Topic dedicated to HSA Speed Championship Class N

[ImpManiac]

The Imp engine is not dead yet

What a great result! Prodigious driving talent allied to a well-developed Clan - Imp-powered, of course - ensured success.

Very well done, Eric et al!

IM

[bazzateer]

Great work guys!

[pimpdriver]

Curborough on Sunday

Should be a good turnout at curbourough this sunday for imp powered vehicles. Its the last HSA event of the year and we all try to make it.
Imp powered vehicles are making up nearly 10% of the entry, well there are 7 of us.

Stuart Cairney - Hillman Imp
Mike Tindale - Clan Crusader
Mark Ibbotson - Davrian Mk5
Graham Cashmore - Davrian mk6
Eric Morrey - Clan Crusader
Joe Tisdale - Vixen 4/4 - single seater
Ben Boult - Delta single seater

Spectators are very welcome - we all line up in the pits together as well, must try & get some photos.

Eric

[StuartC]

Well done to Davrian pilot Mark Ibbotson who won class N in 2007 and also came 4th overall in the overall standings (102 contenders). Eric Morrey took the class P honours with some very quick times in the Clan; lack of opposition within the class restricting his overall position due to the scoring system.
For 2008 the HSA have a new championship sponsor: Richard Egger Insurance.
The provisional calendar of 20 rounds - http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/calendar.htm is different in that Loton will be in April and May, an extra Gurston in April with Llandow in July and Anglesey at the end of August. Most of the usual venues are on the list including two MSA championship rounds, July Harewood and August Gurston.
Regs not yet published but classes expected to remain the same with the Imp related ones being:
N - Modified Roadgoing Hillman Imps & Model Variants up to 1040cc and
Imp Engined Specialist Roadgoing Cars (Ginetta, Clan etc.) up to 1040cc
P - Non Roadgoing Imp Engined Vehicles

Stuart

[onomatopoeia]

I know someone in Bristol that has just bought a bright yellow Clan with a 998cc / R17 engine and intends to do some HSA rounds.

I'd like to do some, need to start looking at the car I suppose

[ImpManiac]

And I'd love to compete in some of these events too. My car needs some work and I need to find some money too, though. We'll see...

IM

[limjamrace]

Hello Gerry, i too am hoping to make a comeback in 2008.. Choice of car to start with a TR6 and later a Fiat 850 sport coupe. The Fiat is under developent-you know how it is!!
Also i'm trying to help that dashing young man Frank get on the speedscene..
What a lot of people do not relish is that all you need car wise is a decent reliable Imp(this is where the HELP Frank bit comes in) even with no mods. Merely enter with the basic rules like yellow earth lead on battery. Marked on/off ignition switch- all these little things . No roll cage.No full harnesses no twin forties no 1040cc- just do it!!!
We all started sometime and where.
Beware once you get the bug it stays for life!!
Thing is if Imp people really want to do it then they would!
Where there is a will there is a way!
Did a round at MIRA last March.. I was 5 secs -oh alright 6 secs off the pace but then i hadn't done it for 8 years,but who cares.Little stinker James Llewellyn is the fastest thing in Motorsport now in our camp. I have no pressure just an excuse of being 55 years old.
So all you worryers about what tyres and can i afford this and that .Just have a go in your normal as it is #IIMP and have a go.
Oh yes it is no reflection that i have a Chamois on ebay at the moment that is just asking to join the Hillclimb and Sprinting Speedscene!!

[StuartC]

Regs and entry form for 2008 now available at:
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk

Imp classes are as for last year:
(N) Modified Roadgoing Hillman Imps and Model Variants and Imp Engined Specialist Roadgoing Cars (e.g. Ginetta, Clan etc.) up to 1040cc.
(P) Non Roadgoing Imp Engined Vehicles.

Scoring system has altered with extra points allocated depending how close you are to the class record for the particular venue.

Stuart

[StuartC]

The HSA round at Prescott this weekend is a multi-championship meeting and hence there are 9 Imp engined vehicles entered. Well worth a look and there are also some of the quickest single seaters in action such as Chris Merrick, Deryk Young and Jos Goodyear with their 4 litre Judd engined Goulds which reach well over 100 mph round the first left hander just after the start.

Cast in program order is:
21 Andrew Russell 1120 Ginetta G15
85 Eric morrey 998 Clan Crusader
89 Joe Tisdall 1040 Vixen
153 Stuart Cairney 998 Imp
154 Richard Bourne 998 Stiletto
155 Nigel Moss 1200 Imp
156 Ian Moss 1200 Imp
174 Grant Cratchley 1040 Vixen
176 Martin Jones 998 Ginetta G17

3 practice runs Saturday and 2 competitive runs Sunday and hopefully a few sherbets in the bar Saturday evening!

All we need now is for the weather to stay dry. Let me see - what else is on this weekend?
- Wimbledon and Glastonbury.
Hmmm......

