Hillman Rallye Imp
Singer Rallye Chamois

autumn 1965 - 1968

The 'Works' Imps, those that were prepared by Rootes' Competition Department to be used in the rallies by the works drivers, such as Rosemary Smith, used a 998cc engine.
This capacity was achieved by boring right out, and re-sleeving, on selected blocks, to a bore of 72.5mm. Stroke remained unchanged at 60.4mm.

Rootes announced at the Motor Show of 1965 that this engine which had given such remarkable rally results in that year, would be made available to the public in an Imp version they called "Rallye".

It had its tachometer, speedo and ancillary gauges in a cluster behind the steering wheel. Its suspension was altered significantly with stronger springs and shock absorbers. It had a bigger radiator and an oil cooler to keep the 998 cool. High-lift camshaft, twin Strombergs (150 CD ?), larger valves, double valve springs, special exhaust manifold, a compression ratio of 10.5 to 1; it was provided with many goodies used on the 'works' Imp. But not the small front radiator.

It was not really intended for road use, but rather for those who would buy it as a basis for further modifying and competition tuning. The Rallye was built only to order. These engines that had achieved such success were quite troublesome and Rootes did not encourage the general public to buy the Imp Rallye. But Autocar did...
This 'rallye' engine was made available on a 'batch' basis, with cars either being converted in a workshop next to the Competition Department, immediately after they had been build at Linwood, or by the conversion of secondhand cars - never from new. (This had to do with tax ??) (Both the immediately converted Imps and the Ralley packaged second-hand Imps had a T stamped trailing the chassis number ?)
It benefitted the private entrant for he could buy a specially developed rally version of the Imp. 1000 were built to conform with the homologation rules. (This quantity was reached in September 1965 ?) (FIA recognition no. 526)

Compared to the Group 3 Hartwell it had less bhp and was not as fast on the dash to 60.

Very few original Ralley Imps are left and they are not cheap. Replicas are being built and rallied/raced.

Rallye Imp : given the works 4. - Autocar 1966 January 28. - pp. 190 - 192
reprint in Impressions 3 (1983), 6 (July)

The Ralley Imp of Mr. Reijo Halonen started life as a basic Hillman Imp. It was saved from a Turku scrap yard and restored by an enthusiast. Then it stood in a barn for more than 15 years, before it was bought by Mr. Halonen. After a full strip down it was rebuilt and painted as a Historic F period racing car to correspond Rallye specifications.