Davrian Imp Info required

[peespeed]

I hope this is the right place to put this request, a friend of mine is currently rebuilding a Davrian Imp, its one of the last saloons built in the early eighties. We are looking for somw info/photos of the car and its original owner. It was originally built for Derek Bridges who used it with alot of success on Hillclimbs and Sprints in the UK, Ernie Larton of LAD fame was involved with it during its time with Mr Bridges. After this we dont know who had it or what it was used for , it was used in Ireland briefly before going into early retirement. About 10 years ago there was an attempt to race it in Mondello but it failed scrutiny and ended up being sold to Des Moore who sold the race engine and Jack Knight box from it and it remained in his yard until my mate bought it.
Any info or details of Derek Bridges or this car would be appreciated

[andy998imp]

you may want to try the imp club
http://www.theimpclub.co.uk/

theres a lot of racers over there who may well be able to help.

[davyboy]

Col Rooney is Dan Rooney's son and he races Dan's old yellow and blue Imp here in the UK. He's 10-10ths subscriber and we were actually discussing Dan's car about a week ago on one of the threads. His user name is 'Col Rooney', you could PM him, I'm sure he or Dan would know more about this car.

[Alan Morgan]

Check out the New Davrian Register website

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...G/homepage.htm

There is also a good book about the history of Davrian

"From Davrian to Darrian" by Martyn Jones

Tim Duffee of Darrian Cars might also be able to help as he was also involved with Davrian

Good Luck!

[johnh875]

Martyn Jones is a member of the Imp Club I am pretty sure, and participates on the club forums. I think that is the best place to start for an answer, there is a lot of knowledge there.

[peespeed]

My friend has been in contact with the Imp club and has been talking to Tim Duffee, it was Tim who told him that the car was one of the last made, he has also got some body parts from Tim to put the car back into a near original spec as it had been butchered a few times over the years. i'll go onto the Imp and Davrian sites and try find a bit moore info, thanks for your help so far

[driftwood]

over on the mainland there was a family racing cars at donington who had been sprinters & hillclimbers
the youngest son raced a maguire stilleto i cannot recall if he had a davrian Imp but he did have a davrian as well
his name is tony bridges and the father may hav ebeen the pilot of the davrian Imp as they came from burnley
flower or fruit veg traders i recall as they had to get up early for work
Nick raced clubmans- they raced as DBA racing
father was doug i recall maybe this will shed some lihght on things
have u asked ernie larton for info
Ron hands is another to contact he was Imp sprint/ hillclimber now doing gbox rebuilds

[MONDELLO MAN]

The car could be the Dingos Imp which was hillclimbed in N Ireland ,many years ago bodywork as David Halls Davrian Imp , the drivers name was Terry( cant remember his sirname ), Iam sure it will come to me.

[ian.stewart]

Not really part of the thread, but it is Davrian/Imp related and may help fill in part of the early history, We had for a little while, what I think was the First Davrian Imp, we bought it from Simon Sable as a special saloon, to compete in the Kent Messenger or Wendy Wools series, when we bought it, it was I beleive the Brands 1000cc lap record holder, as it came with no engine George Bevan wes dragged out of retirement to build an engine for it, I dont think I have ever met such a nice man, a real old school GENT. The driver was a Terry Mitchel from Grove Park, never did very well with the car, the car was eventually totaled ayt Lydden Hill on the last lap of a WW race, running third, yhe throttle stuck wide open and the car hit Mabbs Bank flat out, I think all that was saveable was the engine and box,
Ian

[driftwood]

the car terry had was actually the john homewood car sable then had it for 1 season then mad terry raced it for a year
he stuffed the car racing my father- i cant recall the result but i believe somewhere we had a video of the event
Homewood had the 1st davrian imp as u said & won many races at Brands
rob mason drove it in 1 race and said the brakes where terrible and could not understand how john drove the car

i think 5 davrian imps where built but the body shape was use don other cars with space frame chassis
Fred hendy was Johns cousin and he had body on a tube chassis i think built in conjunction with Rawlson
i think steve holland ended up with that car