[limjamrace]

I'll be there Saturday to bog at what the tyres the roadgoing are using!
HSCC at Brands is the alternative ,but i don't live that way anymore!
Anycase it's the hills where i am at pretty soon i hope..What Martin Jones is it ?
David L.

[ImpManiac]

I wish I could be there. Prescott is a fantastic venue! And to see all those Imps and Imp-based cars compete... But I have to prioritise my scant money and time towards getting the ManiacImp up and running and fit for the trip up to Imp '08. Failure is NOT an option!

IM

[pimpdriver]

But I have to prioritise my scant money and time towards getting the ManiacImp up and running and fit for the trip up to Imp '08. Failure is NOT an option!

Come on Paul, just think what a day off watching will do for your enthusiasm , you'll have it finished in a week

[limjamrace]

But I have to prioritise my scant money and time towards getting the ManiacImp up and running and fit for the trip up to Imp '08. Failure is NOT an option!

Come on Paul, just think what a day off watching will do for your enthusiasm , you'll have it finished in a week

Not to mention picking up a lot of valuable information verbally and in your minds eye!
Who knows you may be going in the wrong direction in your Imp!!
I don't mean the geography of Glos and Yorks by the way!

[pimpdriver]

The HSA round this week was at MIRA, unfortunately no good for spectators, but Graham Cashmore (Dav mk6), Joe Tisdall (Vixen) and me (clan) all had fun. Weather was dry for first practice and wet for the other 2 practice runs. nice and dry for the timed runs in the afternoon.
I started off with a slight technical problem, the gearlever snapped off halfway round the first practice run . It broke virtually flush with the ball so i coundn't even get molegrips on it . It broke between gears, these dog boxes need a hefty shove, so i coasted to a halt after the finish line. I know now the tow bracket i made for the front is strong enough.
As i live approx half a hour away from MIRA a decided to remove the offending linkage and go home and fix it. As i was travelling back i remember Brian Gomm (cov_climax) lives nearby, so i pulled over and rang him. He was in and said come straght over, so i did . One gearlinkage out of his storage system, full use of his garage, tools and working as a team, we had a fully rebuilt linkage in 15mins and i was on my way. Got back and with some help from Ben Boult i got it ready for third practice, won the class and set a personal best. I was pretty happy with the day
Many thanks to Brian for his help - makes you proud to be in the Imp club

Cheers

Eric

[ImpManiac]

Well done, Eric! As well as Brian and Ben, of course!

IM

[cov_climax]

No worrys Eric, glad to be of assistance and you saved me from getting wet working on my (barn) roof during the shower.

It's always good to know that i don't keep loads of imp clobber in vein.

See ya soon
Brian

[onomatopoeia]

Congrats on the class win Eric . If the CoC (who lives about 1/2 mile from me) had travelled up from Portishead on the Saturday morning to the event I would have got a lift with him so I could spectate - I like MIRA but there's no way I could have blagged my way past the security on my own. He did tell me a scary story about a single seater going underneath the armco on the outside of the first corner.

[StuartC]

Round 15 of the HSA championship is at Gurston Down this Sunday with practice on Saturday. There are 4 Imp engined cars competing:
in program order
Andy Russell G15
Stuart Cairney Imp
Eric Morrey Clan
Joe Tisdall Vixen
This meeting is also a round of the British Hillclimb Championship so most of the top guys will be there and the quickest blast over the finish at 150mph which, considering the gradient, is just about double the speed my Imp manages at that point!
Gurston Down is 9miles southwest of Salisbury at Broadchalke.

[limjamrace]

Best wishes to all Stuart!
Never been to Gurston Down...
I'm still beavering along on HGH..Disc brakes all round is the latest head scratching job!
Main occupation at the moment is getting everything under one roof-and only one lot of rent to pay!
Have all the junk up here now,but my late Fathers (now mine), Mk 1 Cortina is still in a vunerable location and prioties are to get it safe in the barn..
Hence i think you can cruise to your class win for this year!
David L.

[ImpManiac]

^^ Indeed! The best of luck to all of you!

IM

[Keith 'Supaimpy' Laming]

See you all there on Saturday, Eric I'll remember my wallet

Forecast is ok for Saturday, might even drive the Imp there minus its Snail


Keith

[limjamrace]

See you all there on Saturday, Eric I'll remember my wallet

Forecast is ok for Saturday, might even drive the Imp there minus its Snail


Keith

My nickname was the Snail when i competed in the HSA series...Highlighted by the Guiness advert and the Snail races running on TV at the time..I was into Guiness at the time,and a middle aged yobbo from M.K thought it was hilarious!
So the reference to taking or not taking the snail is no reference to me!
Just thought i'd mention that to stop any confusion!

