The Imp Site

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Racing Imps

As soon as the Imp was announced in 1963, and it became known that the engine had been developed from a Coventry-Climax racing design, race-tuners hustled to get their hands on examples. All of them, however, discovered that the design had been developed back, rather than forward, that ports and camshaft details were not at all sporting, and that the unit itself was, indeed, very difficult to tune.

During the 1964 season there were no racing Imps that won - Minis or Anglias won. Halfway through the 1965 season that situation changed. Gradually Imps did better and better and by the end of '65, Imps had outstripped all but a couple of the fastest Minis. In 1966 there wasn't a club race of any importance that wasn't won by an Imp.

The Imp Sport unit, introduced in 1966, was much more amenable to race-tuning.
Even for rallying, Rootes found it easy to extract 75/80bhp with the Zenith-Stromberg carburettored engine. And for racing, if carburation was free, a twin dual-choke Weber 998cc unit could be persuaded to produce at least 110bhp at 8500rpm !

The national Birkett 6 hr relay race at Silverstone in 1965, August 7th
Results according to Autosport:

1. Western Centre 750s (S Goldthorpe, JM Cotton, IA Bates, B Clayton, NC Bennett, R Sadler, EG Vallender, C Bishop – Austin Specials) - 299 laps
   
2. Hartwell Imps (Hillman Imps) - 295 laps
   • AD Taylor
   • AR Hartwell
   • R Payne
   • RW Wickson
3. TVR Granturas (JB Wingfield, A Mallock, P Simpson, T Entwhistle – TVR Granturas; P Simpson TVR Griffith) - 293 laps

Rootes Switzerland
The exception to the rule that Rootes did not directly enter Imps into races under their own name was 'Rootes Switzerland'. In 1965 (29 August), Rootes Switzerland entered an Imp Sport into the Hill Climb Ollon-Villars. This was round 17 of the World Championship, the mountain GP of Switzerland - Grosser Bergpreis der Schweiz, circuit lenght: 8,000 km; race distance: 16,000 km. There were 99 who practiced and 80 who actually started.

The swiss Henri Vuarraz drove their Imp, with competition no. 60. The GT1.0 class was won by a Fiat Abarth Monomille (0:10:24,600). 2nd in class: Alpine A108 Renault (0:10:37,600); 5th in class was another Hillman Imp Sport, driven by Philippe Simonetta, entered by Troisième Étoiles. Rootes Switzerland also entered Patrick Lier, but he was only in the entry list (source). Or he did start, but Did Not Arrive (source). And I don't know the difference between DNS and 'In entry list only'.

[source]

Fraser Imps
It was in this form that the Fraser Imps of the mid-60s, (which were effectively Works imps in all but name) performed so spectacularly. Driven by Bernard Unett, Tony Lanfranchi, Nick Brittan etc. they gave the Minis and Anglias a hard time.
In 1966 Fraser's cars won 30 races in the UK and took 32 seconds and thirds into the bargain. In 1967 they were even more effective, for five-speed Jack Knight gearboxes were fitted. The cars could reach 120mph if suitably geared and were so highly tuned they they were reluctant to run cleanly under 4000rpm.

Racing Imps of 1966 came basically in three colour schemes:

• blue & orange - Roger Nathan
• black with a yellow stripe through the middle - Paul Emery (driver: 'the controversial' Bill McGovern)
• blue & white with white St. Andrew's cross on the roof - Alan Fraser equipe

The battle between these three colours is a close one. Although at that time the Fraser Imps were the fastest, they had only maybe three or four b.h.p. on the others. They all had something very close to 100 b.h.p. available from their club racing engines.

George Bevan & Bill McGovern
The crowning succes on the circuits was a hat-trick of the British Saloon Car Championship victories in 1970, 1971 and 1972 for driver Bill McGovern in private cars prepared by tuning wizard George Bevan, underlining the car's unrealised potential as a production vehicle.

Teams:

• George Hartwell, also specialist car builders and tuning firm
• Alan Fraser
• George Bevan

In Scotland Imps were particularly popular for saloon car racing - not only because they were built locally but because the main racing circuit in Scotland Ingliston is a very tight circuit with a short main straight. From it's introduction in 998cc form the Imp virtually eliminated it's main rival in the up to 1000cc the Mini, and indeed was faster than a race modified 1275 Mini Cooper S.
The Imp had several advantages - the suspension (in MK 2 form) required little modification to give road holding and handling which were only matched by one other car of period: the Lotus Elan.

Parts of this came from the Competition Chat on Works Rally Imps by Tim Beckett, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire as published in Impressions of December 1995. He quotes several publications as his sources.

