Great video interesting comparison between a mini and an imp. I forgot how much minis bounce the front wheels even flat out on the start fnnish straight 👍
Barrie was a great friend of mine and a talented driver. His father Frank ‘Tony’ Williams was a great buddy of my father - Tony raced motorcycles in the Manx GP back in the thirties and broke records on the famous Red Marley Hill Climb. Barrie won the 1964 Welsh Rally ( forerunner of the Rally GB) I attended his funeral in 2018 where his winning 1964 Welsh Rally Mini Cooper was outside the Church in Bromyard along with his Orange racing helmet. Barrie raced everything from Minis to Porsche all over the UK and Europe and was a much respected member of the BRDC. I miss him still.
My son and i went to race retro this year (2023) and this car was still going round going at full chat, being driven properly as in this clip. He was faster than some other cars that were much newer and faster on paper but those cars drivers were nowhere near as skilful.
The Imp had a bit more top end speed and could pull out of the slow corners better, but a bit more of a handful in the corners and it doesn't brake as well either. I guess the rear engine/gearbox set up helps with traction, but hinders on braking and, maybe, makes the handling trickier. In any event, a very interesting little comparison.
Tim always thought the Imps had a braking advantage because of the size that you can get under the Imps wheels, but you can see the Mini is far more stable under braking and gains so much through the corners. Just realised this was taken 10 years ago when the HSCC Pre-65 was oversubscribed at many races. It's a pity it has dropped off in recent years.
Remember seeing this guy first time on "you bet" on T.V in 1990 was a show on Saturday night..this guy performing on there he was driving a rover of the day was amazing what he could do you wouldn't think possible seen him a few times and still amazing..best wishes
very nice driving:) love the view too:) such a beautiful track:) does you car have limited slip diff?? Looking for one myself and still haven’t decided one:)
Very good, that's more like it get some REAL use out of these older cars, occasionally make them work for their lives, I'm surprised the old Rover did so well. I enjoyed all of this, thanks
My all time favorite road , but going up from melmerby to hartside is better because you can really rip out of those bends , its great on a fast bike and in a fast car , I was following an R1 on my bandit 1200 and he was getting more frustrated because he couldn't leave me , up near the top there's a right hand hair pin ( going up ) followed by a double apex left hand bend , I came round the hair pin and him and his bike were lying in the road , I helped him get his bike up and he said it slipped on the non existing gravel , he was a greenhorn and hadn't had the R1 long , I asked him why was he slapping the tank with his hands and he said he was frustrated because he kept cocking the bends up and it was his first time on that road , I've been using that road for well over 40 years and know it extremely well and its not a road that forgives young greenhorns on fast bikes.
I own one off the minis that was used by Russ swift and as far as I know they just put extra air in the tyres on the cars that were used to do j turns and hand brake turns and the car that drove on two wheels had the diff welded
