Spaceframe Imps

[colin rooney]

Nice one,Robert.
Quite a rate of attrition sadly.

Not if you fit a dry sump system happy days of racing

[speeddemon]

has anyone found any info we regards to my car?

[colin rooney]

the 108 imp i owned this car many years ago i bought it from brian mcloud in alness i sold the car to adrian hamilton.it is a rawlson chassis with a one peace davrian body it was fitted with a 998 carter or chesaman engine gearbox had jack knight close ratios third and top gears.raced it at knockhil broke the driver side rear wishbone and later sold it never done any thing with the brakes so cant say much about them
cheers james hall

so it had a rawlson chassis and davrian body what a mix wonder what happend to it so many of these cars are sat in garages and people wont sell them

Now could car 108 be speeddemons orange and white car look at the holes in the bonnet

[speeddemon]

Col i think it is a good possibility, as under the white paint around the windscreen is blue paint same as 108 car.

I think the engine and box was seperated from the car when sold as the guy who i bought it from, bought a different engine and box from a differnet guy he bought the car from.

I noticed the holes in the bonett identical id say.

By the way ive just rebuilt the carbs and exhaust is now sorted, New seals in the gearbox so ready to put it all back together, just waiting on some new water pipe and shoulndt be far of running.


laters mike

col if you spot any tyres second hand let me know, I think there same as yours but will let you know tomooz.

[Clive Brown]

these are of my friends mason spaceframe

....except to the best of my knowledge, Rob Mason never made a spaceframe Imp other than mid-engined Ford or Hart powered ones! The one spaceframe Imp-powered car he did race was the ex-David leaver car when Ernie Woods owned it, later sold to Alan Field. Mason Stilettos all used steel floor pans with front and rear tubular extensions.

[big J]

Bout time you showed up!

Could it be -as driven by Rob Mason-
as opposed to built by?

[Clive Brown]

Bout time you showed up!

Could it be -as driven by Rob Mason-
as opposed to built by?

That's my thought on it! To my knowledge, he only ever raced the one spaceframe Imp-powered Imp, which was the Ernie Woods car. I went up to Leicester with Woody to buy the car from the Leavers (who ran it as an 850) as a roller complete with a Knight 5-speed, and put Woody's 1-litre, which I built up from a blown ex-Homewood Bevan motor, into it.

The car was a bl***y good effort by the Leavers father and son for a homebrew, but lacked triangulation round the front end. However, Woody crashed the car at Brands, and I had John and Ronnie Woods (no relations) repair the car with a much-improved front end to the spaceframe. Then Woody broke his wrist, and I suggested that Rob could fill in whilst he was recuperating. For the results, see here

I've got (somewhere!) some pictures of Rob having at David Enderby's Karmann Ghia at Thruxton in the car, which I will scan and post if only I can find them! And remember, the KG qualifies for this forum because it was originally built for, and used, a one litre upright Imp, and later used an 1120, before it ever became BDA powered!

[Clive Brown]

John Whyte,Doune 89

Cracking shot of the Bevan Stiletto being worked on,just the right amount of silencing too.

I think that's me sitting on the trailer wheel! The car looks to have its BDG installed, rather than the FVC; the former went bang in a big way at Snetterton immediately after a fresh rebuild.

The car was not a true spaceframe; it had an original Stiletto centre section with tubular extensions front and rear to carry its Lotus 69 suspension.

Oh happy days!

Clive

[Clive Brown]

big J said,

Oooh,arty
Thanks for joining in,KiwiHusky,got any more?

Right you are then, here are a few:
Fred Hendy's Imp driven by Rob Mason leading Brian Cuttings spaceframe Stiletto at Snetterton 1980.



Mike Parkes leads Brian Cutting's Stiletto and Rob Mason in Hendy's Imp in the same race at Snetterton.



Hendy's Imp on the trailer with a youthful Simon Dobier (left) and Clive Brown (right) working on it



Not a spaceframe car I know but thought you wouldn't mind, -John Homewood (right) inspects his 998 Davrian Imp saloon for damage after being punted amidships on the slowing down lap by an in-gracious Peter Balwin after John had beaten him in his 1300 BDA Mini in a combined class race!!

