For a short time I was in possession of an Imp fitted with a Mazda rotary.
It had been equipped with not just any old rotary, but a rotary originally
fitted to a Group C RX-7 driven by one Allan Moffat. (For the benefit of
non-Australians, Allan is a Canadian who migrated here and became one of our
greatest ever racing drivers. His RX-7 took out the Australian Touring Car
Championship at least once, I think - haven't actually looked this up
though.)
The guy who did the conversion used to race it and it was very, very fast,
but of course it didn't go around corners at all. He also used to drag race
it and could do the quarter mile in some phenomenal time which I've now
forgotten.
But the really good bit is, it was also road registered. I don't know how.
He used to go out Friday nights looking for V8 Holdens and Falcons.
Anyway, one day a wheel came off going under the Dunlop bridge at Lakeside.
It made a bit of a mess and the car was retired. By the time I got it the
Moffat engine was gone and I got a bog standard one in its place.
Unfortunately the task of resurecting it was too much for me and I gave it
away to another guy. The last I heard it had been shipped to Adelaide.
Russ Maddock
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Sunbeams hit the Gold Coast in June 2001 - www.qld.sunbeam.org.au/national
----- Original Message -----
From: "Victor Hughes" <v.hughes@student.canberra.edu.au>
To: "Russell & Neola" <rmaddock@petrie.hotkey.net.au>
Cc: <alpines@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: Spark plug gap
> Speaking of Hillman Imps, did you know that a guy in Sydney once had one
fitted
> with a 289 ci Ford V8 - for circuit racing only. Not great in corners, but
gee
> it was quick in a straight line.............
>
> Cheers
>
> Vic
>
> Russell & Neola wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > At one stage I decided they were getting too old and replaced them with
> > Champions. The car started to misfire immediately so I put the
Splitfires
> > back and it was right as rain again.
> >
> > R
>
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