His first official partaking in competition (in an Imp) was Autograss. He did well, but changed quickly to rallying.
The Imp on the cover of Impressions 3 (1983), no. 11 (Dec.) is the one that Mike Hanna (Cheltenham) was rallying at the time. It (Reg.no. GDD 1920) has competition no. 14 and some twenty trophies on the bonnet and roof.
From his letter:
"I first started working on Imps in 1974, and have yet to find another car easier to work on and more fun to drive. My rally Imp was built up from a rust free 1966 shell in 1978 and has now done three seasons of rally sport championships without any signs of falling apart. A tip here for anyone thinking of rallying an Imp is to use a pre-1969 shell (Rootes), as they have twice as many spot welds as the later Chrysler cars.
The car has been very succesful in rallying as can be seen from the hardware on the bonnet (I have since then won ten more trophies). Who says the Imp is dead !"
Mike Hannah in the News Sheet of The Imp Club, March 1986
"Early last year I was going to bing the Imp out of retirement and enter it in a local stage rally. I fitted a new front wing and knocked out the dents of the others, and resprayed the bottom half. The body of the car has stood up very well to four hard seasons of rallying (three of the Rallysport Championship, and one local event season) and no splits or rust were found. A subsequent inspection of the engine ruled out all plans of rallying last year. All the tappets and the timing chain were worn out, so I decided to do a complete rebuild, modifying the engine still further. I have lightened the con-rods some more and polished them; I have also had the clutch and flywheel lightened some more. The had has been skimmed to give around 11 to 1 compression ratio - previously it was standard. I have modified the alternator and water pump to be driven by a cam belt. The engine gave 86bhp @ 7600rpm (at the wheels) before, and had been very reliable, this being its fist major rebuild"
| The Imp Site Competitive Impers |
| © Franka |
bits & pieces, maybe not Imp-related
The ATS/Eppynt Stages Rally July 1979
Mike Hanna managed to score enough points in the class based Rallysport Championship to retain the series lead.
D&A Abroath Stages, Round Four of the Rallysport Championship also a round of the Scottish Division II Championship (August 1979)
One Rallysport class winner was Harry Hockley in the 1300cc Class. This result put Hockley into the lead of the Championship, the previous leader Mike Hanna having not made the trip north.
Tyneside Stages, Round Five of the Rallysport Championship (August 1979)
The battle for the Under 1300 Class win was the closest of the day. The Minis of Harry Hockley and Malcolm Oxborrow swapped times all day and the fight was only decided in Hockley favour in the final stages, with the Newtown man coming home ten seconds clear to claim 16th place overall. This result pushed Hockley further ahead in the Rallysport Championship. Mike Hanna had a problematic day as his Imp suffered clutch failure.