In `70s, there was Corolla race cars in TS race in Japan. TS stands for Touring Special. Datsun 1200 (B110, B310), Honda Civic (SB1), Toyota Starlet (KP47), and Corolla coupe (E20) were in TS race. Datsun 1200's motor was 1300cc, OHV which made 170ps. Civic SB1's motor was 1300cc,SOHC which made over 150ps,Starlet's motor was 1300cc,DOHC which made over 180ps. At that time, Toyota Starlet was more popular than Corolla. TS race was very popular in Japan at that time and TS race fun said driver's driving skill was miracle. TS race is legend of Japanese racing history, from 1985 to 1993. Japanese Touring car Group A race was very popular in Japan. Group A race had three classes. There were Skyline (R30,31 and R32 GTR) and Supra in Division one. There is BMW M3 in Division two. Corolla Levin and Civic in Division three. Levin vs Civic race in division three was warming up at that time. AE86 Levin (4AG motor, 180ps) vs E-AT Civic Si (ZC motor,195ps) in 1985. AE92 Levin(4AG motor,190ps) vs EF3 Civic (ZC motor,195ps) in 1989. AE101 Levin(4AG motor ,227ps) vs EF9/EG6 Civic (B16A motor,230ps) in 1990. Toyota's engineer and Honda's engineer worked hard by competing with each other for developing 1600cc race cars. I guess Levin vs Civic race helped for selling street cars at that time.
But Group A race closed down in 1993 because for developing Group A race cars were very expensive. From 1994, JTCC, Japan Touring Car Championship race was starting. It follow FIA regulation which said base car of JTCC race car was four doors sedan with natural aspirated motor. Corolla sedan, Civic sedan, Infiniti G20, BMW 318i, Nissan Sentra, etc were racing in JTCC race. Corolla sedan race car had 3S-GE (Cerica, MR-2) motor which made 290ps.
But it was so hard to get win for Corolla race cars at that time because Corolla body is small. Honda Accord was very fast at that time. In 1994, TRD was selling limited edition Corolla, TRD 2000 which had 3S-GE motor. TRD was selling only twelve Corolla TRD 2000 at that time. It is very rare car. This year, TRD sells Corolla Axio "GT" which has 1500cc turbo charged motor.
Some Japanese car magazine's editor drove it and they said it feel like driving 2000cc sedan. Does it mean fast? Stock Corolla's motor makes 105ps. Corolla GT's motor makes 150ps. Price if Corolla GT is 2,500,000 yen (about $26,000 USD). TRD will organize Corolla GT N2 one make race in Fuji Speedway from July. Corolla GT N2 race car is Corolla GT with over-fender and GT wing (http://www.trdparts.jp/complete_axio-n2.html). You can buy completed Corolla N2 race car. The price tag says 6,632,250 yen (about $68,000 USD). Corolla is masterpiece of car in Japan. Fighting Corolla is back is big news in Japanese motor sport scene.
I think some people can not imagine Corolla sedan with racing because Corolla sedan is not sport car. But I think tuning slow sedan for making fast is becoming new tuning style. It is easy to find 1500cc motor sedan in new car and used car market in USA and Japan. I would like to see Corolla versus Civic in racing scene.www.myspace.com/oted15
Formula D Ditch Day
The gang at Formula D didn't need to say anymore than "ditch" when they invited us to their annual snow ditch day at Mountain High in California. Carving down the man made powder alongside our drifting peers, like Joon Maeng and Ken Gushi, made for a relaxing break out of the office and we certainly do appreciate it.Source: www.formulad.com
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