Not Fred Hendy's car at all; that was a Rawlson spaceframe with the same external shape as John Homewood's, which was a fibreglass Davrian monocoque. There were two Rawlson spaceframes built, the other being for the late Chris Roberts, but the Rawlson spaceframe was grossly overweight, as it was built like a tank! Fred's car, which always ran as an 850 using my engines, was sold to Peter Halls, who had the outer structural sidepods removed, and rebodied the car- possibly with Maguire panels? The car was red, and used a Carter 1220, which I later rebuilt. The blue car pictured is actually a rebuild of the Mason Stiletto which Rob built for Vic Lee, which Vic crashed heavily at Old Hall at Oulton. it was rebuilt and rebodied with a Rawlson overshell, which is where the confusion with Fred Hendy's car probably stems from. Usually, Rob's friend Paul Burt drove the car; pictures of Rob at the wheel are rare.

Finally, the silver car with a very sideways Bill McGovern at the wheel is actually a genuine Mason Stiletto which Rob built (I believe) for Michael Holland! Hope this helps....

[colin rooney]

Clive you say the blue car is a re bodied stiletto spaceframe car well looking at it the rollcage would not be as close to the pillers as rake of the screens are not the same so was the cage altered to turn the frame into a saloon

also good to have you join in

col

[Clive Brown]

Not sure who the driver is or what year but this is Rob Masons / Ernie Woods imp

Don't think it is! I would be inclined to think that it is Mike Luck's (another nice guy), but it seems to differ from ernie Woods Laser Imp in a number of aspects!

[Clive Brown]

Clive you say the blue car is a re bodied stiletto spaceframe car well looking at it the rollcage would not be as close to the pillers as rake of the screens are not the same so was the cage altered to turn the frame into a saloon

also good to have you join in

col

Col - Glad to be back again- should have been here sooner. It was indeed a rebodied Mason Stiletto- not, therefore, a spaceframe car. Vic Lee's accident at Oulton was a big accident- heavy nearside front- and I went to fish him out of the hospital in Crewe with his leg in plaster. The original (structural) rollcage was completely fu- er, ruined, so the rebuild using a Rawlson saloon overshell did indeed use a different rollcage, and I think, maybe even a new floorpan.

[Clive Brown]

Hi from New Zealand. What a fantastic thread! It has brought back a lot of great memories of trips I made to the UK in the late 70's-early 80's to stay with and go racing with John Homewood and his special saloon friends. They were wonderful times.....
I took some photo's back then some of which are already on the Autosport forum, but here are some more...



Fred Hendy's spaceframe Imp at Snetterton in 1980





These two shots of Fred's Imp were taken using a fish-eye lense that Rob Mason had kindly lent to me for the day.

Not Fred's car .... that was always Homewood/Godfrey Hill yellow, and was a Rawlson spaceframe. It's Rob Mason' s own Mason Imp, steel floorpan, and uses a 1 litre motor which I built for Brian Hill of Godfrey Hill gearboxes. Later used in Ernie Woods' Stiletto, which Rob also drove! Note my patent reverse cone silencer (hah! spit!) in the o/s/r three quarter view....

[Clive Brown]

[quote="big J"]Howdy ding dang doodilly neighbourinos
Seeing as I'm stuck in the house,off I went on the web again.I found a thing called Flicker,which seems to be people collecting and sharing photos off the web,excellent idea
The sites a Deusie,the pics I got are by Alscarstuff and Comfortably numb.

The "John Homewood" picture ain't John Homewood, it's Fred Hendy.... Note Fred's trademark copulating ducks ("Fly United") on the front spoiler, and the different front rad. treatment. My short-stroke 850 in the back!

[Clive Brown]

A couple more pictures of the mason imp currently under restoration

If all goes to plan it should be out next season competing in the semsec championship
The owner is making a stunning job of the rebuild, it should be very competitive.

Not a Mason Imp, but the Leaver-built Imp owned by Ernie Woods that Rob Mason drove. Ernie Woods sold the car to a really nice man from Milton Keynes called Alan Field. He was 6' 20" tall, and had to alter the pedal box to fit in; hence the bulge on the bonnet in the second picture. It covers the relocated master cylinders.

[big J]

Clive,re-the blue Mason Imp above,used a Davrian(?) body over a steel floorpan?

