VooDoo
04-09-2006, 10:10 PM
The Motorsport History of the Toyota Camry
http://www.custardcamry.com/
Racing History
Group B Rally
The early 1980s saw a category created specifically for manufacturers who wanted to show off their engineering capabilities; Group B was born. The Group B rally supercars quickly evolved into 500+ horsepower, four-wheel-drive chest-thumping beasts with space frames, kevlar bodywork, and many other high-tech pieces. The cars reached a point where many wondered if the drivers could not fully control them. For instance, the Lancia Delta S4 could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds on a gravel road. Henri Toivonen drove an S4 around Estoril, the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit, so quickly that he would have qualified sixth for the 1986 Portuguese Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell sampled a Peugeot 205 T16 and said it could out-accelerate his F1 car. And, perhaps most impressive (frightening?), the driver's reaction times were cut in half compared with previous rally cars. The Group B rally cars and their pilots were the stuff of which legends are made.
The motorsport history of the Camry starts back in 1983 at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland. This was the debut of Toyota’s Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye. The distinctive car utilized the basic bodyshape of the Camry Wagon, however the layout was completely changed. Like the Peugeot 205 T16, the Evolution Grp B featured a mid-mounted 2-litre turbocharged AND supercharged engine with in excess of 500bhp. It drove all wheels through a driver-controlled mechanical centre diff with settings for tarmac, dirt and ice-driving conditions.
Around 200 road-going Evolution Grp B Camry’s were made to satisfy homologation requirements. These had a de-tuned 2litre superturbo and were capable of 0-100kmh in around 3 seconds and a top speed of over 300kmh, depending on the diff ratio chosen.
But back to the racing. At its debut the Camry Evo Grp B, piloted by Juha Kankkunen, placed sixth after suffering some mechanical difficulties. Toyota and desert rally expert Bjorn Waldegard teamed up to win the Ivory Coast rally in October, 1983, on the Camry's second outing. However, the 1983 RAC rally was the real eye-opener for Toyota. The Camry was simply too good for its European opposition. Kankkunen described the car as having a “friendly character” and “drivability” not present in the other group B machines. After taking out the Monte Carlo rally and Rally Corsica in 1984, Kankkunen described his over-powered Camry wagon thus: “I just won two of the most technically challenging rallies on the calendar, defeating the Audis and Peugeots, yet I still expected my kids and their dog to jump out of the back when I pulled into service! It’s that sort of car!”
After bringing two constructors’ and two drivers’ championships to Toyota, the Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye was retired along with the rest of the Group B cars in 1986, making way for the Celica GT4 and a far more mundane assortment of World Rally competitors.
Toyota Camry at Le Mans
Following the cancellation of Group B rallying in 1986, Toyota decided to modify the Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye for track use. They made an assault on the 1987 Le Mans 24-hour race. The team of Ukyo Katayama, JJ Boschman and Lorenz Quentin placed third overall, behind the Porsches, easily winning their category.
Toyota returned to Le Mans the following year with a more streamlined prototype-car, based around the Camry Evo, aiming for overall victory. During qualifying, with JJ Boschman at the wheel at over 300kmh on the Mulsanne straight, the Toyota took off into the air. After several flips it landed on its wheels on the other side of the safety barrier. No one was seriously injured, but Toyota subsequently withdrew from the race.
Toyota Camry at Pikes Peak
At the same time as they were chasing success on the bitumen of Le Mans, Toyota were preparing for an assault on the dirt of Pikes Peak. A slightly modified Camry Evo Grp B took to the Colorado slopes in 1987, piloted again by Juha Kankkunen. Kankkunen slid the Camry around the course to first place, breaking the existing record by a full 20 seconds.
Toyota returned to Pikes Peak in 1988, this time with Lorenz Quentin at the wheel, but he was beaten by the more-powerful Peugeot 405 T16. Ari Vatinen drove the Peugeot spectacularly to a new course record.
Australian Touring Car Championship
The late eighties were a fantastic time for Toyota in Australian motorsport. With the release of the 2nd-generation SV21 Camry in 1987, including the Camry Gti Group A Touring variant, Toyota had a serious vehicle with which to challenge for the Australian Touring Car Championship.
