(All photos courtesy of Speedhunters) Group B rally race cars are legendary for a reason: during their heyday, these high-powered freaks were basically cut free from the normal rules. The idea was that outside of certain safety guidelines and the most basic of vehicle layouts, anything seemed to go. You saw turbocharging, supercharging, “twin-charging” (which meant both at the same time) in cars that were supposedly based on factory machines. But if you want to know just how high the B.S. factor was there, park a Reliant R5…you older folks remember “Le Car”, right?…next to a Reliant R5 Turbo. You’ll note the differences immediately…starting with the box flares and wider track. Lots of manufacturers did this…and all they had to do for the car to be legal for racing was to make a couple hundred replicas for homologation purposes.
A real-deal Group B race car is out of 99.4% of most BangShifter’s budgets. We get that. The homologation cars might actually be in the same ballpark. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t create one of your own. Speedhunters found this 1980s rear-driver Toyota Celica that had started life as your run-of-the-mill two-door sedan variation. It’s now up to speed as a very detailed replica of the code TA64 Celica Twincam Turbo race car, including the blunt-face nose and the fender flares. It’s very well done, but look at the bones of the car. You can find these Celicas on Craigslist with a little sleuthing. A 22R built up to handle 200+ horsepower would make the car flingable, or you could go the dirty route and shove a V8 in there…we’ve seen a Ford 302-powered one that had us dreaming a while ago. Got a first-gen Mazda RX-7, a Datsun 200SX, Mitsubishi Starion, Subaru XT or pretty much any beater-ready 1980s Porsche? They were all homologated. Or you could go the really funky route and find a Pontiac Fiero wearing Ferrari drag and build a replica of the Michelotto 308GTB. Or test the theory out on some other car. Stay between 1980-1986 and let your creative juices flow. And if you can make it four-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive, all the better.
If you want to know more about the Celica, check out the Speedhunters article HERE.
I dig it.