[Keith 'Supaimpy' Laming]

Stuart and Eric at Gurston last weekend, hmmm does wonders for car building, a real shot in the arm so much so I've driven the Imp to work last couple of days.


Keith

[Saltspeed]

THE 2009 RICHARD EGGER INSURANCE HSA SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP
PROVISIONAL CALENDAR & CLASSES

Once again, in 2009, the HSA Speed Championship will be sponsored by Richard Egger Insurance. The provisional calendar is shown below. Please note that these dates and venues are subject to change and we may add another date to this list. We are planning to leave the classes unchanged from 2008.

DATE VENUE ORGANISING CLUB
5th April Curborough MG CC - Midlands
18th April Gurston Down BARC South West
25th April Wiscombe Park Woolbridge MC
26th April Wiscombe Park Woolbridge MC
2nd May Olivers Mount Auto 66
3rd/4th May Shelsley Walsh Midland Automobile Club
9th May Goodwood BARC South East
16th May Loton Park Hagley & District LCC
7th June Curborough Owen MC
27th/28th June Prescott Bugatti OC
4th/5th July Harewood BARC (Yorks)
18th July Llandow BARC Wales
19th July Llys Y Fran Swansea MC
1st August Harewood BARC (Yorks)
15th August Lydden Hill London Irish MC
16th August Lydden Hill London Irish MC
22nd August MIRA Midland Automobile Club
29th/30th August Gurston Down BARC South West
5th September Anglesey (Ty-Croes) Lancs & Cheshire CC
6th September Anglesey (Ty-Croes) Lancs & Cheshire CC
13th September Loton Park Hagley & District LCC
20th September Shelsley Walsh Midland Automobile Club
3rd October Cadwell Park Borough 19 MC
11th October Curborough HSA
6th December Motor Heritage Centre, Gaydon Championship Awards presentation



CLASS DESCRIPTION
A1 Roadgoing Production Cars up to 1400cc
A2 Roadgoing Production Cars over 1400cc up to 2000cc
A2.1 Roadgoing Mazda MX5s up to 2000cc
A3 Roadgoing Production Cars over 2000cc
B1 Roadgoing Specialist Production Cars up to 1700cc
B2 Roadgoing Specialist Production Cars over 1700cc
C1 Modified Production Cars up to 1400cc
C2 Modified Production Cars over 1400cc up to 2000cc
C3 Modified Production Cars over 2000cc
D Modified Specialist Production Cars
F Hillclimb Supersports Cars & Sports Libre Cars up to 2000cc
G Hillclimb Supersports Cars & Sports Libre Cars over 2000cc
H Racing Cars up to 600cc
I Racing Cars over 600cc up to 1100cc
J Racing Cars over 1100 up to 1600cc (Car Engine)
J1 Formula Ford Racing Cars up to 1600cc manufactured before Jan 1st 1994
J2 Racing Cars over 1100 up to 1600cc (Motorcycle Engine)
K Racing Cars over 1600 up to 2000cc
L Racing Cars over 2000cc
N Modified Roadgoing Hillman Imps & Model Variants up tp 1040cc and
Imp Engined Specialist Roadgoing Cars (Ginetta, Clan etc.) up to 1040cc
P Non Roadgoing Imp Engined Vehicles
U Classic Roadgoing Saloon Cars, built up to 31st December 1975
V Classic Roadgoing Sports Cars, built up to 31st December 1975
W Classic Race Cars, built up to 31st December 1975
W2 Classic Race Cars, built after 31/12/75 & up to 31/12/83
X Classic Formula Ford cars built up to 31st December 1973

[rootes]

also for lots of local non HSA speed events to look out for.

Si

[StuartC]

The HSA championship kicks off this Sunday with a two lap event at Curborough.
For 2009 there are 6 competitors registered for HSA class N, three of which will be at Curborough.
The entry was restricted to 80 cars due to the longer course being used and apparently was heavily oversubscribed.
There are nearly 50 MGs taking part from pre 1939 cars up to MGFs.
The forecast is for dry weather - fingers crossed then...

[ImpManiac]

The best of luck, Stuart!

IM

[ibbo]

wishing you all racing this year all the best im taking a year out to many things to do her indoors might even get her new kitchen

[ImpManiac]

Indeed. The very best of luck to all competing in Imps, derivatives and Imp-based vehicles! Who knows. Maybe I'll be joining you later in the year...



IM

[bazzateer]

wishing you all racing this year all the best im taking a year out to many things to do her indoors might even get her new kitchen

Woodstock, did you hear that? Go on Graham!

[Woodstock]

Woodstock, did you hear that? Go on Graham!

I do intend to do a few at some point this year. Even without Mark though, Stuart is the man to beat. He gave us both a good whipping at Curburough last year. He's leading overall at the moment, too. Well done, great start Stuart, maybe see you at the next Curborough.
Graham

[bazzateer]

He gave us both a good whipping at Curburough last year. Graham

What about the racing though?

