Thursday, November 4, 2010

Toyota Celica Twin Cam Turbo

The Celica twin-cam turbo was Toyota's choice to enter the World Rally Championship when they decided to take a run at the title. The Celica's major handicap was its lack of four-wheel-drive, however, the car was well-built and fairly straightforward to maintain. The engine produced about 290 horsepower (which later grew to 370 as the evolution versions were released), and it had a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout.

The Celica was out of its depth on the twisty European roads, but it found its niche on the African continent. The Celica won no less than six rallies in Africa, including three consecutive Safari rallies in Kenya from 1984 to 1986. Toyota added three wins in Western Africa's Ivory Coast rally, making it the undisputed king of the desert during the Group B era. The Celica's ruggedness and simplicity (compared to other Group B cars) made it reliable and perfectly suited to the harsh desert conditions. The Celica changed drastically following Group B's cancellation for the 1987 season.
(excerpts from www.groupbrally.com)

I couldn't find any race results from this 1985 Haspengouw Rally which Juha Kankkunen  drove with teamate Bjorn Waldegard.

But I found a very nice video in youtube about this car in a race... click link in new window and enjoy!
Haspengouw Rally

Molded in Resin by Bizarre in 1:43 scale











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13 comments:

  1. lorenzo721November 4, 2010 at 8:50 AM

    Another excellent model Mike!

    As for the result, I think Kankkunen finished 2nd (needs confirmation).

    And finally, regarding your excerpt of www.grouprally.com, I think "desert" is rather inappropriate for Kenya and Ivory Coast. "Savana" would probably be better suited.

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  2. KinNovember 4, 2010 at 10:49 AM

    Hi JD,

    Nice classic Toyota Celice rally car.I was thinking where is the exhaust pipe goes because normally they mounted along side on the windscreen to avoid water penetraction.

    But is really nice to have.

    Kin.

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  3. RestidiecastNovember 4, 2010 at 12:16 PM

    wow Mike, this is really an awesome model by bizarre. The details are great. galing ba to sa kaibigan natin, hehe.

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  4. manuelNovember 4, 2010 at 2:58 PM

    Another rally car...Good!!!

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  5. José AntónioNovember 4, 2010 at 6:13 PM

    Fantastic!
    In my opinion this is one of bests models you've got!
    This Toyotas ruled in the african rallys. In 1985 the 2 african rallys where knewn by AfriKankkunen because the 2 victorys from the finn...

    This model is one of my goals for the next year...

    Fantastic, JDMike!
    Thanks for sharing... (sorry about my poor english)

    ReplyDelete
  6. JDMike's Diecast SiteNovember 5, 2010 at 6:55 AM

    Thank you for the nice comment and for the added info sir Laurent! :-) I think I remember reading somewhere that the winner was the Lancia 037, but I forgot who was driving.

    thanks also Kin, Resti, Manuel and Jose Antonio for appreciating! :-)

    Jose, good luck on acquiring one, it is worth every dollar! :-)

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  7. lorenzo721November 6, 2010 at 9:52 AM

    @Mike:
    You're welcome. That's Patrick Snijders who won with the 037.

    @Kin:
    I think you didn't locate the Haspengouw correctly! Water seldom rises this much in Belgium, so the risk of flooding your engine during the race is only remote.

    ReplyDelete
  8. lorenzo721November 6, 2010 at 9:56 AM

    ...and by the way I fully agree with José António, this could be the best model in your collection as of now. But you know I'm now biased towards 1:43. ;)

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  9. komendaNovember 9, 2010 at 12:48 PM

    Bizarre really made good on this one, great detailing. Congrats!

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  10. danielhNovember 9, 2010 at 4:26 PM

    finally, i have the chance to look close up on that celica twin cam turbo rally car here.

    nice pictures and model, JDMikes!
    thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. JDMike's Diecast SiteNovember 10, 2010 at 3:19 PM

    thanks again sir Laurent! :-) so any 1:18 rally cars to dispose off? hehehe! :-)


    thanks Erwin and thanks also daniel! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. KinNovember 11, 2010 at 9:59 AM

    Hi JD & Lorenzo,

    I would like like to say sorry for the exhaust pipe issue , comment from Lorenzo.
    Yeah!!! I will keep in mind next time whenever comes to Belgium rally.

    Thanks for the tips.

    Kin.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Phil SaundersAugust 21, 2011 at 6:55 AM

    My french is a little rusty but from what I can gather from the commentary on the video (great video BTW, thanks for the link) Kankunnen would have gotten 3rd after the 037 of Snijers and one of the Porsche 911SCRS's but Toyota failed to provide the proper homologation papers and he was disqualified. I think they said he took top time in 8 of the stages, though.

    Great model & photos!

    ReplyDelete