Group A Toyota Corolla History (merged)

[Eircamae86]

A few more pics of the car before going into hibernation, I have no idea when she may get a run out again, I have only had it out twice, got a whole 1/2 a Lap in at the 1st attempt before setting off the tracks noice monitors, Fitted a home made exhaust 2nd time out but its was too restrictive which resulted in dirty plugs every minute or two. The clocks now read 20 something Miles! I want to keep her 100% original & bring it out every now & again but I think that I am going to have to fit an exhaust system & engine management as the 1986 TRD E-Prom ECU is a little out of date. Toda do an N1 exhaust which couples to the standard ae86 Manifold. Time will tell.
Here is a few bits if they are of interest, excuse the rims but I didnt want to let brand new Tyres go flat under her.

[Eircamae86]

Theres is also another Catalogue called the TRD Bible Levin/Trueno that shows alot of parts inc GPA stuff, havent seen it in a few years must ask my mate if he still has his.

[davyboy]

To throw this wide open, I think there's far more Group A AE86s around than we imagine. I spent the summer of 1990 in Japan and there were plenty of fully-kitted out Group A AE86 Corollas on the road. I came across one such example in Chiba prefecture and had a proper look around the car... there was no question it was Group A spec. albeit with road tyres and the guy driving it was quite happy to show me the full extent of the mods undertaken. There was clearly one or more outfits cranking these things out to kids rich enough to afford them.

Therefore I think if we're to begin cataloguing those with a racing history, we'll need to be pretty careful about authentication.

[Eircamae86]

Originally Posted by davyboy

To throw this wide open, I think there's far more Group A AE86s around than we imagine. I spent the summer of 1990 in Japan and there were plenty of fully-kitted out Group A AE86 Corollas on the road. I came across one such example in Chiba prefecture and had a proper look around the car... there was no question it was Group A spec. albeit with road tyres and the guy driving it was quite happy to show me the full extent of the mods undertaken. There was clearly one or more outfits cranking these things out to kids rich enough to afford them.

Therefore I think if we're to begin cataloguing those with a racing history, we'll need to be pretty careful about authentication.

To this day there are many ae86 only Tuning shops in Japan, & 1000s of very well sorted road/race/drift cars on the road + they have the N2 Race series which allows almost any mod so long as a 4age NA is used, this can be 16 or 20v version, They also have or had? an N1 race series which would be very similar to GpA.

[terryobeirne]

The Japanese Group N1 regs were not the same as GpA and the cars did not interchange. For example, the orignal N1 spec AE86's had near stock brakes, no injection (webers), flares, huge spoilers etc.

If one looks at the homolgation papers, there are a few items that relate only to the GpA rally cars, but generally they were very close to the GpA tarmac cars. One of my AE86's started as a GpA rally car (1984) then was converted to circuit use (1985-93), and back to rally (93-2000) , and is now going back to its GpA circuit spec !!!!!!!!!

The Chowini car is typical of many Jap built cars of that era. They built what they "thought" was OK, but they flaunted/mis-read the rules and often got into trouble when cars raced outside japan. For example, just from the specs given, things have been changed that were never allowed in GpA , eg TRD conrods, TODA flywheel.

The AE86 is still a cult car in japan and has a huge following here with the youth in Australia. There are several GpA "copies", but they lack the detail and of course, have no history. None of them would ever be able to historic race here as the Historic log-book rules are very strict. Thankfully, several genuine GpA cars survive here, and all have well-documented history.

[KA]

Originally Posted by terryobeirne

The Chowini car is typical of many Jap built cars of that era. They built what they "thought" was OK, but they flaunted/mis-read the rules and often got into trouble when cars raced outside japan. For example, just from the specs given, things have been changed that were never allowed in GpA , eg TRD conrods, TODA flywheel.

That's interesting point Terry- I was reading a piece in an old Autosport a while back looking at the early days of the Japanese Group A scene (in a 1985-ish issue), and one of the issues commented on was the surprising speed of the local 1600cc Hondas and Toyotas.... (there's a comment about the Honda Civics almost being able to hang onto a 635 in a straight line! )


From memory, at the 1987 Fuji WTCC round- which had a very big 1600 class entry, (something around 20 cars) the Hodgetts Corolla, which had been amongst the fastest 1600s in Europe all season, found themselves way off the pace of the local cars in the class...

[jd yort]

Originally Posted by KA

Some great stuff here- the Japanese and Macau Corollas have always been a bit of a mystery to me as we didn't hear much about them in the UK- I have got a model kit (Fujimi 1/25 scale- fairly crude as it seems to be designed to take a motor) of the Object T/Trampio car- seem to remember there being a pair of these with different versions of the striped livery- one blue, the other green

I can't believe I still have these...

[terryobeirne]

I recall Bob Holden saying that when he went to TRD in 1984, he was horrified at what they had prepared as their 1st GpA car, and it was never going to pass our scrutineering with too many non-homologated things and changes. I beleive the first Japanese TRD built Corolla sent here in 1985 also needed major revisions before it could race, but I was not involved in that 1st hand, so its hearsay.
I was fixing a GpA Supra recently and it still had many non-homolgated parts and that was they way they all were. it was a game of chance!!
with cars like the Supra, there were so few of them, it was a fair bet the scrutinners would never pick-up a subtle change. With the more common cars like the Corollas, as soon as one got a lot faster or sharper in the handling, everyone went to look at it in the pits to find out what had been changed. either the change was quietly reversed, or it was copied, depending on the sentiments of the day.
one of my TOMS GpA cars, had its battery in the boot from new. that was not allowed in GpA but over 6 years of GpA racing in Europe, UK , NZ and Australia, no-one ever forced that to change.