The choice of the wagon variant of the Camry for racing was controversial, but not for Toyota. Wind-tunnel tests had proven that the wagon shape generated less drag and less lift. Interestingly, the Camry utilized boundary-layer turbulizers for the first time. These turbulizers, placed on the wagon’s roof in much the same configuration as roof-racks, generated turbulence in the boundary layer, delaying separation and significantly reducing drag. Toyota claimed the wagon fitted with turbulizers was good for 10kmh more speed down Conrod straight.
The Camry wagons wore the familiar Benson and Hedges sponsorship livery, with a Custard Yellow paint scheme contrasting with black logos. The majority of road-going Camry Gti Group A Touring models wore the same custard-yellow paint-scheme.
Mark Skaife, driving the Camry, placed first overall at 3 rounds of the 1987 Championship, battling hard against the Sierra Cosworths of Johnson and Bowe, and the VL Commodore of Brock. The climax of the 1987 season saw Skaife lead the Bathurst 1000 race in the Camry for 24 laps, before pitting and surrendering the lead to eventual winner Brock. This was enough, however, for Skaife to take out the 1987 drivers’ Championship.
Skaife returned with the Camry in 1988, placing second that year in the driver’s championship and second again at Bathurst.
Peter Brock drove the 2nd Factory-backed Camry in 1988 to fourth-place in the Championship after a fall-out with Holden over the “energy polarizer”.
Late in 1988 Toyota released a limited-run of 50 Brock Camry Gti Group A vehicles. These Camrys were almost identical to non-Brock models, except that they were fitted with the Energy Polarizer. The Polarizer featured strong permanent magnets and was claimed to improve the overall handling and performance of the car. It also enabled Brock Camrys to run their tyres at what would otherwise be dangerously-low pressures. Of the 50 Brock Camrys released, 40 wore the familiar custard-yellow paint scheme of the Benson and Hedges team, while the remaining 10 wore a less-conspicuous black.
With the introduction of the Skyline GTR “Godzilla” in 1989, the Toyota Camry Gti Group A Touring faded into the background and Toyota turned their focus to rallying and the Celica GT4.
The 80s truly were a magnificent time for the Toyota Camry.
http://www.custardcamry.com/
Racing History
Group B Rally
The early 1980s saw a category created specifically for manufacturers who wanted to show off their engineering capabilities; Group B was born. The Group B rally supercars quickly evolved into 500+ horsepower, four-wheel-drive chest-thumping beasts with space frames, kevlar bodywork, and many other high-tech pieces. The cars reached a point where many wondered if the drivers could not fully control them. For instance, the Lancia Delta S4 could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds on a gravel road. Henri Toivonen drove an S4 around Estoril, the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit, so quickly that he would have qualified sixth for the 1986 Portuguese Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell sampled a Peugeot 205 T16 and said it could out-accelerate his F1 car. And, perhaps most impressive (frightening?), the driver's reaction times were cut in half compared with previous rally cars. The Group B rally cars and their pilots were the stuff of which legends are made.
The motorsport history of the Camry starts back in 1983 at the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland. This was the debut of Toyota’s Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye. The distinctive car utilized the basic bodyshape of the Camry Wagon, however the layout was completely changed. Like the Peugeot 205 T16, the Evolution Grp B featured a mid-mounted 2-litre turbocharged AND supercharged engine with in excess of 500bhp. It drove all wheels through a driver-controlled mechanical centre diff with settings for tarmac, dirt and ice-driving conditions.
Around 200 road-going Evolution Grp B Camry’s were made to satisfy homologation requirements. These had a de-tuned 2litre superturbo and were capable of 0-100kmh in around 3 seconds and a top speed of over 300kmh, depending on the diff ratio chosen.
But back to the racing. At its debut the Camry Evo Grp B, piloted by Juha Kankkunen, placed sixth after suffering some mechanical difficulties. Toyota and desert rally expert Bjorn Waldegard teamed up to win the Ivory Coast rally in October, 1983, on the Camry's second outing. However, the 1983 RAC rally was the real eye-opener for Toyota. The Camry was simply too good for its European opposition. Kankkunen described the car as having a “friendly character” and “drivability” not present in the other group B machines. After taking out the Monte Carlo rally and Rally Corsica in 1984, Kankkunen described his over-powered Camry wagon thus: “I just won two of the most technically challenging rallies on the calendar, defeating the Audis and Peugeots, yet I still expected my kids and their dog to jump out of the back when I pulled into service! It’s that sort of car!”
