Impakt!
crashes
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Not quite ready to go UE4 with IMP just yet. 
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Come on. Bring it over.
We’re ready.
Concluding the Impakt arc will be the most highly regarded of them all, the 1993 260R.
The 260R came around at a time when changing touring car regulations put an end to the legendary Group A era. The 4 cylinder Impakt TS was no longer competitive in the German Touring Car Championship, so for 1993 the Class 2 spec Impakt C2 Supertouring was devised. The Class 2 regulations demanded a 2.5L V6 engine, which presented IMP who have always campaigned the inline layout with a unique problem. IMPs only previous V6 engine was a medium displacement diesel engine devised for vans in the 1980s. By coincindence however IMP had bought a small bankrupt American manufacturer that had specialised in the V6 layout back in 1981 -LaVache. A few years prior LaVache had introduced an all-new medium displacement V6 in the 1989 Skywarp. A high output quad-cam variant with 24V was also part of this family. As a result LaVache did most of the work on the new racing V6, loosely based on the Skywarp RT4 S engine.
The RT4 S V6 was a 3.6L unit that was capable of producing 282hp @ 6800rpm, impressive for any car of the era, but nowhere near the specifications it needed to be competitive. The block was debored and machined for less weight, a short throw crankshaft fitted, and the valvetrain was completely overhauled to allow engine speeds beyond 11000rpm. The competition engine was in the region of ~410hp, but fitted to the by then over ten year old Impakt chassis the car was a mid-field competitor at best, especially compared to the dominant, all-wheel-drive Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI. THAT shortcoming would be solved by late 1994.
The truly amazing part of this story though is the fact IMP actually put the race car into series production. This meant the engine had to be tamed to be street legal and meet global emission standards. Very little had actually been changed apart from different camshafts, softer valve springs, a more restrictive exhaust with catalytic converter and mufflers and leaner fuel mixture. The road legal engine produced 263hp and 269Nm, paired to the original Getrag 5-speed Dogleg sports transmission and installed in a 1992 spec Impakt TS DTM body sans the roll-cage and a stripped production interior. Because of homologation reasons 5000 of these cars were made. Not at all surprisingly these cars were notoriously demanding to maintain, with mandatory engine rebuilds every 100.000km, which cost nearly as much as the cars themselves. More often than not the engines would fail long before that. This however only added to the mythos and appeal of the 260R, which is regarded as the crowing achievement of IMPs most iconic era.
The 260R was available in three colours.
1993-1995 Impakt 260R
Engine: IMP QB-25G [LaVache 6V93R] 60° DOHC 24V V6, Aluminium Block and Cylinder Head, Bore x Stroke 89x66,3mm, total displacement 2499cc, Compression ratio 11,5:1, 263hp @ 7300rpm & 269Nm @ 6400rpm, Engine redline 9100rpm, Wet weight 134kg
Chassis and body: 4-door Saloon, corrosion resistant steel monocoque and body panels, with kevlar bonnet, bootlid and front fenders.
Double wisbone suspension with coil springs front and rear, four-wheel vented disc brakes with ABS.
Curb weight 1180kg, Weight distribution 54/46 F/R
Performance: 0-100kph 5.2s, 0-160kph 11.6s, 1/4mile in 13.5s @ 173kph, Top Speed 254kph
100-0kph braking distance 29,33m.
Price (1993): DM 97,650
Units made: 5026
A successor with a heavily reengineered 2.6L engine was launched in 1996.
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Yes, more luxury cars built in good old Kee. Let the eyerolling commence, it’s yet another Opera! Two, actually.
The original IMP Opera was first presented at the 1975 Paris Autosalon. It had the difficult task of replacing not only the legendary F65 (Somebody please make an Ro80 body) but also the monstrous L6. While it completely failed at being an executive sedan (the 1978 F78 Magnum would fill that role rather better), Everything looked like the Opera would become yet another attempt at gaining a foothold in the highest tier of the market. In truth it was somewhere in between. Initially thought to be available with either the 3.0L I6 of the F65 or the 4.0L V8 of the L6, a 4.6L V8 with 285hp made it clear that this was to become a full luxury car.
