@@seabulls69 I reckon the fact that the Imp was never made with a five spd g'box is a limiting factor. How original do these Appendix J's need to be? I dunno. Even if it was allowed. It would be a very expensive redesign. A taller fourth is definitely possible and even a different ratio drop gears would work. At the high end in a tall fourth gear, there's almost no load. It's just to stop the engine braking effect slowing you down. Id id this in my Cooper S and all of it made a huge difference to top end speed.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus That's true. But it will affect ALL gears. It's like putting on a taller diff. No good for hill climbs. The Imp has the torque for the hill, but not the legs for the way down.
I had one of these in the 70's and turned it into a dune buggy fixed diff. Great at going up sand hills beat any VW bug.Mine used to rev to 6,000 rpm and had 13 inch wide ford rims rims with bobcat tires. Good times were had by all.
Learnt to drive in a Wimp. Was mum's rocket, the ol boy had a set of extractors on it. My brother managed to roll the Sunbeam version in an inner city street one night after being at the pub, he was trying a hand brake turn on the tar. He races one of Kevin Bartletts old Bathurst cars in circuit racing currently.
Listen to that Coventry Climax scream. Love it. I thought there may have been a Triumph Dolomite Sprint up ahead of him, but he didn't catch up to it, so hard to see. Got one of those in the garage, they are fun to drive.
Great video, brings back memories … no where near these speeds, but in 76 had an mildly modded Imp and did a few 12 car events late on Saturday nights & into early hours of Sunday. You thought one was doing a great job until a stock Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT or similar just breezed past on the A40, 41, 34 or any & most of the B roads or whites in between and around amongst the Chilterns … Mad events, lots of risks taken one wouldn’t do today. Middle of night - main beams, twin Cibies on and absolutely flat going over a cross road.
Good engine in those imps, all alloy, they started life as a water pump in fire engines, in the 1970's all the fastest sidecars racers used those Imp engines.
The Vauxhall Cresta that he just couldn’t manage to pass in the last few laps were way ahead of their time also. My 1965 with front Disc brakes and powerful engine for its day, would cruise all day at 70 mph with ease.
The Hillman IMP was a mini-Corvair. The shape was quite like the first generation Corvair which was powered by an aluminum engine in the rear. The IMP versions with 4-headlights looked even more like the Corvair. They were a good idea with manufacturing constraints from Chrysler and others that did them in. The engine came with transportation expenses beyond what the car's selling price could afford. Chrysler tried to Americanize them with their own radio and upholstery. Blah. But in its more simple form it was pretty special.
Fucking Awsome I love these cars, had 3 or 4 of them, Last one was worth about $3000.00 when sold,,,, Best racing I have seen ever, restored my faith in you tube I was about to give up,,
great video and great drive. car handles like its on rails the engine is a real screamer. i followed george bevan imps when they won british touring car championship they were giant killers then
Fun fact. I put Hillman Imp pistons in my 1100cc mini to bring it out to 1220cc before I woke up to the beauty of a fully worked turbo charged Cooper S motor, that put out 200+BHP at the front wheels!
I had a Hillman in San Francisco in about 1967. I would call my electric Hillman cause whenever it rained the car did goofy electrical things but it was fun.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.I'm not sure I would enjoy racing down Conrod in an Imp, but the rest of the track is a dream. What kind of ratios are you running to make it round? Must be hard to match the need for top speed with all those hills. Even running a JKD 5-speeder...
Reminds me of my younger days with these great little cars...they would really fly about ...you had to work on the cornering...but that was fun... Even my kids loved it and to this date they comment...and why not..should not be forgotten. I wonder what cc engine he had...The gearing would be for a shorter circuit...but you can see how good they are in the corners and not a lot of fighting with the steering wheel...great memory video thank you...👍👍👍👏👏👏
Glad this video popped up, timely as I was racing a vintage open wheeler at Historic Winton last weekend...... in the rain. What do you rev that engine to? And can you make my Super Minx motor do the same? 😂 There was a gaggle of Imps on display at Winton but none on the track sadly, I hope you are still enjoying yours!!
had 22 Imps !!! magic motor just under powered!!! what a race!!! handling second to none just 998cc!!!! giving away 500 to 5000 ccc to the other cars raced brilliant design Mike Parkes and Tim Fry Mike Parkes was a magic race driver and designed the most beautiful car ever the P3 and P4 ferrari
This is the Bathurst l grew up with. Not the V8 supercars. I love the different classes. The Imp was better across the mountain and on the corners but the Eh had more straight line grunt. I love it. 😮
I loved those days when the dads would race the family car around Bathurst, in four classes simultaneously. I reckon it was those days that every boy got into racing in one way or another. I suspect that this race might’ve been a feature race of sorts as I don't remember the chicane down conrod, nor the facilities on the right thereafter in those days. They were the days of incredible racing.
