V8 Hillman Imp first run Winton June 2025

Skip to 4.00 for best track action. I've owned this Hillman Imp for 8 years. It has a 3.5L Rover V8 and a VW transaxle. First logbooked as a race car in 1978, it was pretty agriculturally built. It passed through many hands before it came to me. It's been a huge project and there's not much on the car that hasn't been restored or rebuilt as it probably should have been originally. Today is the first time I've ever actually driven it. It was better than I expected. It needs work in a few key areas - the engine is a Disco 1 motor with bulk kms on it. It flatly refused to rev beyond 5500, which is probably fair enough. It darts alarmingly under brakes, and the gear shift mechanism is not nice at all. Given how huge the project has been, it was a dream first day. Next steps are new engine, fixing the other issues and making it look pretty.