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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.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ens/Mini7C.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ens/Mini7E.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ens/Mini7A.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ens/Mini7B.jpg
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
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...2/IMG_0068.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...2/IMG_0067.jpg
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.....
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ngtho/66-8.jpg
Jim Mckeown also ran a black one which Beechey drove sometimes.
This is at Calder in Aug 1966....
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...p-11267193.jpg
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.
Attachment 1545
Good memory young fella.
Attachment 1546
Attachment 1547
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!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...o/IMAG0087.jpg
Hume Weir...not sure what year
Ford V8 mid engined Imp
Harry Lefoe
Pics by Mark Bishop of Wodonga Vic
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...o/IMAG0012.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...o/IMAG0048.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...o/IMAG0011.jpg
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!
spent some time trying to find this car last story was it rolled at Sandown and was tipped ,Ihave an email from one of the builders he said this produced more horsepower and had more torque than Moffs Mustang,
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...o/IMAG0092.jpg
Hume Weir
pic by Mark Bishop of Wodonga Vic
As I recall the PDL Minis (were there one each for Clyde and Robert?) rarely ventured north. I seem to vaguely remember Robert racing at Baypark on at least one occasion and like all the PDL cars was pretty nicely turned out. I particularly loved the Watson 103 car and Collingwood's AMCO car.
Thanks to Steve and Mike Feisst for refreshing my memory of yellow peril, my favourite underdog.
I just took a look through the Shell Racing Annual for the '68 season, and Robert Stewart actually finished runner-up spot in the 1001cc - 1300cc class behind championship winner Angus Hyslop, and he did seem to race at every round. He won four races, and dnf'd just once. Collins raced his PDL Mini in the 0-1000cc class, finishing 3rd, but he seems to have suffered a bit from unreliability in the latter half of the season.
Ah, the Shell Racing Annuals. My pocket money never extended that far, Motorman was my bible of the time. Shots of exotic locations like Waimate were a glint in my eye and 40 years later got to go there when the NZ Motocross finals were there in 2008, echoes from the past with those lovely old buildings in main street.
Your idea of books on this site is a good one. I have a collection of Automobile Year (inferior I know to Autocourse for racing) from 1957 - 74 which is a treasure trove for following the fortunes of McLaren, Hulme, Amon and Ganley in that incredible era of Gps, Sports Prototypes, CanAm and Indy. But I digress. Thanks for the background on the PDL Cooper Minis Steve.
sorry about the quality ,like to see this recreated
The Mini raced everywhere, and often extremely modified. Here is the Dave Gilbertson version on the dirt at Palmerston North Speedway.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg
And a few of my photos that were published in NZ Hot Rod.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...002750x306.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...002750x269.jpg
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Gee what great photos. There was an interesting comment back a page or two about the PDL Mini gearboxes. I am fairly sure they had Colotti boxes from Italy. Also had Colotti pawl type LSD's which were a copy of the Jack Knight one I think. Robertson Stewart Snr reputedly picked up the gear when he was picking a Ferrari (275GT?) from the factory. Enzo was a friend of Colotti.
The gearboxes were a disaster - more problematic that the Jack Knight 5 speed used in Barry Phillips, Mary Carney and Peter Sharps 1000cc cars. PDL changed back to 4 speeds but kept the diffs which worked well. In fact when the Robert Stewart car was sold (in parts but with a new shell) the owner whos name escapes me, converted it to a road car and still used the diff.
If you look at the photos you can see the car was sometimes LHD. It had special rack with two pinions - and master cyl sets. It could be changed quite quickly for rh or lh tracks. Presumably the photo here is Bay Park as it is LHD. The Stewart car went south (Queenstown?) but seems to be lost now.
The Collins car (1000cc - Stewarts was 1300) survived a bit longer. Went to Palmerston North and maybe Wanganui then was sold to someone who rolled it at Bay Park. It was possibly reshelled but its after that it seems to have got lost too. Shame as they were great looking cars.
I also see some photos of Aussie Minis which came across - Brian Foley beat the PDL car so Stewart Snr bought his engine!
The Gilbertson Mini, as restored, on display at the Palmerston North Speedway 75th Anniversary.
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...e-mailview.jpg
That was a fast car Gavin, used to smoke the V8s, especially on a mushy surface.
While you won't be able to beat Harry LeFoe's IMP, Ted Rakowski ran a very neat car in sports sedans for a few years. By memory, it was rotary powered.
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/699/scn0064.jpg
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The only Imp's you see these days are in Historic Touring Car racing.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5728/scn0065.jpg
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Hey Timbo, those are great, especially the Ted Rakowski version. What a little ripper! The Imp just looks sensational with fat little wheels and flared arches.
Guy in South Australia has an old rotary imp sports sedan wants a bit for it $20k plus
Is that the one posted above Angria?
Will do some research a slotcar friend of bri3500 knows the guy
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...R/IMG_2127.jpg
Combining both themes :)
HD 2010
Cheers
Lee
Seeing as someone opened it up to Speedway minis
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/71Ozmini.jpg
From the 1971 Australian Saloon car Team that toured. Can no longer remember who this was.
Pic bought from Forest Lake Track photographer at the time.
Before there were Limited saloons in speedway Waikaraka rana class specifically for Minis.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/IMG_0038.jpg
The #12 Riley was my favourite at the time, Fred Someone (Gavin can you remember?)
Though not always successfully ;)
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...y/IMG_0037.jpg
Cheers
Lee