The Mount Panorama race track was designed to replace the Vale race track that used part of the Great Western Highway. It was designed to be a road race track for motorcycles. The first use though of the track was the Australian Touring Car (Sports Car???) Club one rainy weekend. The track was dirt and the cars screwed the road surface. To day the track has been so altered for car racing it is dangerous for motorcycles and motorcycle side car racing (RIP Ron Toomes). Bikes are far more exciting that cars.
I’m 60 years of age and today I still hate the chase, get rid of it and make Bathurst 163 laps again, and cut out the land fill in the dipper also, and the run off to boot
A great racing video. What is the big blimpo car that keeps getting around him on the straights? Is that an Australian Falcon? I would be so pissed at the guy when he chops him off at the 7:29 mark. Too bad the Imp lets him down on the straight.
Stick a chicane in the middle of the long straights and this IMP would be more competitive as it handles better than the pure power beasts with V8 engines!!
every standard imp had the engine run to 15,000 rpm with gas pressure !!! comp engine ran to 10,000 plus !!! due to carb manifold and cam and other restrictions normal Imp engines dindt get much above 6,500 rpm
just watched this vid with my 4 month old girl lola, she didnt take her eyes off it once! definitely need another gear though, then the yank tanks would not stand a chance!
....who could not like this? This is what Bathurst really is - Not the taxi racing it is today!
Couldn’t agree more.
Yep, a real yawn fest now.
This classic style racing leaves the rest for dead.
Another sad twist on that..
Even having the age and rarity of some of these cars, parts are probably cheaper than replacing parts on the V8 racers
Great racing, real cars. A big NO to generic V8 soupcar racing of today...!😀😀
And in 2023.... It's even more yawn.
fantastic footage. looked like so much fun. who would have thought an imp could go so well.
ME!!!! I raced one in Britain in the 60s.
They were bloody quick in their day
A fantastic mix of most of the cars i wanted to own when i was young (and some of those i did). The Imp was an impressive little car in its day.
A delight to hear the little engine scream. Good driving. Shame about the straights ... extra gear needed!
Either an extra gear or a longer fourth.
I was thinking about that too, but wondering if the little engine would have enough torque to pull a higher gear.
@@seabulls69 I reckon the fact that the Imp was never made with a five spd g'box is a limiting factor. How original do these Appendix J's need to be? I dunno. Even if it was allowed. It would be a very expensive redesign. A taller fourth is definitely possible and even a different ratio drop gears would work. At the high end in a tall fourth gear, there's almost no load. It's just to stop the engine braking effect slowing you down. Id id this in my Cooper S and all of it made a huge difference to top end speed.
@@doraexplora9046 Just put some taller tires on it. That will give you a bit more gear.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus That's true. But it will affect ALL gears. It's like putting on a taller diff. No good for hill climbs. The Imp has the torque for the hill, but not the legs for the way down.
Great video I had an Imp from 1970 to1973. Very smooth engine - high RPM no problem - sometimes the gear change was like stirring a cake!!
Brilliant and thankfully no bloody music - thank you !!
Love this racing, give the old girl 1 more gear down Conrod and it would really go
I had one of these in the 70's and turned it into a dune buggy fixed diff. Great at going up sand hills beat any VW bug.Mine used to rev to 6,000 rpm and had 13 inch wide ford rims rims with bobcat tires. Good times were had by all.
It was just like that, driving to work in the '70s.
Thanks, had an imp as a kid. Loved it.
Made me feel like I was on the Ride On Mower. Brilliant.
Learnt to drive in a Wimp. Was mum's rocket, the ol boy had a set of extractors on it.
My brother managed to roll the Sunbeam version in an inner city street one night after being at the pub, he was trying a hand brake turn on the tar. He races one of Kevin Bartletts old Bathurst cars in circuit racing currently.
So your brother managed to survive his youth 😊
@@jacobmoses3712 Yep...but he crashed off his mountain bike an busted his arm recently🤕
Listen to that Coventry Climax scream. Love it.
I thought there may have been a Triumph Dolomite Sprint up ahead of him, but he didn't catch up to it, so hard to see. Got one of those in the garage, they are fun to drive.
Round the outside on top of the mountain - LOVE IT
Great video, brings back memories … no where near these speeds, but in 76 had an mildly modded Imp and did a few 12 car events late on Saturday nights & into early hours of Sunday. You thought one was doing a great job until a stock Mk1 Cortina 1500 GT or similar just breezed past on the A40, 41, 34 or any & most of the B roads or whites in between and around amongst the Chilterns … Mad events, lots of risks taken one wouldn’t do today. Middle of night - main beams, twin Cibies on and absolutely flat going over a cross road.
Good engine in those imps, all alloy, they started life as a water pump in fire engines, in the 1970's all the fastest sidecars racers used those Imp engines.