The only true innovation of the original Opera was its four-speed automatic transmission, one of the first of it’s kind. Curiosly though despite nominal identical output, a better power to weight ratio and the advanced transmission the 5.0L L6 was still faster in both acceleration and top speed.
And the inferiority to the best car IMP had yet produced was not the only shortcoming. Many people criticized its stubby looking front end that led to slightly ungainly proportions. This would only be fixed in 1984, when IMP, in a stroke of genius, launched a massive 4.0L Inline 6 Turbodiesel with 155hp that required an elongated front end, that gave the Opera a distinction from it’s main rival, the Zavir Squalo II. At the time no other car could offer an engine of this caliber, and it gave the Opera a significant boost in fuel economy. The 400D was so successful that itmade up 1/3 of the total sales of all models despite a short three-year production run.
In 1987 the outdated brick was replaced by the thoroughly modern and clean-cut L87 Opera. Designed with heavy use of CAD and the latest of technologies it was easily the most radical generational change of any IMP. 
Highlights included: 300kg less weight, a fully galvanised chassis making rust a thing of the past, a 0.29cd making it capable of 150+mph depending on the engine, an electronically controlled 4-speed automatic transmission, optional all-wheel drive and self-levelling air suspension, traction control, on-board-diagnostics, the 5.6L V8 with 330hp, the 175hp 4.0L Turbodiesel, the limited production 1990 Opera S1 which combined AWD with Air Suspension and a 381hp 3.9L Twin-Turbo 32V V8, and finally Satellite Navigation as an option starting in 1992.
The L87 was not only the fastest selling Opera (the L95 with its FOURTEEN year production run would best it in total sales), but it firmly and finally established IMP as a major force outside of the Truck manufacturing business. The 1980s are generally regarded as IMPs golden era, and the L87 was the technological pinnacle of this brand defining decade.
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I’ll just use the IMP thread for this.
I am currently lacking the energy to do much with what I’ve built up, which is why I’ll be drastically reducing creative output for the next few weeks. This past year has arguably been my most productive, in no small part thanks to the flood of Autoshows. But in the past few months I’ve really only been filling up the company catalogues with mostly historic cars. In fact the only significant “new” cars launched by me this year outside of those autoshows were the 2018 Magnum and Meteor/Saturn SUVs. The launch of the UE4 version did so far not present me with enough material to explore new concepts. Overall it’s been a very conservative year I feel, which is ironic since my main company IMP/Monolith is incredibly conservative in it’s own right.
The updated IMP GT for your time.
For now, 
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I’ll carry on the diesel torch while you’re away. Do widzenia 
Okay, come back sooner or later! 
Spierdalaj s moej zhiemi!
I mean… See you around.
I am not going away at all, I’ll still be around and maybe even drop a few lore expansion posts, mostly centering around engines (hint), but no new cars for a while.
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Currently on leave, which means I have time to do the one thing I can’t. Explore the concept of Heavy Utility vehicles beyond the limits of the game. But how does one do it? I sure as hell can’t present any ingame content, as I am sure you’ll know that a man’s truck simply isn’t possible to make in game as there are no bodies suitable to pass for one (except maybe the cabover vans), dual rear wheels are not possible, and so is a Diesel engine with cylinder sizes far exceeding what is possible with the engine designer.
Bear with me this one is going to be text heavy. A short history of IMPs heavy trucks until 1978. Why 1978? Because 1978 was the year heavy utility vehicles were moved to the Monolith brand and because IMP was quite experimental until then which resulted in countless weird, wonderful and world moving innovations and Concepts.
