Zborowski was born in 1895 in London to American parents. His father, Elliott Zborowski, was a racing driver who died in a crash at the La Turbie hillclimb in Nice in 1903. His mother, born Margaret Laura Astor Carey, was a granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. and a member of the prominent Astor family. Elliott had styled himself with the title "Count" in England — a title with no confirmed legitimate basis — and Louis assumed the same designation following his father's death. When his mother died in 1911, sixteen-year-old Zborowski inherited an estate estimated at £11 million in cash plus substantial real estate in the United States, making him one of the wealthiest young people in the world at that time.
Zborowski built four exceptional racing cars in the stables and workshops at Higham Park near Canterbury, Kent, working alongside his engineer and co-driver Captain Clive Gallop. The first car was powered by a 23,093 cc six-cylinder Maybach aero engine and was named "Chitty Bang Bang." A second used an 18,825 cc Benz aero engine. A third, referred to as the White Mercedes, was based on a Mercedes 28/95 chassis fitted with a 14,778 cc six-cylinder Mercedes aero engine. All three achieved results at Brooklands. The fourth and largest car, known as the Higham Special, was powered by a 27-litre American Liberty aero engine. After Zborowski's death it was purchased by J. G. Parry-Thomas, who modified and renamed it "Babs" and used it to set the land speed record above 170 mph at Pendine Sands in April 1926. Parry-Thomas was killed in a subsequent attempt at the same location in 1927. The restored car can be seen at the Pendine Sands museum or at Brooklands Museum.
Zborowski was an early patron of Aston Martin and raced for them at Brooklands and in the 1922 French Grand Prix. In 1923 he drove a Bugatti at the Indianapolis 500, and he drove an American Miller 122 single-seater at the 1923 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He joined the Mercedes factory team in 1924. On 19 October 1924, competing in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Zborowski's car skidded on a corner and overturned twice, killing him. He was 29 years old.
Zborowski was a railway enthusiast who had a 15-inch gauge circuit, the Higham Railway, built around his estate. His conversations with racing friend Captain J. E. P. Howey about extending this concept eventually led to the founding of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, a 14-mile passenger-carrying line that still operates today. Zborowski ordered the first locomotives for the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway from Davey Paxman and Co. of Essex; Howey continued the project after his death.
Ian Fleming watched Zborowski race at Brooklands as a schoolboy. The memory stayed with him, and the Chitty Bang Bang cars provided the name and romantic spirit for his children's book. In the book's third volume, Zborowski appears as a major character. Aston Martin marked the centenary of his death in October 2024 by presenting the first two Aston Martin Grand Prix cars — both funded and raced by Zborowski — at his family grave, with the railings repainted in British Racing Green by company apprentices.