For the last three years we have taken the Gt4 to Castle Combe Rally Day (see above picture taken on Feature Stage at Rally Day 2011) but this year we're taking the Corolla WRC and will be offering a limited number of passenger rides in the car. More information on Rally Day visit www.rallyday.com
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23rd May 2016 - 2nd Overall at the TSH Stages Rally
Gary Le Coadou and Co-driver Ashley Trimble tackling the stages yesterday in Cornwall picture courtesy of M and H Photography The Team have just returned from the TSH Stage Rally after competing on 14 Special Stages covering 108 competitive miles. It was the first time at the event for the Corolla and both Gary and Ashley so the two days were extremely challenging with changeable weather conditions. Tyre choice was crucial on the very abrasive surface and with the conditions being wet on Saturday and dry on the Sunday it made for a very interesting rally. Full Rally report to follow shortly
20th May 2016 - WRC Subaru Spares TSH Stage Rally The Corolla WRC is due out this coming weekend in Cornwall at the WRC Subaru Spares sponsored event TSH Stage Rally organised by the South Hams Motor Club. Ashley Trimble from Ulster will be stepping into the co-drivers seat for this two day event. 30th April 2016 - Corinium Stage Rally - Winners Three times in a row at Corinium Stages
The Team came back from Down Ampney victorious after winning the Corinium Stage Rally for the third year in succession. After some tough competition and demanding weather conditions Gary and Carl Sorensen in the Toyota Corolla WRC won the event by 48 seconds ahead of Martyn England in his 2016 spec. Fiesta R5+. Full report to follow shortly. 8th March 2016 - Bovington Stages Rally - 2nd Overall
After a problematic few events, the Team had great fun on the weekends Bovingtons Stages Rally, coming home 2nd overall. The Rally was held over 2 days with 90 Stage miles competative miles. See Rally Reports for full details 25th January 2016 - A Disappointing Start To Season After arriving back from France on Thursday afternoon with the gearbox, Gary along with fellow team-mates Bill, Rob and Scott overcame a number of hurdles and got the Corolla back together and made it (just) in time to the Brean Stages Rally. It wasn't the best of starts for Gary and co-driver Bill Paynter (who was sitting in for Carl Sorensen) when on the first stage they got a puncture and incurred an electrical issue. After stopping and losing three minutes on stage they managed to get to the end of SS1. Then things improved and the Team were just starting to get into the groove setting good Stage times when the propshaft failed on Stage 4 forcing them into retirement. Gary would like to express huge thanks to all the Team for their immense effort to get the car to the event and hopes to be back out again in March for the Bovington Stage Rally. 18th January 2016 - Brean Stages Rally - A challenging start to the year! After some winter modifications the Corolla WRC is hoping to be out for this weekends event held at the Brean Leisure Park nr Weston-super-Mare. Having undergone a series of improvements one vital component is still being worked on in France and hopefully will be ready by Thursday for the Team to reassemble the car ready for scrutineering the following day. Seeding has just been released and the Corolla has been seeded Car No. 3. Wishing all our friends and supporters a Very Happy and Successful New Year from all at Toyota Rally ************************************* 2nd May 2015 - Overall win at Down Ampney for the Burts Team
The Team have just returned victorious from Cirencester after a tight battle with the Mitsubishi Evo X of Martyn & Dawn England. It was a very close call as at the midway point of the event, Gary & Carl only had a 3 second advantage after 27 Stage miles and managed to increase their lead over the remaining four stages to take the overall win. Full report to follow soon. 26th April 2015 - Corolla ready for Corinium Stages Seeding has just been released for next weeks Rally and Gary and Carl in the Burts Chips supported Corolla WRC has been seeded Car 1 ahead of Martyn & Dawn England in their new Mitsubishi Evo X. 31st March 2015 - Aldershot Rally for Heroes CANCELLED It is with regret that the Organisers of the Aldershot Rally for Heroes have had to make the decision to cancel the event. It is hoped that it will be re-scheduled for later in the year or early in 2016 depending on the availability of the MOD venues. We will update this webpage and our facebook page as soon as we have any more news regarding the new date. 16th March 2015 - The Grand Pier Rally - Weston-super-Mare - 2nd Overall
It was a fantastic start to the season for new rally
pairing of Gary Le Coadou and Carl Sorensen in their Toyota Corolla
WRC, as they competed on 'The Grand Pier Rally’ based around
Weston-Super-Mare at the weekend. **************************** 5th February 2015 - Carl Sorensen joins Team for Grand Pier Rally - 14/15th March 2015 We are pleased to announce that experienced co-driver Carl Sorensen from Plymouth will be navigating for Gary on the Corollas first outing of the season at the Grand Pier Rally based in Weston-super-Mare. This is an exciting new event which will be multi-venue including a spectator stage along the seafront.