If they had homologated a 5 speed with the Imps or the Minis Bathurst history might be different having said that the Minis won three in a row.
This is brilliant footage, and brilliant driving. ..one to save and recommend
I come back to this time and again, it's gold!
thanks mate, should check out our other videos
@@coilylux mate what cc motor was in the imp ? I know it was a Coventry Climax engine just cant remember the cc's cheers
love the imps had 3 of them
I’ve never had a list of “ cars I want to drive at Bathurst”. Until now.
1/. Imp.
2/Alfa Giulia ti.
Like the Minis against the Galaxies at Goodwood, brakes are optional, but the Fords own the straights - so much fun to watch. Thank You
That's got to be the most exciting car to race.
That was awesome!! Great driving
Great footage! Sounds lovely. Nippy little Imps- such fun to drive.
great little car the imp I had 3 at one time super race mate
wow look at all those classics,cars has character back in the old days
Old cars had so much more character to them
FANTASTIC !!!!!!!
Great video!!
Reminds me of driving my Imp from Wauchope to Walcha on the Oxley Highway (!) in 1967. Almost as loud but nowhere near as fast!! :)
875cc of Scottish muscle right there. Oh, and an Imp held the record for the Cannonball Run for years.
Was Coventry in Scotland back then?
@@zopEnglandzip😂😂😂
Faaaark! That Imp was ripping it up! Nice mechanics.
The Vauxhall Cresta that he just couldn’t manage to pass in the last few laps were way ahead of their time also. My 1965 with front Disc brakes and powerful engine for its day, would cruise all day at 70 mph with ease.
The Hillman IMP was a mini-Corvair. The shape was quite like the first generation Corvair which was powered by an aluminum engine in the rear. The IMP versions with 4-headlights looked even more like the Corvair.
They were a good idea with manufacturing constraints from Chrysler and others that did them in. The engine came with transportation expenses beyond what the car's selling price could afford. Chrysler tried to Americanize them with their own radio and upholstery. Blah. But in its more simple form it was pretty special.
Fucking Awsome I love these cars, had 3 or 4 of them, Last one was worth about $3000.00 when sold,,,, Best racing I have seen ever, restored my faith in you tube I was about to give up,,
great video and great drive. car handles like its on rails the engine is a real screamer. i followed george bevan imps when they won british touring car championship they were giant killers then
This is real racing not the stuff we have now.
love it my old man had two of these..... go any where ...bag of cement in the front in the snow
the only car i ever owned that would rev to 10,000 rpm regularly, great 1st car
Fun fact. I put Hillman Imp pistons in my 1100cc mini to bring it out to 1220cc before I woke up to the beauty of a fully worked turbo charged Cooper S motor, that put out 200+BHP at the front wheels!
A fantastic track !!
I had a Hillman in San Francisco in about 1967. I would call my electric Hillman cause whenever it rained the car did goofy electrical things but it was fun.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.I'm not sure I would enjoy racing down Conrod in an Imp, but the rest of the track is a dream. What kind of ratios are you running to make it round? Must be hard to match the need for top speed with all those hills. Even running a JKD 5-speeder...
love it
I don’t comment on much, but this was amazingly good
Reminds me of my younger days with these great little cars...they would really fly about ...you had to work on the cornering...but that was fun... Even my kids loved it and to this date they comment...and why not..should not be forgotten. I wonder what cc engine he had...The gearing would be for a shorter circuit...but you can see how good they are in the corners and not a lot of fighting with the steering wheel...great memory video thank you...👍👍👍👏👏👏
Glad this video popped up, timely as I was racing a vintage open wheeler at Historic Winton last weekend...... in the rain.
What do you rev that engine to? And can you make my Super Minx motor do the same? 😂
There was a gaggle of Imps on display at Winton but none on the track sadly, I hope you are still enjoying yours!!
Love the black Cortina with the "go-fast" orange and black stripes!
Ahhh..when Bathurst was racing not advertising....and had many formulas.
This race is for Improved Production cars and not the Series Production cars the Bathurst 1000 used to race...before the super plastic cars started.
Some great driving real skill there. My first car was an imp cost me 20 quid loved it
-
I swooped a Phillips stereo cassette deck for my Imp.
Auto correct it should be swopped
@@grahamtaylor3093 much prefer swooped : )
👍I'm guessing everyone was on Bob Jane all rounders 🤣
Nice driving! Both balls and brain.
Fun racing ! sounds a lot like my Datsun 1600.
had 22 Imps !!! magic motor just under powered!!!
what a race!!! handling second to none
just 998cc!!!! giving away 500 to 5000 ccc to the other cars raced
brilliant design Mike Parkes and Tim Fry
Mike Parkes was a magic race driver and designed the most beautiful car ever the P3 and P4 ferrari
Underpowerd ??? compared to what for goodness sake !