Part I
IMP was created in 1913 by a former DMG (a predecessor of Daimler Benz) engineer as a third party constructor and manufacturer of internal combustion engines for a variety of purposes. Being based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, first successes were found in repairing and building marine engines. In 1915 IMP absorbed the local truck manufacturer Nahber-Friedemann-Werke*, gaining access to their production facilities. The escalating great war nearby resulted in high production numbers of the unchanged Nahber-Friedemann until 1918. During 1919 work on modernizing the outdated trucks with new frames and IMP designed engines. The 1921 IMP La3t 45 was therefore the first true IMP truck, with a 3 ton payload and a 50hp 4.5L engine. A 5 ton version with a 5.2L engine followed in 1923. That year however french troops invaded the area and seized the nearby coal mines, causing the german government to literally print money which resulted in a hyperinflation of the Reichsmark currency. IMP however managed to survive the chaos and continued to expand, culminating in a 7-ton truck with a 9L six-cylinder petrol engine in 1929.
In the meantime highly efficient high-speed Diesel engines began to pop up all over the place and IMP had their own ready in 1932, a 9.4L six-cylinder with pre-chamber injection and 85hp. Smaller 6.9L and 5.5L diesel engines appeared in 1933, just as a historical change of leadership would change germany forever. Not bothered by politics (yet), the Diesel engines proved so successful that gasoline engines were phased out by the end of the decade. Other innovations were the introduction of four-wheel drive in 1935 for construction and mining companies (later found to be useful in the rasputiza of the russian wilderness) and the flagship 10-ton WK series in 1937 with an overhead-cam, 190hp 13.8L Inline 8 Diesel with an optional Roots-type supercharger.
The remilitarization of Germany was highly beneficial for IMP, who had become the country’s second largest manufacturer of trucks by 1938, and even attempted to break into the passenger car market with the highly advanced L8 and L12 in 1937. Of course come the outbreak of WW2 all production was military-only, making extensive use of forced labour by POWs and Concentration camp prisoners. IMPs leadership, while officially aligned with the regime, believed that a high quality of the product could only be achieved by a healthy workforce, and at least tried to ensure human working conditions for everyone without raising attention. At last an in-house coup in 1943 ousted the old leadership and working conditions took a drastic turn for the worse. Coincidentally so did the quality of the finished trucks. In the later stages of the war the main Factory was a popular travel destination for allied bombers. By May 8th 1945, production had all but stopped.
Shortly after, now under british rule and with the pre-1943 leadership reinstated, production recommenced with heavy damages to the facility and severe shortage of raw materials. Down to two models, the 1 1/2 ton VK and the 3-ton NK, IMPs trucks were a valuable asset for rebuilding the country. 1947 saw the introduction of the 5- and 7-ton RK series with new OHV Inline 6 or Inline 8 engines and up to 140hp. The RK was a massive success that was also exported globally and even received a redesign in 1955.
From leftover US trucks IMP managed to secure and dissect a number of GM Diesel two-stroke engines. An IMP reverse engineered 4-71 engine was introduced in 1949. From that point on all existing Diesel engines were quickly replaced by two-stroke Uniflow engines ranging from a 3.0L Inline four to a 10L Inline 8 with over 250hp. Two stroke Diesels would become a mainstay of IMPs trucks until changing customer demands spelled an end to them in 1969, with the last one commercially sold in 1964. From then on IMP would reintroduce an all new line of direct injection four-stroke Diesels with optional Turbocharging.
During all this IMP had cooperated with the competitor Büssing to develop an underfloor engined cab over truck like this example:
The idea behind the underfloor engine was quite ingenious, the engine tiled 90° and mounted far behind the cab removed the heat and most of the noise being emitted into the cabin by a traditional standing engine (especially advantageous for IMPs legendarily noisy two-strokes!), it allowed for a more spacious cab with a flat floor and low entry sills, and removed the need for a tilting mechanism of the cab as the engine was perfectly acessible for maintenance work. Finally the considerably lowered center of gravity resulted in excellent road holding. It also allowed for this:
Büssing Supercargo, a mid 1960s prototype using the flat engine concept to its full advantage and use the entire length of the truck as cargo area. I’ve seen this thing in person last year, odd-looking to say the least, lower than most cars and probably an absolute monster on the racetrack.