After bringing two constructors’ and two drivers’ championships to Toyota, the Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye was retired along with the rest of the Group B cars in 1986, making way for the Celica GT4 and a far more mundane assortment of World Rally competitors.
Toyota Camry at Le Mans
Following the cancellation of Group B rallying in 1986, Toyota decided to modify the Camry GT4 Evolution Group B Rallye for track use. They made an assault on the 1987 Le Mans 24-hour race. The team of Ukyo Katayama, JJ Boschman and Lorenz Quentin placed third overall, behind the Porsches, easily winning their category.
Toyota returned to Le Mans the following year with a more streamlined prototype-car, based around the Camry Evo, aiming for overall victory. During qualifying, with JJ Boschman at the wheel at over 300kmh on the Mulsanne straight, the Toyota took off into the air. After several flips it landed on its wheels on the other side of the safety barrier. No one was seriously injured, but Toyota subsequently withdrew from the race.
Toyota Camry at Pikes Peak
At the same time as they were chasing success on the bitumen of Le Mans, Toyota were preparing for an assault on the dirt of Pikes Peak. A slightly modified Camry Evo Grp B took to the Colorado slopes in 1987, piloted again by Juha Kankkunen. Kankkunen slid the Camry around the course to first place, breaking the existing record by a full 20 seconds.
Toyota returned to Pikes Peak in 1988, this time with Lorenz Quentin at the wheel, but he was beaten by the more-powerful Peugeot 405 T16. Ari Vatinen drove the Peugeot spectacularly to a new course record.
Australian Touring Car Championship
The late eighties were a fantastic time for Toyota in Australian motorsport. With the release of the 2nd-generation SV21 Camry in 1987, including the Camry Gti Group A Touring variant, Toyota had a serious vehicle with which to challenge for the Australian Touring Car Championship.
The choice of the wagon variant of the Camry for racing was controversial, but not for Toyota. Wind-tunnel tests had proven that the wagon shape generated less drag and less lift. Interestingly, the Camry utilized boundary-layer turbulizers for the first time. These turbulizers, placed on the wagon’s roof in much the same configuration as roof-racks, generated turbulence in the boundary layer, delaying separation and significantly reducing drag. Toyota claimed the wagon fitted with turbulizers was good for 10kmh more speed down Conrod straight.
The Camry wagons wore the familiar Benson and Hedges sponsorship livery, with a Custard Yellow paint scheme contrasting with black logos. The majority of road-going Camry Gti Group A Touring models wore the same custard-yellow paint-scheme.
Mark Skaife, driving the Camry, placed first overall at 3 rounds of the 1987 Championship, battling hard against the Sierra Cosworths of Johnson and Bowe, and the VL Commodore of Brock. The climax of the 1987 season saw Skaife lead the Bathurst 1000 race in the Camry for 24 laps, before pitting and surrendering the lead to eventual winner Brock. This was enough, however, for Skaife to take out the 1987 drivers’ Championship.
Skaife returned with the Camry in 1988, placing second that year in the driver’s championship and second again at Bathurst.
Peter Brock drove the 2nd Factory-backed Camry in 1988 to fourth-place in the Championship after a fall-out with Holden over the “energy polarizer”.
Late in 1988 Toyota released a limited-run of 50 Brock Camry Gti Group A vehicles. These Camrys were almost identical to non-Brock models, except that they were fitted with the Energy Polarizer. The Polarizer featured strong permanent magnets and was claimed to improve the overall handling and performance of the car. It also enabled Brock Camrys to run their tyres at what would otherwise be dangerously-low pressures. Of the 50 Brock Camrys released, 40 wore the familiar custard-yellow paint scheme of the Benson and Hedges team, while the remaining 10 wore a less-conspicuous black.
With the introduction of the Skyline GTR “Godzilla” in 1989, the Toyota Camry Gti Group A Touring faded into the background and Toyota turned their focus to rallying and the Celica GT4.
The 80s truly were a magnificent time for the Toyota Camry.