A staggering array of racing Toyotas are set to be part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed (July 12-14) with trios of rally and endurance sportscars leading the manufacturer’s representatives.
All three of the brand’s recent 24 Hours of Le Mans challengers will be on display, allowing visitors to see the evolution of the cars through the TS010 and TS020 (aka GT-One) of the 1990s to the TS030 that took Toyota back to Le Mans and into the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) last year and will continue to be the company’s racing standard bearer this is season in the WEC.
Three iterations of the Toyota Celica represent Toyota’s successful rallying exploits. Between them the ST165, ST185 and ST205 Celicas claimed 30 WRC victories and four titles between 1988 and 1997. The three cars will each take on the event’s rally stage, with the ST185 expected to win the battle. Both the WRC Celica’s predecessor and successor will be on display with the Twincam Turbo TA64 – Toyota’s answer to the Group B rules of the mid-80s – and the Corolla also present at the event.
Frank Wrathall’s 2013 BTCC Toyota Avensis and both the Toyota Camry NASCAR that used to carry the Red Bull Racing name in the Sprint Cup and Rob Millen’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb machine make welcome returns to Goodwood to represent Toyota;s racing interests domestically in the UK, and in the US.
Toyota will also bring a number of GT86 to the weekend, including Gazoo Racing’s Nurburgring 24 Hours winning example and the new British GT eligible GT4 variant. It is also planned for the Festival of Speed to be the UK debut of the FT86 Open convertible concept design that debuted earlier this month at the Geneva Motor Show.
Cars will be on display to show off the range of features now available to UK customers while a rally-prepped example will give an idea of what the car is capable of when it takes on the rally stage. It is intended that as part of the Moving Motor Show that begins the Festival weekend visitors will be able to sample the GT86 themselves.
