Introduced in 1963, the Imp was Hillman's attempt to grab a share of the small car market that was taking off largely due to the success of the Issigonis designed Mini which had been released some 4 years earlier. Like the Mini the Imp was somewhat ground breaking itself featuring a rear mounted all alluminium ohc engine and styling remenisant of a scaled down Chevy Corvair.
Initial response to the baby Hillman was favorable but a lack of development due to it being rushed into production soon saw problems surface. Engine overheating, problems with the throttle and occasionally wayward handling gave the Imp a tarnished image and although these issues had all been resolved by the time the much improved MKII was launched in September 1966 the damage to it's reputation meant that the Imp never achieved the success of it's main rival. There were several badge engineered variants and bodystyles in an attempt to entice customers but sales dwindled until production finally ceased in 1976.
On the racetrack however things looked a lot more promising and while initially proving difficult to tune the Coventry Climax derived power unit eventually started to show it's true potential. Firms like Emery, Nathan, Fraser, Hartwell and Bevan all had success in the smaller engined classes and the Agile and potent little Imp was soon taking class wins and even Championships, the pinacle being 3 consecutive BSCC titles in '70, '71 and '72 for the team of Bevan and McGovern.
The mod features 16 real life cars from various eras so five different sets of physics are included. From the mid 60's 850 and 998 Group 2 cars, late 60's Group 5 cars, the BSCC Sunbeam Imps of the early 70's and the modern Historic racers many variations can be built. Template's for body, badges and windows are included as well as a Genstring guide to sort out the many options. You'll need it!
There will be an update at some point too with the Stiletto coupe and roof chopped Emery GTI (with new physics) and another couple of wheelarch options amongst other things.
For now though, enjoy, have fun and go get those pesky Minis...
This was a hell of a lot of work and as ever took far longer than i anticipated but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good (or even finished) without these guys;
So huge thanks to...
Hutchfaescotland for sending me the original mod with full permission to convert.
Cap7 for vastly improving the 3d, rebuilding the arches, mapping the whole thing, making templates and somehow managing not to swear at me after i made yet another request!
Nappe1 and Gravin for their superb set of physics which have really brought the Imps to life.
Jandri for letting me use his amazing sounds. 9000rpm never sounded so good!
Whoops for several superb Historic skins and plenty more to come...
GeeDee for helping get the mod off the ground and sourcing various bits of 3d that helped take it to the next level.
To install, unpack the rar file to a temporary folder, open up 'HILLMAN_IMPS' and copy the 'GameData' folder into your main GTL install and click 'Yes' when asked if you want to 'Overwrite'.
Initial response to the baby Hillman was favorable but a lack of development due to it being rushed into production soon saw problems surface. Engine overheating, problems with the throttle and occasionally wayward handling gave the Imp a tarnished image and although these issues had all been resolved by the time the much improved MKII was launched in September 1966 the damage to it's reputation meant that the Imp never achieved the success of it's main rival. There were several badge engineered variants and bodystyles in an attempt to entice customers but sales dwindled until production finally ceased in 1976.
On the racetrack however things looked a lot more promising and while initially proving difficult to tune the Coventry Climax derived power unit eventually started to show it's true potential. Firms like Emery, Nathan, Fraser, Hartwell and Bevan all had success in the smaller engined classes and the Agile and potent little Imp was soon taking class wins and even Championships, the pinacle being 3 consecutive BSCC titles in '70, '71 and '72 for the team of Bevan and McGovern.
The mod features 16 real life cars from various eras so five different sets of physics are included. From the mid 60's 850 and 998 Group 2 cars, late 60's Group 5 cars, the BSCC Sunbeam Imps of the early 70's and the modern Historic racers many variations can be built. Template's for body, badges and windows are included as well as a Genstring guide to sort out the many options. You'll need it!
There will be an update at some point too with the Stiletto coupe and roof chopped Emery GTI (with new physics) and another couple of wheelarch options amongst other things.
For now though, enjoy, have fun and go get those pesky Minis...
This was a hell of a lot of work and as ever took far longer than i anticipated but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good (or even finished) without these guys;
So huge thanks to...
Hutchfaescotland for sending me the original mod with full permission to convert.
Cap7 for vastly improving the 3d, rebuilding the arches, mapping the whole thing, making templates and somehow managing not to swear at me after i made yet another request!
Nappe1 and Gravin for their superb set of physics which have really brought the Imps to life.
Jandri for letting me use his amazing sounds. 9000rpm never sounded so good!
Whoops for several superb Historic skins and plenty more to come...
GeeDee for helping get the mod off the ground and sourcing various bits of 3d that helped take it to the next level.
To install, unpack the rar file to a temporary folder, open up 'HILLMAN_IMPS' and copy the 'GameData' folder into your main GTL install and click 'Yes' when asked if you want to 'Overwrite'.
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