The Team are very much looking forward to supporting this new event and working alongside Carl. 1st January 2015 WISHING ALL OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM EVERYONE AT THE TOYOTA RALLY TEAM. *********************************** 21st September 2014 - Goodridge Stand - Castle Combe RALLY DAY
The Team had their Celica st185 at Rally Day on the Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems stand along with Graham Middleton and his Hyundi Coupe. Both cars were invited to take part on the Special Rally Feature Stage doing demonstration runs and entertaining the crowds with 'donuts' at the start and finish of the stage. Many drivers from the past and present were in attendance including Elfyn Evans, Marko Martin, Marko Allen and David Llewellyn. Sadly Bjorn Waldegard the first ever World Rally Champion was not in attendance as originally planned after passing away earlier in the month following a short illness. A special tribute was paid to him at Rally Day - a wonderful man whom we at Toyota Rally were very fortunate to have befriended at the Festival of Speed for the past six years.
**************************** 22nd August 2014 - Goodridge sponsored Castle Hill Car Festival and Hillclimb
The Corolla recently attended an event in South Moulton which was sponsored by Team Sponsor Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems. The car gave some Demonstration Runs up the hill to please the many spectators and also gave some of the Goodridge personel the opportunity to experience a co-drive including Exeter based Marketing Manager Martin Taylor.
2nd July 2014 - Didier Auriol drives Forest Rally Stage in Celica st185 at Festival of Speed
Another spectacular weekend at this years Festival of Speed culminating with having the 1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol driving our st185 Celica twice around the Forest Rally Stage. He was in good company as this year the Forest Stage had attracted a number of famous drivers e.g. Sebastian Loeb, Danni Sordo, BjÖrn Waldegard, Alistair McRae and David Llewellyn to name but a few!
Just like 'old times', Didier settling himself back into the Celica with Gary
Signing the Celica bonnet.
25th June 2014 - Ready to go - Goodwood here we come! The Celica is all loaded up and ready to head across from Somerset to West Sussex for this years Festival of Speed. If you are visiting the Festival over the weekend please come along to the Forest Rally Stage - we'd love to meet you. 2nd June 2014 - A Very Sad Day for Motorsport A tragic weekend at the Jim Clark Rally and a very sad journey home for us after the terrible news came through that three spectators had been killed after an accident involving one of the BRC crews. Our sincere condolences go to all the families and friends of those who lost their lives and our thoughts are with the injured, competing crews, Emergency services and marshals who attended the scene.
****************************************** 5th May 2014 - 1st Overall at Corinium Stages, Down Ampney
The Team are delighted to report that they have just returned home from Winning the Corinium Stages after a close fought battle 11 seconds ahead of Manx Champion Aaron Newby in the TEG Sport Subaru Impreza - Full report to follow shortly.
2nd May 2014 - Seeding out for Corinium Stages 2014 The Corolla WRC has been seeded Car 3 for this weekends Corinium Stages behind Martyn England and Manx champion Arron Newby. The event is being held at one of the Teams favourite venues Down Ampney, Gloucester and is part of the ASWMC, ACSMC, CMSG and GwynneSpeed Rally Challenge. 22nd April 2014 - Goodwood Festival of Speed 27/28/29th June
We're pleased to announce that once
again, we've have been invited by Toyota Europe
to take the Celica st185 to Goodwood to be used on
the Forest Rally Stage
at this years Festival of Speed.
