TOYOTA COROLLA WRC
This chassis was shorter, wider and with a shorter wheelbase compared to the Celica model, which made it more agile and more stable
1997
YEAR
4
RACES WON
1
Brand Championchip
OVERVIEW
Being one of the world’s leading automakers, Toyota has always had an active presence in motorsports, especially in the World Rally where it achieved numerous international successes. In the mid-eighties it surprised everyone with its three consecutive victories in the very difficult and demanding Safari Rally of Kenya: the Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo RWD won there in 1984, 1985 and 1986.
1988 would be the year of the debut of the legendary Celica GT Four 4WD with which they would win two World Constructor´s Championships, four for drivers and twenty-nine WRC competitions. It was the first Japanese brand to win the category title.
After a brief impasse, Toyota officially returned to World Rallying in 1998 to compete with the new Corolla model. A large number of hours were necessary to adapt the vehicle to the WRC technical regulations. Everything had to be developed from a street version chassis and modified because there weren´t versions with all-wheel drive or turbo in the catalogue.
Toyota had Didier Auriol and Carlos Sainz as official drivers. While the Corolla WRC was not as successful as the Celica – it only claimed four World Rally races – it gave the brand its third constructors’ title in 1999, thus closing the millennium in spectacular fashion.
It´s estimated that between 1997 and 1999, Toyota Team Europe built a total of fifty-seven Corolla WRCs: thirty-three were used by the factory team and the rest were sold to private teams. Unfortunately, in the middle of 1999, Toyota announced its withdrawal from the World Rally Championship to concentrate its efforts on Formula 1 and CART.
FULL DETAILS
This chassis was shorter, wider and with a shorter wheelbase compared to the Celica model, which made it more agile and more stable. Its excellent distribution of weights whose distribution was 54/46 also contributed to this. Another important feature implemented in the Corolla WRC was its enormous suspension travel, with a total of 20 centimeters that allowed it to obtain the best set-up for each type of terrain. The roll cage had required 48 meters of seamless steel tubing, resulting in 30% more rigidity than the Celica model.
The engine was powered by a turbocharged 1942 cc inline four-cylinder whose power was 300 hp. It was an evolution of the Celica Group A engine, although in this case with a high maximum speed of 7250 rpm. The XTrac gearbox was of the sequential type but also combined with the classic H-selector scheme.
GALLERY
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