Phantom Toyota MR2 Group B rally car. More info below.

While Toyota’s front-engine, rear-drive Celica rally cars proved dominant in the African Group B rallies of the 1980s, they were at a disadvantage on the twistier European stages. Thus, in 1985 Toyota Team Europe started a rally project codenamed “222D” based on the MR2, for competition in Group S and potentially Group B as well. Though somewhat similar on the outside, it’s clear that it shared very little with the production car. Little is known about this project because it never competed. With Group B cancelled in 1986, the proposed Group S regulations suffered the same fate, and the car was reduced to a museum piece.

During a surprise appearance at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota drove and displayed a black 222D. The race-ready car weighed around 750 kilograms (1,650 lb) and its transverse-mounted, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine (what appears to be a 503E race engine, though other prototypes may have used the 4T-GTE) was reported to produce as much as 750 horsepower (560 kW). A V6-powered prototype was also rumored to exist, but has never been seen in public.

Comments

Anonymous

If a 037 and a rs200 had a baby…. this is that baby

03/02/2016 - 17:28 |
2 | 0

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