1st April 2014 - Tour of Caerwent Report now online See Rally Reports for full details
31st March 2014 - Tour of Epynt Report now online See Rally Reports for full details 28th March 2014 - Corolla in action at Caerwent last Sunday
26th March 2014 - Acumen Promotions A big 'Thank you' to our new Sponsor Acumen Promotions who have very kindly supplied us with new Teamwear for the season www.acumen-promotions.co.uk
24th March 2014 - 3rd Overall on the Tour of Caerwent Rally The Team have just returned home to Somerset after a good result on the Marshall & Hicks Tour of Caerwent Rally. The event covered over 60 miles and was held on MOD land at Caerwent with the Corolla setting fastest times on four of the six stages. After a difficult start, they were pleased to finish 3rd Overall. 12th March 2014 - Electrical fault forces Corolla into retirement en-route to Final Stage.
Disappointment for the Team after retiring with an electrical problem on the road section to the Final Stage. Their pace was good after some recent modifications and the Team were lying in 11th place and a Top Ten finished looked possible which would have been a good result.
4th March 2014 - 1st round National Asphalt Championship Sunday 9th March Preparations are well underway for this weekends first round of the REIS National Tarmac Rally Championship on the Epynt Military Ranges. The LLandovery based event has attracted an exceptionally strong entry of 110 competitors from all around the UK and the Toyota Corolla WRC has been seeded Car 17. The event consists of 80 Stage miles and is open to Spectators. For information on how to get access to the stages and watch this event visit http://www.ptmconline.com/spectator-information.html 28th January 2014 - 4th Overall
Picture courtesy of Tel T Photography The Team have just returned from a very challenging (but enjoyable) weekend with atrocious weather conditions from the Brean Stages Rally in Somerset. See Rally Reports for full details 24th January 2014 - Corolla at Goodridge Factory
On Friday prior to the first event of the year the Team took the Corolla WRC to visit their new Sponsors Factory in Exeter for the Staff members to take a look at the car before heading off to Scrutineering in Weston-super-Mare. 20th January 2014 Seeding has just been released for this weekends Brean Stages Rally and the Corolla is running Car No. 5. The other top four cars are Steve Furzeland in his Subaru WRC S12, Peter Lloyd in an S14, Rob Swann in an S11 and 2013 Isle in Man Championship winner Aran Newby. This is the first event for Gary and new co-driver Tony Bassett.
1st January 2014 WISHING ALL OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM EVERYONE AT THE TOYOTA RALLY TEAM. ************************************** 10th December 2013 - New Sponsor for 2014
We are very pleased to announce that the Toyota Rally Team will be supported by Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems for the 2014 season. The Exeter based company are currently suppliers of quality Fluid Transfer products to customers such as M-Sport, Mclaren & Bentley. Goodridge 'Buyer' Tony Bassett will be sitting alongside Gary as co-driver for the 2014 season competing on MSA National Asphalt and some South West Regional rounds. 18th November 2013
22nd October 2013 - REIS MSA Tarmac Championship Roll of Honour 2013 Following the Final Round in the Asphalt Championship taking place last weekend at Otterburn the Results for 2013 have now been released and we are please to report that Gary came 2nd Driver in Class B14 and 19th overall in the championship and Paul won the co-driver Class B14. 14th October 2013 - Regency Stages - 1st Overall - Fantastic Way To End Season
A really good result for the Team with the Corolla heading home to victory on Saturday at The Bath and West Showground. A great event run under difficult circumstances following some spectators being injured earlier on the event but thankfully not as serious as initially thought and all released from hospital that evening. After a four hour break, the event was able to be re-started and included two night stages. Full report to follow shortly.