Available from EWA is a video "Saloon Car Racing 60's Style" which covers the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship. It's about 40 minutes long, and has a bunch of shots of the blue and white works Imps, as well as a few privateers.

South East Motor Sports Enthusiasts Club SEMSEC - championships for all cars
The Imp Engine Saloon, Sports Cars and Special Saloon Challenge was a new challenge series introduced in 2002 for cars using Imp engines. There are classes to include various levels of modification and performance, which include a wide range of cars from relatively standard Imps to space Framed Imps, Stilettos and Imp-engined sports cars. It is hoped that the start made in 2002 can be built upon for 2003.

2003:
• Robert Knox
• Colin Rooney
• Adrian Oliver
• Vince Frost

Names and places

Still far from complete and in no particular order. Will I ever find the time ?

Spaceframe racers: Maguire; Rawlson; Mason and the Davrians.
Halfway the 70s, the Special Saloon Cars raced with fibreglass bodyshells with only 20% of the original Imp remaining.

Thomas Hartwell --> Team Hartwell

• Alan Hartwell
• Chris Barter
• Ray Payne

1966 Club Racing Championships:
Scottish Speed Championship: Gerry Birrell in a Singer Chamois/Lotus Elan came 3rd, gathering 59 points.
on page 51 of 'Why finish last?' (1969) Andrew Cowan writes: "my Scottish friend Gerry Birrell who had won the Scottish Saloon Car racing championship with a Singer Chamois. [...] and Gerry was a good mechanic in hiosmown right".

???
By 1968, you had the 925cc supercharged Emery car, but that was yellow and black, Keith Holland's blue and white Fraser Imp. and Reg [sic] Payne's Hartwell car that was white and orange.
There were lots of other chaps running Imps by then, Ed Hill, John Calvert, Bill McGovern, Richard Staveacre, Reg Hargrave, John Rice, Terry Watts, Jeff Ward, Nick Birch, Maurice Ford,Colin Henderson, Mike Freeman, Jeremy Nightingale, Bruce Waterworth, Adrian Webb, Tony Charnell, Jim Teagles, Alan Moore, Melvyn Adams, Trevor Wilcox, Jean Denton, Juhani Kynsilento entered by George Bevan alongside Bill McGovern & I recall seeing James Hunt driving Jeremy Nightingale's in the supporting race for the 1970 GP at Brands!
Peter Gaydon
Andrew Mylius (was a Graphic Designer); did he drive for Hartwell ?
Yes you did see James drive Jeremys Imp in 1970 but that car was new for 1970 and the Group 2 regs that had come into force. I know this as dad bought the car (1967 reg. from a little old lady in Tunbridge Wells) and stored it in our garage for five months until Jeremy collected it just before christmas 1969. We were always impressed at how much quicker the car was when James drove it in 1970.
???

Steve Soper got a Hillman Imp for the 1972 season. With an 850cc George Bevan engine in it, he was able to win 5 races.

December 1970:
John Turner, already 99% assured of the Atlantic Saloon Car Challenge at the Brands Hatch, won the BARC's Osram-GEC Championship. The 28-year-old Hillman Imp driver has shown an impressive turn of speed this year and at the final round at Thruxton on October 11 the Guys Automobile Engineers-entered car had to win the 1000cc class for John to be champion. It did, but with Richard Longman and Peter Vann in Minis plus Alistair McHardy and Ray Payne in Imps to contend with, this was by no means an easy task.

Roger Nathan Racing

Richard Wallinger of Burbage Common near Hinckley in Leicestershire was British Saloon car Champion in an Imp.

Melvyn Adams racing against a Bevan Imp (the purple people eater) and a Mini

Melvyn Adams won the private entrants award in the British Saloon Car Championships in 1972 with a Group II Imp.

Alex Clacher and his Hillman Imp
Very fast Imp, very good driver, Alex Clacher was based in Scotland. Used to appear on Northern circuits in the 70s, always at or near the front. He won most things 'up north' in the 1-litre class. Regularly terrorising drivers of big engined Escorts and the like.
Alex did indeed come south if i remember for some BARC saloon car championship races. The one at Snetterton i remember where he did indeed put one over us southerners, proving he was as quick down here as up north, proving his reputation that had gone before.
Some good races at Croft with a Mini driver called Cedric Bell in 1970-72

John Homewood in the south (he rarely ventured out of Kent); Jeff Ward in the midlands. 1-Litre saloons were very good around that time, lots of quick Imps and Minis, plus the odd Anglia.
However, his place was taken by Rob Mason in a Bevan Imp and within a year the class was all but dead, with many of the best Mini drivers switching to 7s or Miglias. Rob Mason was a Team Bevan driver, but Bill McGovern was the driver that won the British Touring car championship three times in a Bevan Imp without factory support.

