The Roaring Season

Yes, the two old rivals, the Jimmy Richards Imp and the Rod Collingwood mini still at-it after 40 years.!!!!

Post #27, I think thats the Sichrome/ Brimar Imp in its 'old' colours behind the Mk3 Ute .........

Mini Sevens, circa 85/86. These guys have knock-em-down-in-the-trenches racing.

The Cambridge liveried car No 86 in post 21 is Barry Phillips old car. It has recently been bought by Barrys' son Graeme and he intends to restore it to its former glory. The car sat in Wal Wymers' shed for about 40 years. It had lost bits over the years and was pretty scruffy but with Barrys input should be back to racing condition one day. At the moment Graeme is hunting down the necessary parts to complete the rebuild. Still has it's original body and was in fact the X Anderson championship car, so quite a bit of history with it.

My mini contribution; from 82 GP meeting



Cheers
Lee

You don't see many Mini's racing in Australia these days,the ones racing are mainly in Historic Touring Car Racing.
There was a time when Mini's had their own Sports Sedan series, and there were many modified cars on the grid.
Most had the original Mini engine bored out to around 1400cc, one or two tried turbocharging, there may have been a rotary engine or two, and a few later day ones ran a Suzuki Swift GTI engine.

The ones with a big bonnet bulge ran a cross-flow head.


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Graham Ritter ran 2 Imps in Castrol colours. One was lwt version with Climax ? engine I think.

This is at Hume Weir in Dec 1966.....



Jim Mckeown also ran a black one which Beechey drove sometimes.

This is at Calder in Aug 1966....

Hi Ellis,

In part 3 of the photo collection (Mike Feisst) there is a photo taken at Sandown Park in Feb 1967 showing the two Graeme Ritter Imps together.

timbo, those Minis are some real monsters! The front wheels are bigger than the rears. I bet they went like stink too.

Ellis, again those are awesome shots. I have a real soft spot for racing Imps. Those particular examples look fantastic. Did the McKeown car not have the team red and yellow stripes?

Ellis, again those are awesome shots. I have a real soft spot for racing Imps. Those particular examples look fantastic. Did the McKeown car not have the team red and yellow stripes?[/QUOTE]

The McK Imp is a single frame shot from some 8mm Movie I took.
The other Neptune( Trident) cars at the time (Mantons Mini, McKeown's Lotus and Beechy's Nova ) were still Blue with the White stripes at this meeting. It was probably the Chevvy Novas 1st meeting as the front suspension collapsed or a wheel came adrift.
The Imp has a personalised JMK number plate

The Climax motor used in alot of the Imps was the same unit used on Fire Brigade water pumps, and once this was discovered by some people, a lot of pumps were repowered and the original engines found real homes in cars. There are still some classic old pumps around with climax engines (not many). They were light and could be easily moved or carried around and had good grunt.

The Hilman Imp production engine was based on a Coventry Climax engine design.

Hoping that someone is going to post a colour of the yellow peril Harrington #69 Imp. The car often led, even against the might of Barry Phillips Mini #86 but rarely saw a chequered flag. I can almost hear the groan of the crowd at Baypark as the Imp pulled off the track with steam emanating from it's rear.

On the road they also faired badly with overheating issues, usually I gather, due to poor maintenance, especially failing to add glycol "antifreeze" into the alloy/steel liner engine causing corrosion issues. They were incredibly lively little 875 with a slick shift and a tendency to roll their front swing arms under causing massive camber and wear issues - easily fixed by chopping the coils.

As I remember Harrington was the first to make an Imp competitive until the Sidchrome deal and Jimmy Richards. How great to see the Amco Mini of Rod Collingwood and the Sidchrome Imp together at Hampton Downs. Thanks Nigel, I have great memories of Imps, learnt to drive in one.

This is one of Mike Feisst's photos.

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thunder427 wrote:........the PDL Minis, were beautifully presented for the time,seem to remember one 'Tripping' over and showing up next day with a vynal roof, they also had some real trick components,Roller Bearing 5 speed G/Boxes,which if you study the Book of 'Urban Myths", may have come from some 'Factory' Minis, that had been in the Country...that may have gone home with empty case's, Literally ..............Ring!!Ring!!!David,UK calling..???????????.............regards thunder427/MJ

Good memory young fella.

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If the saying is "photos or it didn't happen" - here is proof that the rollover incident certainly did happen. Good lensmanship there..

The two marshalls in the first shot look pretty relaxed about it all!

Hume Weir...not sure what year
Ford V8 mid engined Imp
Harry Lefoe

Pics by Mark Bishop of Wodonga Vic

Love the photo Ellis. That little car was a real monster. It was one of the Oran Park crowd of the late '60s that would eventually become known as Sports Sedans. I think they called them Sports Racing Closed, at the time? It looks like it would have been more suited to the drag strip in that shot!