From Cars and Car Conversions 5 (1969), no. 7 (July):
Rootes have withdrawn from international motoring events. This sad fact had been rumoured for some time before the official announcement, though we were reluctant to believe it, because of the company's recent successes - the Marathon, Peter Harper winning the Rallycross championship and Colin Malkin scooping the MN rally series last year.
The anonymous spokesman's reasons for withdrawal? "The commercial value obtainable is now outweighed by costs", he said.
Halfway the 70s, Colin Wilson of Cars and Car Conversions went to visit Colin Malkin, driver of the Chrysler Dealer Team and looked at the latest from Britain's fastest developing works rally team: Avengers and the Sunbeam Rally Imp.
Round 13 of 22 of the 1970 European Rally Championship.
Veijo Pkknen and Martti Tiukkanen finished 8th overall in their Sunbeam 900 with 17749 points.
3520 km including 270 km over 21 special stages
gravel with some asphalt
80 teams at the start, 13 at the finish
|
Andy Michailidis and Tim Bosence (GB) finished 12th overall with their Sunbeam Imp. 8th in group 2. [12336.5]
Total penalty: 3:25.36,5; Behind winner: 3:23.48,4
[source: rallybase.nl; other source spells Bosense]
19th Acropolis Rally (26 May -1 June 1971)
No. 75 - Driver: A. Bozovits (Greek Nat.) Co-Driver: St. Constantinidis Sunbeam Imp; Group 2 Class 2
Org.: BRSCC. 18 stages
Class winner up to 1000cc: R. Piper / L. Skoog in a Sunbeam Imp Sport 875cc
27/28 September 1969
Pos Cls No. Driver/ Co-Driver (Car) Pens 3 9 Rod Badham / Derek Tucker ( Hillman Imp ) ? 13 32 Dave Owen / Pete Jackson ( Singer Chamois ) ? 19 40 Colin North / Richard Tomkinson ( Singer Chamois ) ? 25 56 B Sefton / D Brierley ( Singer Chamois ) ? NF 8 Mrs Jenny Birrell / Rob Lyall ( Hillman Imp ) Rtd Sel 1
The Circuit of Ireland Retro event
Billy Tobin & Liam McGuiness (Cork) won Class 5 (1965 - 1974) and achieved a 5th overall (out of 120 cars). The Imp involved is a 998 Stiletto.
There were 32 starters in the Historic Rally of the Circuit of Ireland in 1996 on Friday 5th April. Three of those were Imps:
In class B1: no. 213, a Sunbeam Stiletto driven by Derek Parling/Christine Parling from Bridlington and no. 218, a Hillman Imp with Philip Wylie/Gregory Lockwood from Kusnacht
In class C1: a Hillman Imp with no. 235 with David Moore/Gary Moore from Newtownards
In Class H13 a Hillman Imp competed: car no. 112, driver/codriver John Morris / Peter Rust. It finished 2nd in class and as 67 overall (which wasn't last ;-) It took him 108:11. The winner in a Escort Cos needed 78:11. No. 68 overall, a Nova which won Class A5 needed 116:34. So there.
Peter Hurst competed in a Californian, no. 27
A painting by David Shepherd: an Imp competing in the East African Safari Rally
Jari Pehkonen drove his 27th race on ice and gravel in an Imp and became 10th. He has won 24 times in class and once overall.
In the Touring Saloon class under 2000cc, Jari Kämäräinen won his first championship with his Citroën-engined Stiletto, and Ilkka Jutila came second. There were eight starts. Jari won seven and Ilkka one, beating many more powerful cars.
51) Hannu Pietinen / Yrjö Jansson (Sunbeam Imp Gr.1, 851-1150cc)
57) Kirsti Pätiälä / Eija Miesmäki (Sunbeam Imp Gr.2, 851-1150cc)
| Nigel Davies, 9 Feb 2001: I have recently purchased TFD 46 N  Nigel Davies, 2 Oct 2002: TFD 46 N (ex Jon Lloyd Rally car which won the 1975 British Rally Championship) presently sits in my garage awaiting restoration. 1974 Hillman Imp, built by Andy Dawson & John Lloyd. The car won the 1976 BTRDA/CCC Rally Championship. Ken Green, Feb 8, 2001: I helped with service for Jon and the Imp and have memories of sleeping in the car when the Transaxle broke in Broxa forest. |
Over 10 rounds
Although a Mini Cooper S won outright, it was Imps which shone in the 1300 class, with three of them in the overall top 20, proving that a one litre class would have been rather superfluous (They were in Class A: up to 1300cc).
4. Jonathan Lloyd 43 pts. (TFD 46N, double headlights)
5. Peter Bryant 40 pts. (WGT 6M)
16 Dick Lust 13 pts
 |
|
 |
Sunbeam Imp JHP 100e; Rallye Monte Carlo 1970 #143; Michalidis and O'Gorman (?) [source]
It says Reims on the navigator's door.
They did not finish. 232 entered; 184 started; 77 finished.
