Toyota rallies back into competition with new Corolla

By Neil McDonald

TOYOTA will use its new fire-breathing Corolla rally car to spearhead its attack on next year's world championship.

It will be the first time a Corolla has been used as the company's number-one rally weapon.

The 2.0-liter 223kW four-wheel drive intercooled turbo pocket rocket will replace Toyota's Celica GT4s, which have campaigned successfully on the international circuit for years. The Corolla develops 510Nm of torque at 4000rpm.

Australian rally star and triple Australian rally champion Neal Bates will drive the Corolla in Rally Australia starting in Perth from October 30.

The car will also feature in the Indonesian stage of the world championship from Sept. 17 to Sept. 21.

Because Toyota is still riding out its two-year rally ban, the Corolla will contest the remaining rounds of this year's championship as a development exercise, in readiness for next year's campaign.

Toyota was banned because of illegal turbocharger modifications that gave its cars a performance edge in competition.

Rallying new cars as prototype, or development machines is not new. Ford did it with its Escort RS Cosworth in the early 1990s.

While borrowing some of the GT4s rally design, the Corolla is definitely a new beast.

It is lighter and shorter than the Celica and has much shorter front and rear overhangs. Toyota claims the Corolla is also not only the first transverse world rally car but the most advanced to date.

Visually, the two-door car has an aggressive front snout, using the mesh grille, headlight design and overall body shape of the new Euro-Corolla. There have also been a host of body-shell changes to accommodate the four-wheel drive system and new rear suspension.

Careful attention has been paid to the car's aerodynamics and weight distribution.

The prototype was tested twice in a wind tunnel in the Netherlands.

The aim was to balance down force front and rear, to ensure it remained consistent at high and low speeds and to promote good cooling in the tightly packed engine bay.

The results were impressive, with about 60 percent of the available down force on the front. Careful attention to weight distribution has produced a split of 54.6/45.4 front-to-rear with the crew on board.

At first, Toyota engineers thought the car would be too nervous on fast stages because of its short wheelbase of 2,465mm.

However, their concerns proved groundless as the car performed strongly in all test circumstances. They now say the car will be the most nimble, manageable four-wheel drive Toyota rally car of all.

Suspension is by conventional MacPherson struts all round, with Ohlins damping. However, track widths have been tailored to the conditions.

The Corolla's six-speed sequential transmission is also new.

It features a special gearbox produced by X-trac to Toyota specifications.

Unlike its predecessor, the six-speed sequential box can be operated via a "joystick" on the steering column that changes gears electronically.

Gear-change time is twice as fast as the best manual change with a conventional H-pattern gearbox, thus enabling the driver to make the best use of the engine's power band.

The transmission is designed to take almost any differential.

At present, the car is fitted with a fixed center-diff, from which the percentage of torque to the rear axle is controlled by a "hang on clutch" which was evolved successfully on the Celica.

The front differential is electronically controlled.

And while the transversely mounted engine is derived from the Celica's proven 2.0-liter turbo unit with the same bore and stroke, rally rules permit significant improvements.

Inlet and exhaust manifolds are free, which means it has a wider power and torque range.

Ultimately, all this technology is no good without good packaging.

This is one where Toyota engineers believe the Corolla will have an edge.

They say it will be easy to service -- a vital requirement at championship level -- where servicing is rigorously controlled.

Toyota's own testing has found that key components can be changed as fast as they could be on the bigger Celica.

Naturally, further developments are in the pipeline, even though the Corolla has undergone 2,500km of flat-out testing and evaluation in Greece, Spain, Finland and France.

The verdict from Toyota?

One insider said: "It is superior to its predecessors in all respects."

Meanwhile, the out-going Celica has earned its place in rallying history. It has provided Toyota with many years of rallying success since the mid-1970s.

A Celica GT4 made its first world championship appearance on the Tour of Corsica in 1988 and proved capable of challenging the all-conquering Lancias from the start, setting new standards of handling and sophistication for four-wheel drives in the 1980s.

Toyota's first win in the GT4 at the world-class level was in the 1989 Rally Australia, when Juha Kankkunen and Kenneth Eriksson swept to first and second places.

Bjorn Waldegard, scored a victory in the 1990 Safari Rally that marked the turning of the tide for the GT4. Toyota proved that the car was tough enough to copy with any conditions and any opposition.

Within two months of that victory, Carlos Sainz had scored his first victory in a world championship round in the Acropolis rally.

By the end of the seasons, after a titanic struggle with Lancia, Sainz had added three more wins, including the 1000 Lakes and the British RAC, to become world champion.

In 1991 Toyota had another six wins, including the first Monte Carlo victory for a Japanese manufacturer, courtesy of Sainz.

The very next year, the Spanish star regained his world title, another four wins, earning him the crown at the last gasp in a Celica Turbo 4WD.

Now it's up to the Celica's baby brother to take charge.