The official IMP Automobile Thread - 1979 GSX V8

[Awildgermanappears]

I am currently not in the mood to continue my company development chronologically, so here is something more... different?

During the late 1980s, IMP decided that their cars were lacking a key element that differentiated them from everybody else. During the 1970s and 1980s the cars had become somewhat stale and lacking the progressive and/or quirky engineering that made IMP stand out during the 1950s and 1960s. To change that IMP canceled all its motorsport activites and invested over $850 million (in todays money) and their best engineers in the "Project LF", which should not only differentiate IMP from other car makers, but also combine the advantages of RWD and FWD in a special chassis. Project LF eventually resulted in two modular platforms for small and mid sized cars which hit the market during the second half of the 1990s...

(This is a teaser of sorts)

[Awildgermanappears]

In 1997, IMPs LF platform was released. The LF was short for "Longitudinal Front Wheel Drive". The idea of this platform was to combine the neutral handling and steering without drivetrain influences of an RWD Vehicle with the low weight, space efficiency and snow traction of front wheel drive. Mounting the engine longitudinally also allowed the engineers narrow down the engine bay which gave the front tires more steering lock, reducing the turning circle. In order to keep the front overhang short, a completely new modular engine family had to be developed. This was to be the IMP "V" engine. As the name suggests this was a family of 90° V4 and V6 engines with four valve cylinder heads and balance shafts for smoothness. The first car to be built on the LF platform was the IMP Aries.


It was available with three engines. The base model had a 1.4L V4 producing 105hp that enabled a 0-60 time of 9.5s, a top speed of 118mph and 37 miles per gallon.
The mid range model had a 1.7L V4 with 130hp, good for 0-60 in 8.5s, 129mph and 35mpg. Finally there was a performance version with a 2.0L V6, 165hp, a close ratio 6-speed manual transmission and a limited slip differential. It only did 29mpg but that was the price to pay if you wanted your Aries to be a proper Hot Hatch. Because of all this engineering the price was quite high for a Supermini, and the Aries became something of a niche competitor, that nevertheless outperformed any other car in its class and even rivalled some of the established "big" hot hatchbacks.

[Awildgermanappears]

Chill mates, its just a concept and hardly as extreme as certain others. Enter the 2009 IMR Magnus Sport Concept.

The premise: Due to fuel prices hitting all time highs, many people were asking if sportscars were actually politically correct in this day and age. IMRs answer was yes. You just had to make them smaller, lighter and more economical. IMR therefore went to prove their theory, and developed a compact high-tech sports car not too different from a Lotus Exige. It used many materials and techniques from aircraft manufacturing and motorsports, with an all-composite construction, a carefully engineered body with high levels of downforce and a low drag coefficient as well as an experimental 1.5L Twin-Turbo four cylinder engine with 295hp.

Sending the power to the rear wheels was the transmission from some diesel hatchback. The suspension and brakes meanwhile were adapted from the IMR P500 open-wheel race cars but with more robust shock absorbers and adjusted to the increased weight so it wasn't completely undriveable.

The result weighed just 880kg, which they achieved by NOT giving it functional infotainment and safety equipment, could get from 0-60 in just 3.3sec and could reach 175mph, while returning 40mpg in the NEDC. If it were built in this form however it'd cost over $700,000. It was in the truest sense of the word a proof of concept vehicle nowhere near a production ready state.

[DeusExMackia]

Well those headlights certainly look good!

[squidhead]

What's the driveability rating on one of those? That engine probably runs only in foot to the floor mode, like an on-off button. Should be tricky

[Awildgermanappears]

What's the driveability rating on one of those? That engine probably runs only in foot to the floor mode, like an on-off button. Should be tricky

It reaches full boost at 3900rpm, quite high indeed but it has a redline of 9000rpm which widens the powerband quite a bit. It's an experimental high performance engine after all. To be honest I was surprised it gets that kind of MPG despite the engine having horrible specific consumption at cruise RPM. Driveablity rating is 32 btw with a slightly oversteery suspension setup.

[Awildgermanappears]

Well those headlights certainly look good!

Sometimes simplicity is the key.

[Awildgermanappears]

Pretty much all cars made by IMP in the 1970s were in some form or another mostly just upgrades of the cars built in the 1960s. All but one that is.
In 1979 IMP launched something that was completely different from anything else they made at the time, because the 1979 GSX was the first IMP vehicle ever to feature front-wheel drive. Unlike most front-wheel driven cars the GSX was not a fuel sipping econobox, but a powerful sports saloon with a screaming DOHC Flatplane V8 engine loosely based on the existing Crossplane G-Series V8. Clearly the car was aimed at the North American market. Flatplane V8 engines are completely unique to the GSX, no other IMP Automobile was ever equipped with such an engine, at least from the factory. Another "feature" of the GSX was its deliberately unassuming appearance.
The first iteration of the GSX developed 240hp from 3.6L of displacement and equipped with a catalytic converter by factory.

From the start IMP knew that the GSX had a very small profit margin, nevertheless it had an unusually long production run as IMPs substitute Halo car with several updates along the way. The first of those upgrades happened in 1982. That year, the engine was enlarged to 4.1L and power increased to 270hp. 1982 was also the year in which an automatic transmission was added to the options list. The design meanwhile stayed unchanged.


The first major update happened in 1985. That year marked a defining moment for the GSX nameplate, as the Automatic model was now treated as a seperate car from the Manual. The Automatic model was tuned for comfort and refinement, whereas the Manual model had a stronger focus on performance than before. The main mechanical change however was the introduction of a new 32V V8 with electronic fuel injection. The Automatic equipped model had a slightly larger 4.5L engine, while the Manual retained the 4.1L capacity. Power for both models was identical at 307hp, but the 4.5 had better torque at low rpms while the 4.1 was more responsive and generally performed better above 5500rpm. A common modification for these engines are a 4.5 crankshaft and conrods paired with 4.1 heads and intake, a combination good for ~340hp. Accompanying the new engine was a mild facelift.


The final update came in 1990. The GSX received its first major visual facelift with a completely redesigned front end for better aerodynamics (0.37cd vs 0.41cd for pre-1990 cars) and
a slightly enlargened luggage compartement. The engine also received a mild revision, the 4.5L GSX L now produced 336hp while the GSX S made 346hp from 4.2L, thus making it the most powerful front wheel drive car in the world by a long way until the 2010 Ford Focus RS500.


In this form, the GSX stayed in production until 1995, when the second generation car was released. The original GSX had the longest production run of any IMP passenger car, but it only sold 23,664 units over the 16-year period.