Tuesday, 09 June 2020 / Published in Restoration

Toyota GT-Four ST205 Restoration

Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST205) 1995 Tour de Corse winner - wikipedia- Mytho88 — Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST205) 1995 Tour de Corse winner
Mytho88 – 6th **Toyota_Celica** GT-Four WRC (ST205) taken in Showroom of Toyota

If you don’t know the Celica GT-Four ST205 you probably either are too young, or not interested in WRC. This famous car was so quick the competition couldn’t keep up. It was all going well for Toyota, until a cursory inspection of the mandatory restrictor, showed up a hairline crack. Upon closer inspection the restrictor which had successfully passed all the scrutineering up until now, was found to be an ingenious method of allowing more air to bypass the restrictor. Max Mosley the president of the FIA at the time said “It’s the most ingenious thing I have seen in 30 years of motorsport.”

Still cheating is cheating, and Toyota were banned for the 1995 season, which the silver lining was enabling the legendary Colin McRae to win in spectacular style.

Values of the Celica GT-Four are rising steadily now, and whilst it’s unlikely to ever top the Lancia Delta Integrale, it will always hold a unique place in Motor Sport history.

Roll forward to the present day, and Balance Motor Works are carrying out a restoration on a 1995 Celica GT Four – this is one of the WRC homologation versions with all the trick bits (some not activated like Anti-Lag and Water Injection).

Celica GT Four under bonnet — Underbonet shot as the strip down progresses

This is the “easy” way to remove the Engine and Gearbox complete on the subframe, by raising the body off the assembly.

The slow and painful process of stripping the underseal off the car begins. Although it is in fairly good condition, this process reveals areas of corrosion that would have remained hidden. Note the rear subframe which has been shot blasted and powder coated

Well nearly 2 years has passed since the last update to this project…here we rejoin the restoration as what looked like a slight amount of corrosion on the sill turned out to require a LOT more work than first envisaged.