Why would that be done,regulations or simply faster to build using an existing floorpan?

Blown Imp-I'm sure I can remember that race,your b&w pic,they were great days at Ingliston. If only I'd thought to bring a camera.Me too,by the way.Next project is a spaceframe.
John

[Basildon310]

a really nice man from Milton Keynes called Alan Field. He was 6' 20" tall

bl***y 'ell that's 7' 8" in old money!!!

Ben

[Basildon310]

a really nice man from Milton Keynes called Alan Field. He was 6' 20" tall

Bl***y 'ell that's 7' 8" in old money!!!

Ben

[Clive Brown]

Alan Field's wife was Scottish, but I can't to my shame remember her name. Alan was, though, not at all Imp-sized, 6' 20" was no misprint; he was long!

There might be a sub-thread in this for the sadly obsessive; Brian Cutting was fairly tall, End-it-all must have been 6' 2" or so, and of the great Imp drivers, probably only Rob Mason and Bob Jarvis could be described as "compact". Contrast this, if you will, with the great Mark Martin in NASCAR, who really is a midget!

[Clive Brown]

Davrian-style overshell, made by Barry Shepherd at Rawlson in Dover, with the body dropped over a stock floorpan with the outer sills cut off and new inner sills fabricated from sheet steel; you got it!

Regards

Clive

[Clive Brown]

is the Jeff Ward the guy that used to run company called Wardspeed? he was based down in Dorset and I remember there being a racing Imp in his workshop at one point.

No- that was Reg Ward, a renowned Mini racer who ran spaceframe 850cc eight-port Minis, then Mini-Imps, and finally a monocoque Mini-Imp which he wrote off at Thruxton. Reg's other half was one Deirdre Garlick, who really could drive a race car.

[big J]

[maguire imp]

black stilletto-ex les campbell scotland-mark steed newtownard now,white maguire stilletto ex phil lomas-earling jensen exported to japan i think?,white ginetta g12 george douglas still in ownership,red spaceframed stilletto geoff thorne wereabouts unknown,rover sdi 3.5 earling jensen,white skoda ex john pudsley-brian fisher ran it together really,brains son is a very good single seater driver with juno and is incredibly quick,john pudsley also raced davrians,maguires,and other makes

Keith

[KiwiHusky]

Clive Brown wrote,

Not Fred Hendy's car at all; that was a Rawlson spaceframe with the same external shape as John Homewood's, which was a fibreglass Davrian monocoque. There were two Rawlson spaceframes built, the other being for the late Chris Roberts, but the Rawlson spaceframe was grossly overweight, as it was built like a tank! Fred's car, which always ran as an 850 using my engines, was sold to Peter Halls, who had the outer structural sidepods removed, and rebodied the car- possibly with Maguire panels? The car was red, and used a Carter 1220, which I later rebuilt. The blue car pictured is actually a rebuild of the Mason Stiletto which Rob built for Vic Lee, which Vic crashed heavily at Old Hall at Oulton. it was rebuilt and rebodied with a Rawlson overshell, which is where the confusion with Fred Hendy's car probably stems from. Usually, Rob's friend Paul Burt drove the car; pictures of Rob at the wheel are rare.

Thanks for clearing that up Clive, I must admit I wasn't 100% sure about some of the info. but didn't think I was that far out!! I didn't realise Vic's car was rebuilt as I thought it was absolute toast after the accident.
Cheers, Simon.

[Clive Brown]

How's it coming along,Stuart,any idea when it'll be out?


****post edited to include comment from Kevan McLurg
Laser Transport Stiletto is Ernie Woods,Rob Mason driving the same car on page7****

That is actually Rob Mason at the wheel of Ernie Woods's car; it's heat 2 of the Barry Reece Trophy at Lydden, and the body work damage was sustained in 'assisting' Tony Davies's Firenza to move out of the way at the Devil's Elbow to let Rob back into the lead. Rob eventually won the heat!

[turntheburn]

Not sure who the driver is or what year but this is Rob Masons / Ernie Woods imp

Don't think it is! I would be inclined to think that it is Mike Luck's (another nice guy), but it seems to differ from ernie Woods Laser Imp in a number of aspects!

this is the laser imp with me racing at lydeen

[big J]

And you are........?