There was also a good 1-litre series at Castle Combe for a few years - Cornishman Andy Holloway was the Imp drver to beat there.

Keith Blaynee

A few years ago, Brian Cutting won the Castle Combe Special GT Championship with his Imp, a yellow McGuire Stiletto.
This Imp made a lap of 1:06 which is an average of 100 Mph around the circuit, faster than some very fast racing cars, and at the time faster than any Ferrari had gone around there.
Later the Dane Earling Jensen got to drive it.

The NSU TTS of Max Ungricht holding off one of the Dutch-based Imps at Zandvoort. Summer of 1975 in the Netherlands, big sponsormoney wasn't yet dictating the gamesmanship, according to motor journalist Terry Grimwood. Drivers were still racing for enjoyment, rather than to keep the sponsor happy.

The 500 was held at Bathurst, the name of the race was changed to whichever was the sponsor. The cost of cars determines the classes.
1967 Galaher 500, Class A - Up to $1,800
Galaher was an Irish-owned cigarette manufacturing company. Jack Eiffeltower / David O'Keefe (Hillman Imp GT): 4th in class, 30th in the race - 114 laps in 6:57.18
Bob Edgerton / David Toshack (Hillman Imp GT): 5th in class, 31st in the race - 114 laps in 6:58.13
The class winner in a Datsun 1000 did 117 laps in 6:56.11. Lindsay Little / Stan Pomroy were the 3rd team to drive an Imp GT, but they didn't fifnish. This was the first year Imps were involved.
1968 Hardie Ferodo 500, Class A - Up to $ 1,850
In 1968, the race was sponsored by the big brake-lining firm of Hardie Ferodo Pty Ltd.
Allan Johns / David Frazer came 4th in class, 40th in the race in their Hillman Imp GT. They did 107 laps in 6:46.48, whereas the winner in a Corolla did 113 laps in 6:45.23.
Ross Withers / Mel Mollison also drove a Hillman Imp GT, but did not finish because of an accident. The following year in the 1969 Hardie Ferodo 500, the only team in an Hillman Imp GT, George Geshopulos / Ray Scanlan, had an accident in their 88th lap. No Imps since.

Tim Goss, 1974 - Chevron B6 'Gropa' in British Sports Car Championship, also Clan Crusader, Ginetta G4, MGB GT V8 and Lola DFV in Martini International.

Earling Jensen

Nick Humphrey (1980s) won often his class in modified saloon series, against metros.

Jim Richards and the Sidchrome Imp, New Zealand

John Homewood; Imp Sport; Brands Hatch; 1973

Simon Watson and Jo Bailey. Imp Sport (1969; engine: blueprinting by Paul Emery, later Greetham Engineering; gearbox rebuilt by Paul Emery; suspension and brakes). 1974. Group One. Sponsor: L and G Fire Protection --> bright red Imp. 50bhp at the wheels.
Simon: Triplex rounds. He won the Avon tyre Challenge.
Jo: Britax championship
Throughout the 1974 season the Imp won its class 10 times out of 30 starts and 24 finishes.

Jeff Ward. Greetham Engineering prepared his very succesful special saloon Imp.

Alison Davis and David Beams (Ginetta G15)

Graham Ritter / Peter Janson

Seventies: Hans Kok, Hans Ernst, The Netherlands

Barry Reece raced a 850cc special saloon, more or less a Hillman Californian in plastic. He had an horrific accident at Snetterton with it in 1984 (late '83?).

Colin Rooney. Colin's father, Dan Rooney, used to race his Imp in Ireland. Other Irish Impers: Cedric Kidd; David Hall (Davrian Imp); Maurice Mitton; John Torrens; Ned Murray.

Ian Forrest and his 'Drambuie Imp'.

B. Cutting (Hartwell/Maguire Stiletto at Castle Combe 1981, comp.no. 63)

Toivo Hamalainin (Finland)

John Schoen, Sun Jul 22, 2001
Subject: Imp wins at Zandvoort

Heinz Pfeiffer has come 2nd in the first race and won the second race of the British Car Trophy at Zandvoort. The British Car Trophy is a German series for British cars op to 1300 cc. The grid consisted of a lot of 1275 M*n*'s and a sole Davrian Imp saloon with a home-prepared 998. Two of the M*n*'s were faster on the straights, but the Imp was better in the twisty bits. One of them puked its guts out in the first race; and in the second race the other car broke a rocker arm, leaving victory to Heinz.

In the Lakeside races (Brisbane Qld. Australia) on July 6, 1997:
1st: Sunbeam Imp - Darcy Maddock
2nd: Sunbeam Imp - Russell Maddock

Chris Astley, only fourteen, racing his dad's Hillman Imp