TOYOTA CELEBRATES SPORTING GLORIES PAST AND PRESENT AT 2013 GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED

Toyota will celebrate its past and present sporting achievements with an illustrious array of race and rally machinery in action at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed (12 – 14 July).
It plans to bring together three generations of the Celica GT-Four on the rally stage, reviving the sound and speed of its most successful World Rally Championship contenders. It’s expected the ST185 will lead the way, 20 years on from claiming Toyota’s first WRC manufacturer’s title and a driver’s championship for Juha Kankkunen. The Celica ST165 and ST205 are also expected to be in action.
This celebrated trio, which claimed 30 WRC victories, will be joined by the mighty Group B Celica twin-turbo TA64, one of the most powerful rally cars ever built, and the championship-winning Corolla WRC.
Goodwood will also provide a rare opportunity to see the evolution of Toyota’s recent works Le Mans cars, with the TS010 and TS020 of the 1990s joined by the current Toyota Racing TS030 Hybrid. In 2012 the TS030 Hybrid claimed three race wins in its first year of FIA World Endurance Championship competition. This year it will be returning to the track and aiming to clinch a maiden Le Mans 24 Hours victory for Toyota.
The Toyota GT86 has earned worldwide acclaim as a true driver’s car and its remarkable handling abilities will be demonstrated by multiple versions of the sports coupe that have been engineered for both race and rally competition. Gazoo Racing will be fielding its Nürburgring 24 Hours machine for runs up the Goodwood hill, and the GT4 model prepared to British GT Championship specifications will also be appearing.
Toyota also plans to give Goodwood crowds the first UK view of the FT-86 Open, a convertible concept that prompted enthusiastic press and public reaction when it debuted earlier this month at the Geneva motor show. A GT86 TRD will display the package of authentic performance and styling features now available to UK customers, and an R3 rally-prepared model will show just what the car is capable of on a gravel special stage. The Corolla AE86, one of the classic sporting Toyota of the past that inspired today’s GT86, will be represented by Midgley Motorsport’s Team Toyota GB-liveried rally car.
For members of the public who would like to try out the GT86 for themselves, Toyota will be offering drives as part of its participation in the Moving Motor Show, the festival’s curtain-raiser on 11 July.
Frank Wrathall’s 2013 British Touring Car Championship Avensis will be returning to the festival, while other Toyota stars scheduled to travel to Goodwood from the USA include the NASCAR Red Bull Camry and Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak Tacoma, a perennial favourite with the festival crowds.
There will be more to enjoy in the Toyota pavilion, which will have a display dedicated to the GT86. The standard road-going model and TRD version will be on show, together with design concepts. It is hoped these will include the soft-top FT-86 Open. For a taste of the GT86’s distinctive handling character, visitors will be able to take a virtual drive in a new GT86 simulator. The contemporary cars will be joined by the rare and beautiful 1960s 2000GT and a replica of the Team Toyota GB AE86 Corolla touring car that won back-to-back British championships in the 1980s.