[pimpdriver]

Calling all Northern Impers, this weekends HSA round is up norf at Harewood , nr leeds.
There are a few of us impers ( and tupperware versions ) having a go.

Andrew Russell 1120 Ginetta G15
Stuart Cairney 998 Imp
Andrew Cairney 998 Imp
Micheal Tindale 875 Clan Crusader
Eric morrey 875T Clan Crusader

Also its a round of the British hillclimb championship, so some very quick single seaters will be there
One of the best hills in the country, great spectator positions, and as a driver, my favorite hill.

Practice on saturday 4th and timed runs on sunday 5th.

Eric

[ImpManiac]

The very best of luck to all of you!

IM

[pimpdriver]

Right, due to some rule changes by the MSA the imp classes have had to change for 2010 in the H.S.A. Speed Championship. The main change being that we are unable to run class P anymore. The MSA have stipulated all classes must only have cars from one category (i.e. production cars, racing cars etc) in them. This means that Class P which was for any Imp engined car is now not allowed as we allowed Imps, Clans and single seaters together in this class.

The good news is that Class N will continue and is for any road tyred imp engined car. We have had to change the regs though as again the MSA category problem comes up. The only way we can allow the Davrians and Clans in with the Imps is to basically make the class for Specialist Production Cars. (min 20 required, but no maximum fiqure so imps are eligible.) . Unfortunately the roadgoing regs require you to have all the interior fitted, glass window etc. Most Imps competing are stripped out and the fact that davrians don’t really have an interior we decided to make the class for modified cars which don’t require this. On the subject of tyres, the class was traditionally list 1a, but the new class effectively allows slicks, which we didn’t want in class N, so we have restricted the tyres to list 1a or 1b. The downside is the safety regs, which means in this class you need a rollcage and proper harness.

The H.S.A. has really tried to keep the Imp class despite the new MSA rules and hopefully all previous entrants are eligible and potential entrants aren’t outlawed. The whole class structure has been revised so everything isn’t perfect at the moment and there are going to be problems deciding which class your car will be eligible for on the day. Any problems or if more info required please contact me or ‘Ask The Expert’ on the H.S.A. website.

On a personal note, the Clan this year will be in Mod Prod upto 1400 in the H.S.A. championship, but unfortunately for one year only. At the moment the minimum number of cars for Mod Prod is 100 in a year (which allows the Clan in), but there are plans for next year to raise this to 1000 in a year which excludes the Clan. Looks like the Imp will have to be rebuilt this year.

Eric

[Keith 'Supaimpy' Laming]

So Eric from that does it mean the Clans won't be able to run in anything but standard form with all the trim?, be interesting how they define a std Clan


Have to dust off the Imp then looks like Clan will be a road car then

[ibbo]

Reading between the lines all cars be they imp clan or dav will be ok with stripped out interiors as the class is for modified cars once again i will not be competing as sadly there is no longer enough cars after giving it my all for ten years got fed up of entering events only to find i had no one to race anyway enough doom and gloom to those who do get out there and have ago wish you all the best should i be proved wrong and cars start coming out i may well be tempted out of retirement lets hope it happens before the Hsa is forced to drop the one remaining imp class due to lack of numbers remenber we started with three imp classes

[pimpdriver]

Keith
The 'new for 2010' class N is for any road based Imp (and all variants) or clan or davrian that complies with the regs for Modified Specialist Production cars see section 12 in http://www.msauk.org/uploadedfiles/msa_ ... %20etc.pdf.
Basically its the fully modified class, so you can run without interior, perspex windows etc but the consequence is you have to have a rollbar/rollcage and you must have a minimum 4 point harness. We are allowed to restrict the class, which we have by saying its for imp engined cars only (max 1040 cc) and the tyres used are list 1a or 1b. You will need a log book if the car is not road legal, but you should be okay without one if you have MOT, tax and insurance ( i have to confirm this ). All the cars in class N last year are still eligable as far as i know. The only tricky bit is that on the day you will have to enter the fully modified classes as well if you don't have an interior or the car doesn't comply with the blue book regs for Roadgoing cars. It is a compromise but hopefully it will all work out.

I hope this makes sense

Eric

P.s. next year if this 1000 cars a year comes in the Clans will only be eligable for the Specialist cars (kit car) classes. The Locaterfields have blurred the production car numbers.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I assume you could still turn-up in a road Clan or whatever and compete without a roll cage ...but you'd be up against all road comers...and have no chance of winning but still have fun losing?

[stuartbrownsey]

Along with Keith I'm planning to do a few events this year
I've bought a nice imp that needs a new cage and I've got
to put an engine together. My partner thinks I'm all talk
but to prove her wrong I've bought a new trailer as well.

Just in case she's right is there such a thing as trailer racing!!

Stuart