Part 10
The IMSA GTO Celica ST162
Only one running car remains, it is the property of All American Racers and used at selected shows.
And NO - it's not for sale!
In the early 1980's, AAT - All American Racing (owned and run by the legendary Dan Gurney) was contracted by
Toyota to compete in the North American IMSA GTO series (now known as PSCR)
In the early years (80-86) Celica's and Supra's with conventional chassis were campaigned with limited success.
The new car for 1987 was based on the new Celica ST162 chassis,
but featured a NASCAR type tube chassis and extensive carbon fibre bodywork and panels.
This car is literally worth it's weight in gold
The dry sump and dual ignition system
The gearbox in the car is believed to have been rear-mounted to help weight distribution
Any info or pics regarding the motor and gearbox are most welcome
The rear mounted gearbox, fuel tank and F1 type suspension, look at the size of those calipers and rotors!!
Gears appear to be sequential, 9000-11000rpm rev limit
The engine was based on the 3S-GTE road car engine and developed by AAR in conjuction with Toyota, TRD and Yamaha and re-named the 503E.
503E Engine specs (unconfirmed)
Bore - 89mm
Stroke - 86mm
Compression - 7.0/1
Boost - ? (must have been crazy? 60psi+)
Capacity - 2140cc
Power - 560hp (later Le mans & JGTC versions made 680hp with restictors fitted)
Torque - 471 ft.lbs @ 5500rpm
Lubrication - Dry sump
Drive - Rear wheels
Against the bigger V8 engined cars, the Celica stood little chance on paper, however on the track the lightweight Celica
with it's superior handling and braking was more than a match on any track with more than 2 corners.
At first the bodywork was the fastback shape and later (on the same chassis) a carbon fibre coupe rear section was fitted (IMSA rule change?)
1987 was the high-water mark for GTO Celicas, as they won the driver's championship with Chris Cord, and the manufacturer's championship.
On the road to that accomplishment, AAR scored eight wins out of seventeen races, five poles, and five fastest race laps.
In 1988, there were five wins, at Mid Ohio, Road America, Sears Point, Watkins Glen, and Del Mar. Chris Cord broke both ankles in testing that year
and Willie T Ribbs was given a 2 race suspension for assaulting another driver
An interview with Dan Gurney -
Winning the IMSA championship was the best, Dan relates, "Oh, no doubt about it-winning the national championship was great. And the next year we won more races than any single team did.
But Ford (Lincoln/Mercury) had four teams, so we ended up losing the championship. We finished third. Willy came in third in the driver's championship.
"We were the favorites, both of those years." By that time, the Ford people were using the Merkur XR4ti, using many of the tricks AAR had learned and used on the GTO Celica.
Over Dan's career, so many things were accomplished: Winning Le Mans, winning a Formula One Grand Prix race in a car that was built at AAR
— where does the Toyota GTO program sit in that hierarchy of things? Dan explains it was still very meaningful. "We were representing a manufacturer against other manufacturers.
That was very special. We knew, we could tell what was going on here and there, and it was a challenge from a lot of different angles, not just the car."
Dan remembers AAR had a lot of help: "We brought along some excellent driving talent — Chris Cord was really amazing. Willy did some great driving, and Rocky also.
So we did a lot with a lot of good up-and-coming drivers. It was a really special time. I look back on those times with a real affection.
I think the odds were against us, but when you prevail in those circumstances, it means more to you. It had a great homebrew feel to it — it was fun!
The GTP program wasn’t as much fun, and GTO was more fun than the present CART program."
In retrospect, doing the whole car from soup to nuts was especially satisfying to Dan. "When you look at what we achieved, a national championship,
and then another excellent year on top of that, with the size of the engine force here under this roof! So when we went to the GTP program and Toyota said they
wouldn’t need our services in the engine area after that, we were kind of offended. But when I thought about how big the program would have to be,
why we couldn’t have done that. I felt Toyota had made the right call at that point. It doesn’t change the fact we’re still very proud of what we did."
It was of the accomplishment, vs. the resources available to meet that goal that Dan says "On several occasions, they (Toyota) asked us, "Do you thank that you can win with this engine?"
Because they were off doing other programs. ‘We’ve only got 15 of these things left.’ And you never really know until you try. No one in the industry thought an iron block,
four-cylinder with a turbocharger would be the engine of choice by any means. We blew up four dynamometers!" As stated before, the one of the GTO Toyota Celicas
still occupies a place of honor at AAR, as a reminder of glorious days past.
1989 was the end of the line for the AAR Celicas; that year Toyota moved to GTP class with an Eagle chassis designed by AAR people, but with a 503E engine entirely developed by TRD.
The GTP Toyota Eagle became legendary for its looks, speed, reliability and winning streaks:
17 consecutive victories during 1992 and 1993, and wins in the endurance classics at Daytona and Sebring. At the twilight of the very expensive GTP class,
in 1992 and 1993 AAR took manufacturers and drivers championships so convincingly that in 1995 they still held track records on nine circuits.
Dan remains proud of the GTO Celica program, in spite of the greater accomplishment of AAR teamed with TRD. "We were going for it, and accomplished a lot.
You think about it, that was a long time ago, ’83. The Supra was a brand-new car then — been through several generations, and now it’s gone. Celica’s still around,
but Lexus wasn’t even being imagined. The USSR was going full blast! Those were interesting times."
In the interim, the economic downturn of the early ‘90’s spelled doom for IMSA’s highest class, the Grand Touring Prototypes, or GTP’s.
After winning the ’93 championship, Toyota and AAR left the IMSA series completely to regroup and pursue the CART series. Since then, IMSA has had its ups and downs,
but seems to be making a comeback. Dan would like for AAR to return to Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR, IMSA’s new name) in one form or the other.
"I’d like to do it, and I could see it happening," he states. Toyota is busy with racing programs in every series but Sports Car it seems.
"For the time being, we’ll continue with the contingency programs we have with privateers in the street-stock series," says Dave Wilson of TRD.
"We’d really love to see a factory supported, AAR-prepared Toyota or Lexus sports car duking it out in sports car racing here in the U.S., apart from the fearsome
Toyota GT-One prototype that runs only at Le Mans in June". In the meantime, somewhere in the AAR complex, a really angry-looking Celica sits quietly in a warehouse
— a reminder of the days when AAR Toyotas laughed at the competition in IMSA.
The cars were fitted with lights and used at the Daytona 24hrs as well, (dammed if I can find the pic)
Found!
Shit, I knew that. Hell, I even have pictures of the Xtrak saved on my disk. It's late (early) here...