8th October 2013 - Seeding out for Regency Stages - Car 2
Seeding has just been released for the Regency Stages Rally being held at the Bath & West Showground on Saturday 12th October. A strong entry has now come together and the top runners are as follows:- Martyn England, Gary Le Coadou, Andy Gwynne, Josh Payton, Steve O'Leary and Graham Middleton. 29th September 2013 - Patriot Stage Rally
Picture courtesy of EDP Photography What could only be described as a very intense rally with corners and kerbs everywhere, Gary & Paul were extremely pleased to have brought the Corolla WRC home to 6th overall. The event was won in spectacular style by Peter Lloyd Subaru S14 followed by Paul Bird in his Focus WRC 07. ******************************** 24th September 2013 - Rally Day A great day was had at Castle Combe on Saturday with the Corolla WRC giving passengers a good deal to smile about! 18th September 2013 - Come along and meet us on the GwynneSpeed Stand at this years Castle Combe RALLY DAY - 21st September
9th September 2013 - Prima Stage Rally - 2nd Overall We are pleased to report that the Corolla WRC had a good run yesterday at Smeatharpe and finished in 2nd place, 32 seconds behind Steve & Yvonne Furzeland in their Subaru S12. Third place went to Martyn & Dawn England in the Mitsubishi Evo 9. See Rally Reports for full details. 2nd September 2013 - Castle Combe RALLY DAY Gary has accepted and invitation from Gwynnespeed to offer passenger rides in the Corolla WRC at this years Rally Day taking place on Saturday 21st September at Castle Combe Race Circuit. Anybody who is interested in having a ride in the Corolla should visit www.glosrallyschool.co.uk for further details on how to pre-book a run. 25th August 2013 - Event Signs Mewla Rally Still running with our spate of misfortune - this time the clutch release bearing failed on SS8 and the Team were forced into early retirement at the next service. See Rally Reports for full details. 14th August 2013 - Tyneside Rally - Not one of our Best!
************************************ 24th July 2013 - more pictures from the Festival of Celica in action!
15th July 2013 - Goodwood Festival of Speed 20th Anniversary
Some of the cars representing Toyota at this years Festival of Speed
10th July 2013 - Next stop Goodwood! Works now being finalised on the Celica st185 ready for this years Festival of Speed. The line up in at the Forest Rally Stage is looking very impressive with BjÖrn Waldegard, Carlos Sainz, Hannu Mikkola, Russel Brooks, Giniel De Villiers, Mikko Hirvonen, Freddy Loix, Andreas Mikkelsen plus many more!! 8th July 2013 - ALMC Stages , Co. Meath Ireland
Picture of the whole Team taken at the weekend with the extended Service Crew - (From left to right) Bill. Noel, Enda, Gary, Shamus, Rob, Shaun, Paddy, James and youngest member Eric (15 months!). A Fantastic event and well worth the effort to cross the water. We were all made to feel so welcome and alot of fun was had by all both on and off the stages. See Rally Reports for full details. 24th June 2013 - Three Counties Stage rally - 2nd Overall
19th June 2013 - Exciting Times ahead as the Team heads for Ireland! We're pleased to confirm that Gary is teaming up with Enda Shiels from Co. Meath to do the next round of the MSA National Asphalt Championship the ALMC Stage Rally in Ireland on 7th July. Enda and Gary have become good friends over the past couple of years when they have both represented Toyota on the Forest Rally Stage at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Enda usually co-drives for fellow Irishman John Reid who has a Forest spec Corolla WRC., so Enda should feel quite at home in the seat!
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 **************************************** 18th June 2013 - Smeatharpe Seeding has just been released for this weekends Three Counties Stage Rally and the Corolla is running Car No. 3 behind Steve Furzeland in his Subaru WRC S12 and last years winner Mike Threlfall in his Mitsubishi Evo X. 4th May 2013 - 2nd Overall at Corinium Stage Rally
Picture courtesy of EDP Photography The Team has just returned from Cirencester where they competed in the Corinium Stage Rally. A close battle took place throughout the day between Gary, Martin England & Tristan Bailey, who eventually was the overall winner by just 3 seconds. A good recovery from Gary and Paul following a disastrous SS1 after a near collision with another competitor at the split merge forcing the Corolla to take evasive action. More details on the Reports page. ******************************* 30th April 2013 - Invitation Received for the Festival of Speed 2013 For the 5th consecutive year Gary has been asked by Toyota Europe to represent them on their stand and drive the Forest rally Stage in the Celica st185 at this years Festival of Speed at Goodwood 12-14th July.