However the mid-engine design was unsuitable for all-wheel drive and other trucks designed for off-road usage, as the engine and its accessories were totally unprotected against dirt, weather, salt and other evil stuff you don’t want on your engine, it was also not possible to use this design for articulated semi-trailer trucks due to the short length of the traction engine. The IMP underfloor engine was therefore only available on rigid long-wheelbase lorries, which made it unfeasible for mass production. It was in production from 1959 to 1964, when a new range of conventional COEs was launched with the new four stroke engines.
*Nahber-Friedemann-Werke is a fictional company made up to expand the lore, any similarities to existing companies are unintentional
Conclusion of Part I. Part II to follow, going a bit more in-depth on the four-stroke 400D15 engines and the S64 and S76 heavy Cabovers that carried them and made IMP the true King of the Road. In the meantime I’ll also be swinging my artistic sword to give you even more reading pleasure with Illustrations and technical information.
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1948 Advertisement for the IMP RK5-110, which featured a 5.5L Inline 6 engine with overhead valves, pre-chamber injection and 107hp, the most powerful 5-tonner available at the time. Power is sent to either the rear or all four wheels through a partially synchronized 5-speed gearbox. It had a top speed of 80kph and more importantly consumed just 19.1L of furnace oil per every 100km (this equates to 12mpg US). The entire first series of the RK line would sell ~58.000 units from 1947 to 1955.
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Thank god I made these screenshots before the latest update.
Impakt Super in Impact Red, which starts life as Pink and gets turned into an energetic cherry red by adding ten coats of translucent deep red.
This is the first fully fledged UE4 IMP, the 2018 Impakt with the new 2.25L I6. Those who’ve clicked the link in the previous post know what that means. This Impakt offers unprecedented variety in terms of powertrain options.
Between 175 and 324hp, each engine available with a 7MT or 8AT, RWD or AWD, standard mechanical LSD, optional air suspension on the Impakt Super. No trim levels, each Impakt is fully custiomizable. Naturally also in Station Wagon bodystyle. The 2.3 and 3.4L Diesel engines with 160-320hp are unchanged, and so is the S1 with its older 3.8L V8 and 435hp. A few retouches to the styling round it all up.
2017 Impakt for comparison:
If the 260R-Concept shown at this year’s LA Auto Show will make it to production has yet to be decided.
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What a way to make an Impakt! OK, so the latest update has rendered this remaster non-canon, but it still looks and feels as good as it did in Kee.
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Kan’t Remember A …
@stm316 Consider it a riddle that requires studying the company history to correctly identify.
But of course. I am starting to feel that this is becoming my Scarlet Mk.3. Some inappropriate music:
Any lore based changes due to the switch? Not really, only a 2.5L I6 base Diesel with 160hp available from launch (1995), and the Montblanc Off-Road package (4WD, height adjustable air suspension, locking center and rear differentials, low range transmission), formerly 4SW, has been reduced to the 400D and 380S Station Wagons. Also no 5.8 or 6.0 V8 on Station wagons, only the peasant 370hp 5.0 V8
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It’s no Ro80, but the Belvedere body fits perfectly with the design language established by the C-Body based Mk.III L6 of Kee origins.
The 1966 F65 is the successor to the 1960 F60 Europa, and retained most of its engines in a far more advanced chassis. A 1.7 and 1.9L SOHC Inline 4, a 2.7L OHV I6 and a 2.3L OHV I6 Diesel, as well as the 3.1L SOHC I6 for the Super trim. Later on the Super also got the option for the Fuel injected 3.6L G-Type V8 from the L6.
What made the F65 stand out from other european executive cars of the time was not its very american coke bottle styling or its unique V8 option, but its transaxle chassis with fully independent double wishbone suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. This was obviously done to serve the sole purpose of increasing traction in difficult weather conditions such as snow and thus safety but had the side effect of giving excellent handling for a car its size and weight. As a result the robust F65 became a darling of the transcontinental rallying scene.
It was also a very successful car despite the high price tag, selling nearly a million units until it was replaced by the F76 Magnum in 1977. Other bodystyles included a 5-door Station wagon and the Monolith V-350 Van with a conventional RWD layout and live rear axle.
The F65’s formula was deemed so good that all subsequent IMP passenger cars have adopted the transaxle layout and use it to this day.
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