Our Cars – Legendary rally cars from 1970’s to these days

Toyota Yaris WRC 2018

With similar cars, the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team competed in the WRC events of the 2017 – 2021 seasons, taking the Manufacturer’s Title in 2018 and 2021. This particular car brought the Manufacturer’s Title in Australia 2018.

  • Season: 2018
  • Type: 2017 FIA World Rally Car Technical Regulations
  • Engine type: In-line 4-cylinder turbo, direct injection
  • Engine displacement: 1600 cc
  • Maximum power: Over 380 PS
  • Maximum torque: Over 425 Nm
  • Gearbox: 6 Speed hydraulic shift
  • Gearbox final drive: 4 wheel drive, 2 x mechanical differentials active center differential with torque split options
  • Clutch: Double Plate Sintered Clutch
  • Suspension: Macpherson
  • Steering: Hydraulic Rack and Pinion
  • Braking system: Tarmac 370 mm air and liquid cooled
  • Length: 4085 mm
  • Width: 1875 mm
  • Height: Adjustable
  • Wheelbase: 2511 mm
  • Minimum weight: 1190 kg
  • Top speed: 201 kph (Ratio Specific)

Toyota Celica GT Four 1995, (Group A)

This car is known with model designation st205. It was released at the end of season 1994. This car was driven by Armin Shwarz in Rally Australia 1995. (5th in overall) and Juha Kankkunen in Swedish Rally 1996 (4th in overall). Later on Henning Solberg and Juha Kangas has used this car. I bought car from Lillbacka Group.

  • Engine:  2.0L 3S-GTE turbo I4
  • Differentials: Mechanical diff. front and rear, center diff. Visco
  • Gear box: 6-speed dogbox (Xtrac)
  • Suspension: Adjustable Öhlins dampers
  • Weight: 1230 kg(Xtrac)

Toyota Celica ST 165, (Group A)

Pekka Lillbacka has bought this car at the end of year 1990. Pekka drove with this car 1991-1993. Last rally was Rally of 1000 Lakes 1993. After that Pekka’s brother Jukka Lilbacka has driven two rallies with this car. We bought the car at the summer of 2016 and it took 10 months to built this car. Several parts has been bought from abroad, but now car is restored to the original shape. This car is restored with the original parts from TTE (Toyota Team Europe).

You can see the car in action at Peurunka Rally 2017 from here.

Some Onboard action can be found from this video.

  • Engine:  4-cylinder 1998 cm3 Toyota 3S-GTE
  • Power: 343hp
  • Transmission: Xtracin 6-speed
  • Turbo: Toyota CT26
  • Suspension: Exe-TC:n dampers
  • Clutch: Sachs 2-plate travertine clutch
  • Differential: Fixed center diff, front and rear plate
  • Brakes: 4-mäntäiset Alconin satulat
  • Weight: 1320kg

 

 

Toyota Celica ST 165

This car has a significant past for it belonged to Toyota Team Sweden. In 1992 Mats Jonsson won the Swedish Rally (WRC) with this car.

Later on the car was privately owned and it participated in minor rallies in Sweden. At some point Harri Joki bought the car intending to equip it with a roll cage suitable for the Historic category. Business and other important matters in his life took Harri away from rallying and he decided to let the car plus the spare parts go.

We bought the chassis (with roll cage in it) and the spare parts in the summer of 2019. It took us about a year to make the car suitable for the Historic category. We used the best parts which were also the latest models and made the car as light as possible. We also took and used all the existing updatings there were for this ST 165 car.  

The first rally with this car was driven in Kerava in October, 2020 by Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hänninen.

 

Toyota Celica ST 185

This car was made for Hannu Mikkola for the Rally of Thousand lakes 1993 ( now known as  Rally Finland). The car was made for him for practise purposes. It was known as a category N car back then.

Jorma Aaltonen bought the car and drove it in the 90s. He bought parts from TTE (Toyota Team Europe) and started to change the car into a category A car. Later the car was driven by Tapani Hulkkonen and Ari Nukala.

At the beginning of the 21st century Juha Liukkonen bought this car and I bought it when it had been resting for about 20 years. 