[turntheburn]

And you are........?

my name is paul turner i owned this car and raced it for quite a few years but lucky enough its being rebuilt to a very high standard by a very good freind of mine

[colin rooney]

my imp with rear end hanging out

[colin rooney]

And you are........?

my name is paul turner i owned this car and raced it for quite a few years but lucky enough its being rebuilt to a very high standard by a very good freind of mine

Welcome on board paul

[speeddemon]

well followers of this thread, tomorow i will hopefully be crackng my engine into life if all goes to plan, everything now back together , so we will see how it goes.

Just fitted my last bit of water system with similer type samco hose

just need fresh seat, tyres and we are nearly there.

[colin rooney]

check out my new front

[les998]

Hi Colin,

That looks very nice, and looks like it is very good quality as well.

Les.

[big J]

Looking good indeed.

Crack on lads!

[speeddemon]

well, the motor is up and running and its sweet as a nut, absolute chuffed to bits, just sent off my shockers for some fresh new ones from GAZ and once we have them we arnt far off.

Just weighed the car and it comes in at 468 kilos, its a bit heavier than i thought but next years new chassis will be ultra light and mega strong.

One of the lads not far from me is interested in building a chassis so i will get him in a head lock and hopefully push on later this year with a new build.

Still loking for some sensible priced panels. NO chance of that though hahahahahahha

[colin rooney]

Mike glad to hear your engine is running good, i would think a lot of your weight is in the suspension arms at 468kg its not to bad

col

[SimonBenoy]

Mine was 360kg in sprint/hillclimb spec - this included plastic windscreen. It would have been quite a bit more if upgraded to race spec. No extinguisher, no charging system, only 1 operational door etc.

Cheers - Simon

[Clive Brown]

Mine was 360kg in sprint/hillclimb spec - this included plastic windscreen. It would have been quite a bit more if upgraded to race spec. No extinguisher, no charging system, only 1 operational door etc.

Cheers - Simon

But that's virtually seven hundredweight dead. Enderby's first Maguire car was a saloon built from T45 tube; it flexed like b***ery because the tube was too thin, and the best thing that ever happened to it was when it got written off at Thruxton- an accident attributed to chassis flex! That car weighed eight hundredweight and four pounds.

Its replacement, a coupe, was built from the usual T25, and went eight hundredweight 40lbs. Yes, it had a fire extinguisher, probably a four gallon fuel tank, and a water system that would maintain a constant temperature for a race distance- but 64kg heavier than your car? You may be right- I may be crazy- but this sounds odd to me!

[SimonBenoy]

Clive

Definitely correct - in fact it was only 350kg before I added the weber alpha stuff and fuel injection, the fuel tank was very small and aluminium, the floor wasn't much thicker than baco foil, all the wishbones and trailing arms had been lightened, the steering arms are tubuler - someone had put a lot of effort into it. It did have a normal car battery though! So with a race battery and lighter brakes, it would have been really light.

But I would not have raced it on the circuit without a fair bit of work - it was too softly sprung but it was quick - 0-100 in 13.5 secs, but only geared for 110 top speed.

Cheers - Simon

[maguire imp]

MC 002 was my car at one point,it needs a little bit of tlc,im sure it will get it,did you get the engine-gearbox and rims with it,a guy in uk bought it off me before christmas,i was the man that bought it from channell isle etc,what do you like to know about it

Keith

[big J]

Mine was 360kg in sprint/hillclimb spec - this included plastic windscreen. It would have been quite a bit more if upgraded to race spec. No extinguisher, no charging system, only 1 operational door etc.

Cheers - Simon

But that's virtually seven hundredweight dead. Enderby's first Maguire car was a saloon built from T45 tube; it flexed like b***ery because the tube was too thin, and the best thing that ever happened to it was when it got written off at Thruxton- an accident attributed to chassis flex! That car weighed eight hundredweight and four pounds.

Its replacement, a coupe, was built from the usual T25, and went eight hundredweight 40lbs. Yes, it had a fire extinguisher, probably a four gallon fuel tank, and a water system that would maintain a constant temperature for a race distance- but 64kg heavier than your car? You may be right- I may be crazy- but this sounds odd to me!

