There are a lot of legendary standouts in the history of racing and cheating, but the one I’d like to geek out with you over today is the Toyota Team Europe Turbo Celica cheat of 1995.

On one hand, it was piece of brilliant engineering but on the other hand it embodied the desperation that TTE was in to make latest Celica competitive. Toyota forced the team to use Celica as a base for their programme, even though car was not ideal for the purpose.

Toyota has some of the best engineers in the world. Every car is inspected before the rally by by the governing body to make sure that the restrictor plate is installed. Toyota engineered a way to allow air in to the turbo intake that completely bypassed the seals around the restrictor. Additionally when the car was moving and the turbo was engaged, the restrictor plate would be moved back a couple of inches completely nullifying the effect of the restrictor plate. Some of the best judges and techs had gone over the car to make sure cheating like this were not taking place. In fact, the engineering was so good that when the turbo was disassembled postrace for inspection, judges couldn’t find any evidence that extra air had passed through the turbo. Toyota had manufactured special springs and clips that would move the restrictor plate back from the air intake, but when the turbo was disengaged the springs would pop it back in to position making it appear that everything was as per the FIA rules.

Max Mosley, the president of the FIA at the time said this: “Inside it was beautifully made. The springs inside the hose had been polished and machined so not to impede the air which passed through. To force the springs open without the special tool would require substantial force. It is the most sophisticated and ingenious device either I or the FIA’s technical experts have seen for a longtime. It was so well made that there was no gap apparent to suggest there was any means of opening it.”

This gave the car an estimated 25% extra air coming in to the turbos, which added an 50 BHP. In the group A period the cars were restricted to 300bhp but most teams ran more power. The FIA quickly moved to ban TTE. Toyota lawyered up, but they were eventually banned for the rest of the 1995 and 1996 season.

#toyota #motorsport #wrc

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