******************************* 21st April 2013 - London Rally for Heroes - 1st Overall
The Team have just returned home after Winning the London Rally for Heroes - See Rally Reports for more details.
****************************** 16th April 2013 - Official Souvenir Programme from this weekends London Rally for Heroes - on sale now at Brooklands Museum
Our Team has now raised over £580 - THANKYOU We've managed to raise an amazing £584.00, so a very big THANKYOU to everyone who has made a donation to Help for Heroes via our charity page www.bmycharity.com/ToyotaRally and made this possible. 10th April 2013 _ Running Car No. 1 Seeding has now been published for London Rally of Heroes on 19/20th April and we are honoured to be running Car No. 1. Closely followed by Martyn England in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 and then Mark Welchs Ford Escort Cosworth. 14th March 2013 The Team has just returned from the freezing weather conditions in Wales after the Tour of Epynt at the weekend. The Event attracted a huge entry with all the top Asphalt drivers in the UK competing apart from Melvyn Evans. Other than a few problems on SS4 that meant we had a slow time on that stage, the car performed well and we were very pleased to finish 16th overall. See Rally Reports for full details. 20th February 2013 London Rally for Heroes - 19th/20th April 2013 A new event is being planned this year in the South East of England around the Weybridge and Aldershot area. It consists of 60 Stage miles and 155 Road miles and one of the main aims of the event is to raise money for Help for Heroes. http://londonrallyforheroes.com Our entry has been accepted and competitors like ourselves have been asked to try and fundraise either by per stage mile completed or in the form of a donation. So, if anybody would like to donate a £ or two for this worthy cause, we have set up a special donations page on the Official site linked with the event www.bmycharity.com/ToyotaRally 9th February 2013 Kynaston Stage Rally CANCELLED Unfortunately the organisers of the Event have just announced that regrettably they have had to cancel the event due to be held on Saturday. This was very disappointing for the Team as it is a local event for us and after a strong start to the ASWMC Championship at Brean we were hoping to get some more points on the board! 1st February 2013 We're Back Online after some website problems and now want to get you back up to date on whats been happening with the ToyotaRally Team. The Corolla has just returned from the K & R Mitsubishi Stages, a successful event following the winter rebuild finishing 4th Overall.
See Rally Reports for full details. 28th June - 1st July 2012 - Festival of Speed
Gary pictured with Bjorn Waldegard at this years Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Celica st185 was on the Toyota stand and did numerous demonstration runs on the Forest Rally Stage. It was also driven by Stephane Sarrazin the current driver of the Toyota Hybrid Le Mans Car seen below signing the Celica.
*************************************** 22nd/23rd June - Lovell Rally of the Midlands - 5th Overall One of the Teams favourite events of the year and a round of the MSA National Asphalt Championship the Corolla headed back to the Midlands to tackle 24 stages over five different venues in and around the Hinkley & Nuneaton area. Gary and Paul were pleased to be lying 3rd overall after the Friday stages behind Damien Cole's Ford Focus 05 WRC and Steve Simpsons Subaru S12 WRC. Unfortunately after a few problems on the first loop of stages on Saturday morning they dropped out of the top ten but managed to pull back to 5th overall and taking 4th MSA Championship points.