What a ripper engine. They were so lucky he did not have another gear, he was searching for it.
This is the Bathurst l grew up with. Not the V8 supercars. I love the different classes. The Imp was better across the mountain and on the corners but the Eh had more straight line grunt. I love it. 😮
Excellent and no stupid music
Back in the good old days when 100 hp was big
I had an Imp Californian back in 1978 did 90mph down a big bank =)
I loved those days when the dads would race the family car around Bathurst, in four classes simultaneously. I reckon it was those days that every boy got into racing in one way or another.
I suspect that this race might’ve been a feature race of sorts as I don't remember the chicane down conrod, nor the facilities on the right thereafter in those days. They were the days of incredible racing.
Woooooooo great vid only watched the first 3 laps but brilliant stuff.
I'd rather the early cars like these instead of the bigger V8 ones, very entertaining.
Needed another gear down Conrod. Seemed to be off the Tacho a few times. Great little car though back in the '60s.
My dad's Hillman Imp never sounded like that!
GO Hilly !!
that's how I used to spend my sunday afternoons. The church of racing.
I drove an Imp in the 70's. Didn't go like this one though!
He's not kind to the engine, but it needs another cog in the box. Great stuff.
The Mount Panorama race track was designed to replace the Vale race track that used part of the Great Western Highway. It was designed to be a road race track for motorcycles. The first use though of the track was the Australian Touring Car (Sports Car???) Club one rainy weekend. The track was dirt and the cars screwed the road surface. To day the track has been so altered for car racing it is dangerous for motorcycles and motorcycle side car racing (RIP Ron Toomes). Bikes are far more exciting that cars.
The battle with the silver Falcon is epic
I’m 60 years of age and today I still hate the chase, get rid of it and make Bathurst 163 laps again, and cut out the land fill in the dipper also, and the run off to boot
Hey I live in Bathurst…
We hate seeing studebakers and Camero’s charging down William st ( main drag) with glowing brake drums…
Just sayin
The boys in the EHs are very brave with their cocoa tin lid front brakes!!! That Vauxhall was a bit of a moving chicane. Ha ha ha.
5th gear would have made all the difference, the Imp motors I use to work on never would have taken that thrashing ,is it a CC.?
Anyone actually know what engine that Imp is running? The standard FWC 998 was not going to hold a mk 1 Lotus Cortina in a straight line.
Highly modified 998cc
@@coilylux Cheers; that is for sure.
Lovely! Jeez... how many revs down Conrod Straight?
Ludicrous revs
@@billoddieamy mate had an imp gt back in the day…
He reckons it’d rev to 11,000 !
By the sounds of this maybe he was right !
@@batmanlives6456 Crazy!!
Love seeing these older cars racing, I dont watch V8Supercars any more as they are fake and so monetised that i cant even watch them any more any way.
Wow fun
What great circuit looks like a whale of a time tanking round there, if only I could teleport there with my car for a race!
A great racing video. What is the big blimpo car that keeps getting around him on the straights? Is that an Australian Falcon? I would be so pissed at the guy when he chops him off at the 7:29 mark. Too bad the Imp lets him down on the straight.
Eh holden 1964 model had a 179 hp red motor 6 cylinder likely just a 3 on the tree manual
nice vid
Is this guy Jim Clark?
When you get to the top of the mountain and remember it's only a four speed box.😋
Salut my friend super car super video subscribe subscribe ..
If the impact had another 50hp there wouldn't have been much to touch it in its day !!!.
If only you had a 5 speed box.......
Real racing
Anyone remember the Mini and the VDub?
Why didn’t we see the piston ?
Years of R & D.. but there's been few escape the block
1:50 - Skyline is not the place to get a little out of shape :-)
That was fukin awesome .
Stick a chicane in the middle of the long straights and this IMP would be more competitive as it handles better than the pure power beasts with V8 engines!!
Love the imp great car to race but looses out on the straights.
Wow if only v8 Supercars were as entertaining.
every standard imp had the engine run to 15,000 rpm with gas pressure !!!
comp engine ran to 10,000 plus !!!
due to carb manifold and cam and other restrictions normal Imp engines dindt get much above 6,500 rpm
Jon gadsby at last, someone who knows Imps! Big cam and bigger carbs got things sorted.
@@peterdrake8392 such a lovely designed engine especially the OHC with buckets and shims no rockers very hight tech for its day
It really needed another gear down Conrod.
haha the sound: *OOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooHHHHHHshiftOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooHHH*
just watched this vid with my 4 month old girl lola, she didnt take her eyes off it once! definitely need another gear though, then the yank tanks would not stand a chance!
Think needs a couple more gears for the long runs
My IMP never sounded like that
Change the gear ratios and that thing would carve it up 👍
Real motor racing all classes to test the real motor racer..