Scarab (constructor)

Scarab 1960 Formula One car on display.

Scarab was an all-American open-wheel race car and sports car constructor from the USA featuring cars designed and built by Tom Barnes and Dick Troutman for Reventlow Automobiles Inc, owned by Lance Reventlow. The Chevrolet engines were built by Traco Engineering (Jim Travers and Frank Coons, nicknamed "The Whiz Kids").

Builders of the famous consecutive (1953-54) Indianapolis 500-winning race cars driven by famed driver Bill Vukovich, Troutman and Barnes was almost as successful building sports cars for amateur road racing in the USA in the 1950s. Chuck Daigh drove the Scarab sports car to victory in the 1958 Riverside International Grand Prix, beating a field of international factory teams including famous race car driver Phil Hill and the Ferrari Team. Carroll Shelby drove the Scarab sports car to victory at the Continental Divide raceway in Castle Rock Colorado setting a new course record. Scarab made an ill-fated entry into Formula One during the 1960 season with front-engined cars which by then were nearly obsolete. The engines in these front-engined cars were 4-cylinder units similar in layout to the Offenhauser, but entirely of Scarab's own design. They featured Desmodromic valve gear similar in design to that found on the Mercedes engine of the period and were built and maintained by Chuck Daigh. The engines were the achilles heel of the team as the Desmo gear could not cope with the large amount of movement in the engine block and would consistently pull the valves too far closed resulting in valve failure. Scarab participated in five Grands Prix, entering a total of nine cars. Reventlow was joined by his engineer Chuck Daigh in piloting the blue and white liveried cars. Both Scarabs were entered in the Grands Prix of Monaco, Holland, Belgium, and France, while only Daigh's car was entered in the American Grand Prix. Daigh, while entered in the Dutch Grand Prix, did not race due to payment issues.

The following year Chuck Daigh went on to pilot one of the Scarabs in International Formula racing in Europe where he finished eighth, at Goodwood vying for the Lavant Cup, and finished seventh in a bid for the International Trophy. A rear-engined single-seater car was built, but never raced in a Formula One event, it ran once in Formula Libre race at Sandown Park in Australia with a Buick V8 engine.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	WCC
1960	Scarab	Scarab L4	G		ARG	MON	500	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA	0	NC
				Chuck Daigh		DNQ		DNS	Ret	DNS				10
				Lance Reventlow		DNQ		DNS	Ret
				Richie Ginther						DNS

External links

• http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/con-scara.html