Troutman and Barnes built 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 Phil Hill and the Ferrari Team. The Scarabs won the SCCA National Championship in 1958. In 1959, two of the cars were sold, while Reventlow's race car, the only left-hand drive car, was converted for his personal use on the street. Carroll Shelby drove one of the Scarab sports cars to victory at Continental Divide Raceways 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 cars were 4-cylinder units of Scarab's own design, penned by Leo Goossen, and featured desmodromic valve gear similar in design to that found on the Mercedes F1 engine of the 1950s. They were built and maintained by Travers and Coon. The engines were the shortcoming of the team, as the desmodromic 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 and his chief mechanic Chuck Daigh drove the blue and white liveried cars. Both Scarabs were entered in the Grands Prix of Monaco (where they suffered hydraulic brake fluid aeration problems and did not qualify for the race), Holland, Belgium, and France (where both Daigh and Richie Ginther experienced oil starvation issues resulting in burnt bearings). Only Daigh's car was entered in the final race of the 1960 F1 season, the American Grand Prix at Riverside, California. Daigh finished because he had to keep the engine RPM under 6000 to prevent fuel delivery problems (vapor lock) on the hot southern California day and, in doing so, did not encounter the mysterious oil starvation issue that occurred closer to 7000 RPM that had plagued the Scarabs previously. Daigh, while entered in the Dutch Grand Prix, did not race due to qualification/appearance payment issues.
The following year, Chuck Daigh piloted one of the Scarabs in Intercontinental Formula racing in Europe, powered by an Offenhauser, Indy-style, engine. He finished eighth at Goodwood, vying for the Lavant Cup, and finished seventh in a bid for the International Trophy. This was a third front-engine car, originally built for the F1 effort. Before the season was out, Daigh crashed badly at a race in Silverstone, where the car was destroyed and left in Europe.
Scarab built one rear-engine car for the 1962 season, powered by a Buick aluminum V-8 with Phil Remington-fabricated intake and exhaust manifolds. However, the final FIA engine rules made the necessary engine modifications illegal, and the car was never raced in Europe. Daigh raced this car only once, in the 1962 Sandown International Cup, a Formula Libre race at Sandown Park in Australia. He finished fourth after an epic battle with Stirling Moss, where the Buick-engined Scarab was faster on the straights and Moss's car would overtake in the corners. The Buick engine was sold by the team before returning to the USA.
Finally, a mid-engined two-seat sports car was built. They put another Buick V8 engine in this car, and Reventlow wanted to test it on the streets of Los Angeles. So, he went to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and, after installing a muffler, managed to get license plates for this all-out racing car. He personally raced the car (without muffler) three times, and his best finish was second at Santa Barbara.
Reventlow was planning on closing down the Scarab operation, so he sold this little sports racing car to John Mecom Jr. of Houston, Texas. Mecom installed a Traco-built 327 Chevy engine and put A.J. Foyt in the car. Foyt's best result was winning a pair of races at Nassau, Bahamas, during 1963. Walt Hansgen won the 1964 Bridgehampton 500 in the car while it was Chevrolet powered. Augie Pabst purchased the car and was still the owner as of 2013.
Scarab participated in five Grands Prix, entering a total of nine cars. While the front-engined Formula One effort was hindered by the technical limitations of its desmodromic valve gear and the rapid evolution of mid-engined competitors, the constructor's sports car program remained highly competitive in American domestic racing. The transition from the original Troutman and Barnes sports cars to the final Mecom-campaigned Chevrolet-powered unit demonstrated the longevity of the chassis designs even as the factory team's internal engine programs struggled.
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