Clive,I believe thats the Rawlson on page 5 or 6 or something I photographed now owned by Alan Kessie.

[maguire imp]

The car was originally a f4 car single seater,it isnt unlike a car in previous post in this forum page 10 ish i think,mc if you look at your rear panels you will find the answer to your question,i have a log boo somewere for the car,when purchased it was running but i was hit hard as i was importing it to the uk again,it had a set of revolution wheel split rims when i got it,it also had ford capri type wheels to take it to have more ground clearance,it had a 2.1cc swindon racing pinto engine modified head,on twin 45's,24 volt starting,the engine is still used in ireland in a track/rallycross car it puduced 185 bhp approx,it was in the channel isles for many years,also hewland type transaxle which should be servicable,how much did you pay for the car,if you dont want to say that is ok
The tank is in the chassis at lhs
Keith scott

[Clive Brown]

Mine was 360kg in sprint/hillclimb spec - this included plastic windscreen. It would have been quite a bit more if upgraded to race spec. No extinguisher, no charging system, only 1 operational door etc.

Cheers - Simon

But that's virtually seven hundredweight dead. Enderby's first Maguire car was a saloon built from T45 tube; it flexed like b***ery because the tube was too thin, and the best thing that ever happened to it was when it got written off at Thruxton- an accident attributed to chassis flex! That car weighed eight hundredweight and four pounds.

Its replacement, a coupe, was built from the usual T25, and went eight hundredweight 40lbs. Yes, it had a fire extinguisher, probably a four gallon fuel tank, and a water system that would maintain a constant temperature for a race distance- but 64kg heavier than your car? You may be right- I may be crazy- but this sounds odd to me!

Clive,I believe thats the Rawlson on page 5 or 6 or something I photographed now owned by Alan Kessie.

I must be missing the point here.... how does a Rawlson come into this! I'll look for the pictures anyway....

[Clive Brown]

My thanks to Alan and all the lads at ASK Racing,they couldnt have been nicer.

Alan is keen to learn of any history of the car.I know it was owned and driven by a few lads on here,so if anyone has any history,anecdotes,anything at all,I'd be only too happy to pass any details on.

If that is a Rawlson car it is most likely to be the ex-Fred Hendy, ex-Peter Halls car.

[Turboimp]

some video of these cars and other cars in action , from the Castle Combe Special GT Championship of the early 1990's.
which i haven't seen before although i was there in the flesh ! ..For me , apart from the Bevan Imp era probably the best Imp racing heyday , racing on the old circuit , second fastest in the country to Thruxton . Brian cutting , Phil Lomas , George Douglas , Earling Jensen etc amongst some very powerful 400 - 500 bhp cars . Brian cutting ( and later his sold imp ) won the overall Special GT Championship about 4 times in the early 1990's .

[Clive Brown]

To me, the Bevan Imp era was not that great from a racing point-of-view, simply because George's car was that much better than anything up against it, and Bill McGovern was a better driver than any of his competitors. George's cars weren't magic, but they were well-built and meticulously prepared, and you can only race what you're up against.

I think the best era was the early to mid eighties, with Cutting, Mannion, and the late Barry Reece in good Maguires, Brian Prebble in his self-built spaceframe, Ginger's Kitten and Enderby's Karmann Ghia, and later on Rob Mason, who I rate as the best driver of them all, in Ernie Wood's car. Add Bill McGovern's occasional forays in a Maguire, and Tony Bridge's car, and I can't think of a better time.

[Bevan IMP]

Hi Clive,

Did you notice that Rob Mason is a member of the forum. If you keep singing his praises he might even post something...!!

He e-mailed me to say hello.

The magic was never in the cars, it was in the old sheds at the bottom of the garden !!!

Jonathan

[Clive Brown]

Yo Johnathan! Shed power!

By the way, you should have your stickies upon the pattern exhaust by now....

[Bevan IMP]

Many thanks for the exhaust,

Why is the tail pipe bending around, The orignal Bevan Imp would have been a straight pipe ?

Jonathan

[Clive Brown]

Ignore the tailpipe; you're meant to copy it up to the two-into-one collector only! From then on, it's a straight pipe, unless you raise the engine and have to put an offset into the tailpipe to clear the rear body crossmember.

Regards

Clive