All of the Glasgow starters but the Imp of Andreas Michailidis reached Monte.
source: The Autocar 1971, Jan-Feb. - p.23?
 |
|
 |
Comp. #308, Sunbeam Stiletto with reg. PYH 940F
Not in the results list, which does includes the retired cars, too. In the entrants list (participants), it is mentioned:
| Nr. | Nat. | Driver | Co-driver | Car | c.c. | Grp | Class | depart |
| 308 | GB | Andreas Michailidis | Philip Band / Bond? | Sunbeam Stiletto | 998 | II | 2 | Glasgow |
I checked the entrants list for other Imps, but there were none.
Several Clan Crusaders
N. Greenwood/ P.A. Rhodes in a Sunbeam Sport Imp (JWF 211E) with #130 - finished in position 68, at 765m34s.
G.B. Birrell/ Mrs. J Birrell in class 2 retired with their Sunbeam Rallye Imp (#81)
Same as J.A. Moore/ A. Harding with their Sunbeam Imp (#113)
 Triple C provided no other test as to who what and wherefore But it is a Radio Luxemburg sponsored Imp and the navigator is ...hn Morgan, presumably John Morgan. |
27th Scottish Rally; June 6-9th 1971
4-day contest; covering 1400 miles; 272 of those miles in 58 Forest Stages
Rosemary Smith drove an Imp borrowed from Mark Perry to win for herself yet another Coupe des Dames. Just after the classic Ae farmhouse, past the usual Forest of Ae approach road traffic jams she got a broken steering arm changed for one from a spectator's car.
Malkin was in front for a while in his Imp, doing battle with the Escorts.
There were quite a number of wrecks. Most spectacular departure from earth seemed to be Robin Eyre-Maunsell's flying Imp. They flew nearly into the Loch itself, on Eckside. He and Austin Frazer were extremely lucky to escape with just a few bruises; the car - a complete and utter 'total loss'.
At Grantown the small class 2 line-up was Kennedy and Brown in Imps, then the Triple C Skoda (R. Hudson-Evans) 3rd and the Comrie DAF 55 Marathon in its fourth place. The Skoda won the Group 1 up to 1150 cc by just 3 minutes and 2 seconds from Kennedy's Imp. CCC wrote: "Skoda were delighted (Chrysler were not)."
170 started, 94 finished. Of the 10 all-women crews, 5 finished, led by Miss Rosemary Smith, Dublin and Mrs. Alice Watson, Bearsden, in a Hillman Imp. The runners up for the Coupe des Dames were Mrs. Margaret Lowrie, formerly of Dundee, and Miss Ann Hope, London, also in an Imp. Mrs. Lowrie ha competed in 13 Scottish Rallies and finished in 12.
Colin Malkin had to retire his Hillman Imp: rolled out/locked clutch.
Org.: South Wales Automobile Club. 39 stages
Class winner of Group 2, 851 to 1000cc: C. Wood / M. Smith in a 1.0 Hillman Imp
The Suffolk Stages, one of the series of Autumn day-stage Rallies. It was run jointly by the West-Essex and West Suffolk clubs. In 1970 there were 120 entries. The class up-to 1000cc was taken by Mark Perry's Imp (Group 2), built by Car Accessory Motors of Potters Bar, using some of the parts from the Imp that Mark drove for Lynton Racing.
In 1975 Vince Findlayson / Doug Riach were occupied driving a one liter Hillman Imp around on several rallycources. They were class winners (Up to 1000cc) in the following:
1 March - Valentine (Dunfermline Club). Restricted; 13 stages; Scotsman/Gealic championship.
22 March - Hackle Rally (55 Car Club). National; 15 stages; Scotsman/Gaelic championship
12 April - Granite City Rally (Aberdeen Motor Club). National; 17 stages; Scotsman/Gaelic + RAC Championship
20 Sept. - Rippin Structures Saltire Rally (St. Andrew's MC). Restricted; 18 stages; Scotsman/Gaelic championship
23 Aug. '75 - Burmah '75 Rally (Lanakshire C.C.). National; 15 stages; RAC + Castrol/Autosport championship
class up 1000cc won by A. Conley / C. Dunn in a 1.0 Clan Crusader
20 Sep. '75 - Castrol '75 (Wolverhampton C.C.). National; 9 stages; Castrol/Autosport championship
class up to 1000cc (not group 1) won by J. Bothwell / M. Kind in an Imp (unspecified)
29/30 Nov. '75 - Martin Group Trophy Rally (High Moor MC). Restricted; MN championship
Robert Fisher / Kevin Jones finished 9th in a 1.0 Imp
BTRDA Gold Star Rally Championship '75
Peter Bryant finished 9th in a 1.0 Imp
A-Z of Works Rally Cars : From the 1940s to the 1990s
by Graham Robson
List Price: $32.95
Our Price: $23.07
Hardcover (July 1994)
Motorbooks International; ISBN: 1870979427 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.86 x 10.52
x 7.84
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 306,605
| The Imp Site
Competitive Impers | franka@earthling.net |