We will make the car a category A Replica. Similar to the cars that Toyota had in WRC rallies in 1992, 1993 and 1994.  This will be the car in our passenger drive events.

Toyota Celica ST 185

This car built by Toyota Rally Team was raced in Jyväskylän Suurajot 1992 (now known as Rally Finland) by Marcus Grönholm. That was his first rally with a so-called factory car. Grönholm and Alen drove the same time on the first stage in Harju thus being both the fastest on that stage. Unfortunately Grönholm had to retire on stage five in Vaheri due to a minor driving off the road.

  • Engine:  3S-GTE with turbo, 385 hp, 510 Nm with 38 mm restrictor
  • Gearbox: 6-speed dogbox (Xtrac)
  • Suspension: Bilstein shock absorbers front and rear, front suspension adjusted from the cockpit by an anti-roll bar.
  • Differential: Mechanical front and rear, center diff active and oil pressure controlled
  • Brakes: Alcon brake calipers
  • Weight: 1243kg

 

Toyota Corolla WRC -99

TTE (Toyota Team Europe) built this car for Didier Auriol to be driven in Neste Rally Finland 1999. This car was the third last WRC Corolla of the TTE. People started to call the car “ a snake” in Neste Rally 1999 because Didier had trouble keeping the car straight even on straight roads. There was probably something wrong with the transmission which affected driving. In 1999 there was an experimental TV special stage, today’s Power stage. Back then if you had to retire you were not allowed to continue the race. This rally was an exception: you were allowed to drive that TV special stage.  Auriol retired after the second last special stage and the parts of his car were replaced in the service. He was the first car on the TV special stage so he drove before the rain, won the stage and gained three World Championship points.

  • Engine: four cylinders 1972 cc x 1,7 charged = 3352 cc
  • Engine power: 320 hp
  • Turbo: Toyota CT 20
  • Suspension: Reiger on gravel and Öhlins on tarmac.
  • Transmission: six speed hydraulic Joystick and in reserve a mechanical sequential shift (Xtrac)
  • Clutch: carbon-fiber clutch, multi plates (AP-racing)
  • Differential: active front and center diff, mechanical rear diff
  • Brakes: on gravel front and rear brake calibers with four pistons (Alcon) . On tarmac front brake calibers with six and rear brake calibers with four pistons (Alcon).
  • Weight: minimum 1230kg

Toyota Corolla GT, (Group F)

The annual model of the car is 1984 and it has been taken to Finland at the beginning of the 21st century. The car has been transformed from a road car into a rally car by Jukka Karjalainen.

  • Engine:  1587 cc
  • ECU: Hestec
  • Power: 215 hp
  • Suspension: Reiger (front) and Proflex (rear)
  • Transmission: Synchronized close-ratio dogbox (RS-car)
  • Grown wheel and pinion: 5.85 Volvo
  • Brakes: front brake calibers with four pistons (AP-racing) and rear brake calibers also with four pistons (Wilwood)
  • Weight: minimum classification weight 920kg

Audi Quattro A2, Group B

Audi Quattro A2, Group B 1984. 

Everyone who has seen and heard Group B rally car in action can’t ever forget those, me neither. I have always dreaming about driving with Group B rally car, that is why I decided to built up one.

  • Body is built in Poland
  • Engine and transmission is built in Finland
  • Car is assembled in Finland
  • Engine:  2,1 L aluminium block with turbo
  • Power: 400hp
  • Gear box: 5-speed synchronized gearbox with button switch. (When you change gear to lower, press the button on the top of gear lever and the clutch pedal will be pressed down with hydraulics. Then you can easily use left foot for breaking.
  • Quater panels, hatches, bonnet, boot and doors are made with kevlar

Audi Ur Quattro civilian car

I was dreaming of a big Audi Quattro Ur model. And such was found in Germany in 2011, in poor condition though. The chassis was sunburnt and rusty. There were dents on both sides. Luckily a guy called Kimmo Korpela knows what to do with dented Audis. He renovated the car to be an original road car.

Audi Quattro A2, Group B

Audi Quattro A2, Group B 1984. 

