a group at the Camberley Cart Circuit.

One Lystonia car supposedly went to Germany and 2 cars were ordered for the States, one on the west coast (California) the other on the east coast.

Some of the Lystonias I've come across in recent years have been badly butchered, and larger engines fitted, perhaps for hill climb racing, but there are original cars around sitting in collections or garages in their original state.