[KA]

At the end of 87, Autosport published a piece by Tiff Needell comparing the CHME rwd AE86 and the fwd car raced by TOM'S GB- Tiff had raced both cars during the course of the season.

It gives some background to the TOM'S project, which might be worth repeating here. TOM'S GB was set up to run limited F3 and Group A programmes, as part of a plan to expand TOM'S activities into Europe above their existing deals to supply F3 engines. The touring car side of the outfit was very small- one person working on the project full-time and a number of part-timers. Car and engines were supplied from Japan, with only time for a half-day test at Snetterton, before a debut at the BTCC round supporting the British GP.

[KA]

Originally Posted by KA

It also describes the Oulton BTCC 1 hour race where Tiff and Chris shared both Hodgetts Corollas in the race, as mentioned earlier in the thread. Apparently, Win Percy (otherwise sharing Graham Goode's Sierra) also qualified in the Corollas as a back-up in case the demon pitstop plan (basically, circulate in close company up to the pit stop, pit together and swap cars) went pear-shaped...

A bit more detail on the Oulton race, in Needell's own words...

Originally Posted by Tiff Needell, Autosport 31/12/87

'...my only victory came in the opposition's GT Coupe when Chris decided to run two cars for two drivers in a two-driver, 30 lap race around Oulton Park! With a compulsory driver change, and his championship secure, Chris decided to have a bit of fun. We qualified his two cars first and second in class -10th and 11th overall and qualified Win Percy as a reserve (in case the masterplan went wrong) as Win was doing the first half of the race in Graham Goode's Sierra.
With three-way radio between myself, Chris and Dave Lampitt, we planned to run 10 laps nose-to-tail and then dive into the pits to swap cars- Simple as long as we could stay nose-to-tail! Gerry Marshall tried to spoil our fun, as I got in front at the start and he slotted in behind me in Geoff Kimber-Smith's GT Coupe. After some fairly frantic action, Chris made it past Gerry and we pulled out some breathing space to put the plan back on target.
There was, however, a joker in the pack, as we had both started on wets and the track was rapidly drying...
Now the team was only kitted out with one set of air guns- which could easily service two cars pitting on different laps, but not two together. After much radio chatter, it was decided Chris would lead in and drive past our pit, while I would stop to have slicks put on my car- Unfortunately it wouldn't be mine after the driver change! Against all odds, the pitstop routine went exactly to plan and I led the class for half-a-dozen laps before Chris came piling past on his slicks (or my slicks!). First and second in class was in the bag, and Chris stormed forwards to take Needell and Hodgetts to an excellent third overall, while I slithered Hodgetts and Needell home in fifth- I'm not sure how many championship points they gave us, but we certainly had a bit of fun!'

[GBRM]

Just to add to the very interesting above; Geoff K-S and Dad qualified 13th and finished 3rd in class, 9th overall.

N.B. Does anyone know the date of the race? all I can find is the above and it was September.

[Jesper OH]

Originally Posted by GBRM

Just to add to the very interesting above; Geoff K-S and Dad qualified 13th and finished 3rd in class, 9th overall.

N.B. Does anyone know the date of the race? all I can find is the above and it was September.

22 August is the date I have for that race.

Jesper

[GBRM]

Brilliant - thank you Jesper.

[Eircamae86]

[Eircamae86]

side exit exhaust out the drivers side,



Have some new pics in the pipeline just waiting for the permission of the lad you has them to get back to me.

[bigears]

Wow! Very interesting photos there.

It is a rarity to see some BTCC cars, even in the wholesale market!

There was a story that Nick Whale did take part in the BTCC qualifying session but the entry list never mentioned his name or what car he drove. Although he had a BMW M3 for a smaller saloon championship (series name escapes me)

Geoff Kimber-Smith drove for AGK Motorsport in his Toyota Corolla and DNQ in 26th position during the BTCC Birmingham round.

[andy_b]

With the help of Ericamae, I was able to write a little feature on his car on Speedhunters.com. Most of it has already been seen on here, but its all together if you need it.

The image above in B&W is one of the official press images. I have a larger resolution if you are interested

[Eircamae86]

More to come

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb198/AE86forums/gp4-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb198/AE86forums/gp3-1.jpg[/IMG]

[Eircamae86]

Sorry about the 2 posts above, had no control over them, had to await the mods approval or something. If there is a mod on here please tidy-up/delete my post

[Eircamae86]

[Eircamae86]

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Eircamae86

I think that's the best picture I've seen of an AE86... in fact one of the best touring car pictures period. Thanks for posting it.

[KA]

Chris Hodgetts/Andrew Bagnall at Wellington, early '87 I think?

[Jesper OH]

Pretty sure you're right, KA, but who's racing the AE82 in the back ground?

Jesper

[bigears]

Originally Posted by Eircamae86

BTCC

Whose car is it?

Nick Whale or Dave Loudoun?

In my 1988 BTCC entry list at the Birmingham Superprix, it was listed as Dave Loudoun for CHMS. But in the Motoring News article, it mentions of Nick Whale just making through qualifying for the race.