Lance Reventlow

British born American heir to the Woolworth fortune who built the Scarab, America's first Formula One car

Lance Reventlow

British born American heir to the Woolworth fortune who built the Scarab, America's first Formula One car

Lance Reventlow was born in London, the only child of the heiress Barbara Hutton, and grew up to race sports cars in California in the mid 1950s. After a spell in Europe, where he crashed a Maserati heavily at Snetterton and walked away, he founded a company of his own in Venice, California, to build Chevrolet powered racing cars called Scarabs, with Phil Remington leading the engineering.

His team became known for building the first Formula One car made in America, and it took the Scarabs to Europe in 1960. Against the new rear engined cars the front engined Scarabs struggled, and although he built a competitive rear engined prototype, he closed the operation in 1962. Eight Scarabs were built in all. He died on the 24th of July 1972.

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