The car was built in Sweden. At first it was a front wheel drive (1982) driven by Mikael Eriksson. Later it was changed into a four wheel drive Quattro (1986) driven by Bro Danielsson who took seventh place in the Rally Sweden 1988. He was fighting for the third position but went into the snow at the end of the rally. The car was brought to Finland at the end of 1980’s and it was driven by Kari Kivenne, Jari Viita and in the 1990’s by Tapani and Tuomo Latvanen, just to mention a few of its drivers. The car was driven for the last time in the Pertunmaa Rally 2001. Since then the car was off use because of its poor condition. I bought this car in 2015 for renovation. It was a challenging task, but Kimmo Korpela did it. Model, colour, everything in the car was made to represent the car my father Jari Latvala used to compete with in 1988 – 1989. He bought Lars-Erik Torph’s Audi Quattro in spring 1988. Torph was third in the Swedish rally -88 after a hard battle with Bro Danielsson who drove this particular car now owned by me.

  • Annual model: 1986
  • Engine: 5 cylinders, 2,2 liters, normal aspirated, Bosch K-Jetronic injection
  • Power: 200hp
  • Gearbox: synchronized gearbox with five gears and solid center diff          -Short final drive of the gearbox (4,857), top speed around 170km/h and this          guarantees better acceleration for a four wheel drive without the turbo)
  • Brakes: AP racing brake calipers with four pistons both front and rear
  • Weight: 1200 kg

VW Golf GTi civilian car

I got this VW Golf GTi 1980 from Volkswagen and Volkswagen Motorsport in 2014. 

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3 replica, (Group A)

This replica based on Tommi Mäkinen’s manufacture car used in 1996 Acropolis rally (MRE M6).

  • Engine power: 320 hp
  • ECU: Motec
  • Suspension: Exe-TC
  • Transmission: six speed dogbox (Xtrac)
  • Differential: electrical front and middle diff. and mechanical rear diff.
  • Brakes: front and rear brake calibers with four pistons (AP-racing)
  • Weight: minimum 1238 kg
  • Clutch: carbon-fiber clutch, multi plates (AP-racing) 

Mitsubishi Lancer WRC step2

Mitsubishi built their first WRC car in 2001. The debut of the car was in San Remo, Italy. Later Mitsubishi released a Step2 version of their WRC car which our car represents. The car was bought from the Netherlands in 2013.This car was used by Francois Delecour in Wales Rally GB 2002.

  • Engine:  2 liters turbo
  • Power:  340 hp
  • Torsion:  580 Nm
  • Suspension: Öhlins
  • Differential: Full active car with electromagnetic differentials
  • Gearbox: Sequential with six gears (Xtrac)
  • Brakes: front and rear calipers with four pistons (Ap-racing)
  • Wheels: 7×15” magnesium (Enkei)
  • Weight: minimum classification weight 1230 kg. (There are titanium parts in this car)

Ford Escort RS BDA (Group 4)

The car was built by Jukka Karjalainen in 2009 and it was rebuilt by Latvala Motorsport Ltd. in 2012.

  • Engine: 2 liters 287 hp BDG engine (built by Historic Rally Sport)
  • Suspension:Coil springs front and leaf springs rear (Reiger)
  • Rear shaft: Big Atlas with four links and Panhard rod
  • Grown wheel and pinion: 5.85
  • Transmission:Five speed synchronized close-ratio gearbox
  • Brakes: Front brake calipers with four pistons, rear brake calipers with two pistons (AP-racing)
  • Tyres: 15″
  • Weight: Minimum classification weight 860 kg

Sunbeam Avenger (Group 1)

Avenger was Jari-Matti’ second car, but his first rally car.

  • Engine:  1598 cc
  • Carburattors: 2x Weber 40DCOE
  • Power: 130 hp
  • Suspension: Bilstein, coil springs front and rear
  • Gear box: Synchronized close-ratio 4 speed gearbox
  • Grown wheel and pinion: 4.375
  • Tyres: 13″
  • Brakes: front with two piston calibers and manual rear calibers
  • Weight: minimum classification weight 781 kg