Pictures courtesy of RallyGallery.com * 07/10/2011 - New Event coming to Royal Bath & West Showground There is a new televised two day event the Regency Stage Rally being organised by Weston-Super-Mare Motor Club at the Showground. This venue should make for some very interesting Stage layouts for the Corolla incorporating a small jump and two night stages. www.regencystages.com
25/09/2011 - Patriot Stages
The Team have just returned from the Bob Dowen Patriot Stage Rally another MSA Asphalt Championship round. The conditions were challenging and the Corolla finished 7th overall and 2nd in Class. See Rally Reports for more details and don't forget Motors TV coverage on 29th October 10.35pm 17/09/2011 - Castle Combe Rally
Once again the GT4OC invited us to represent them on their Stand with the Celica st185. Unfortunately, the weather was not so gracious this year and amongst the heavy rain showers Gary took part in demonstration runs on the main race circuit and did a crowd pleasing display of donuts on the Feature Stage!! There is a scheduled TV programme of Rally Day on Motors TV on 12th October 20.00pm. 25/06/11 - Goodwood Festival of Speed Gary has been asked by Toyota Europe to drive an ex-Carlos Sainz Celica st185 on the Forest Stage at this years Festival of Speed. This car was built in 1992, and first used by Armin Schwartz on the 1992 Acropolis Rally, where it famously crashed on the same corner as the sister car of Marku Alen (Alen's car landed on top of this one). It was then repaired and used by Carlos Sainz to finish in 3rd place on 1992 Rally of Australia and helped him to secure the 1992 World Rally Championship for drivers. It competed in Repsol colours of white and red, (Carlos Sainz's personal sponsors). After many years of competing in his own st185, Gary is very much looking forward to driving this famous car. 17/18th June - Rally of the Midlands 2011
The Corolla at the Ceremonial Finish in Bedworth Town Centre. Gary and Paul completed all of the 24 Special Stages and at that point they believed they'd come 4th Overall unfortunately the fuel pump issues they'd encountered on the road section had taken them too long to sort out and when the final results came in they were declared OTL. See Rally Reports for full details. 28/05/11 - Corolla Wins Launch Motorsport Stages
Gary and Paul returned to one on their favourite venues Down Ampney and took top honours. It is the fourth time that the pair have won this Rally organised by Emcos Motor Club. See Rally Reports for full details. (Picture taken by EDP Photography). 16/03/11 - Flying High at the Tour of Epynt
The Team has just returned from the first round of the MSA Championship on the Epynt Ranges in Wales. A pleasing result 18th overall and 3rd in Class. See Rally Reports for full details.
21/02/11 - Kynaston Autos Stage Rally - 2nd Overall
After overcoming several earlier problems on the morning stages, the Team set some good stage times and pulled back in the afternoon finishing in 2nd place. See Rally Reports for full details. 10/02/11 - Final Test before opening round of MSA National Championship.
The Team have decided to enter the Corolla WRC in the Kynaston Auto Services Rally at Smeatharpe three weeks prior to the 1st round of the MSA Championship the Tour of Epynt. 04/02/11 - Regency Stages Postponed Just received a Press Release that sadly the Regency Stages has had to be postponed until later in the year. This is unfortunate as we were all looking forward to tackling this new event which was on our doorstep! Lets hope the revised date doesn't clash with any of our planned MSA rounds. 11/01/11 - Looking Ahead! The Events page has now been updated for the 2011 season which you will note includes six rounds of the MSA National Asphalt Rally Championship. This is the main area that we wish to focus on but there will also be some other events added along the way - so keep watching!! 01/01/11 - HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends and supporters - Lets hope it's a good one! 26/09/10 - Podium Finish at Patriot Stages
The penultimate round of the MSA Asphalt Rally Championship turned out to be a very successful day for the Team. Gary and Paul brought the Corolla home third overall despite an off on stage one and Paul scored maximum MSA Championship points as rally winner Simon Mauger's co-driver was not registered for the championship. The recent modifications to the rear suspension paid off as the car felt much more stable. See Rally Reports for full details. 18/09/10 - Castle Combe Rally Day
We have just returned after a very enjoyable day at the Castle Combe Race Circuit in Wiltshire. We were invited by the event organisers to take part in their Feature Stage and also by the GT4 Owners Club to put our Celica onto their stand and lead a procession around the race circuit along with 20 other GT4's. There was also a small Rally Stage on the perimeter road where we were able to let our service crew experience some in-car conditions and for Paul to see the Celica in action from a spectators point of view! 30/08/10 - Treacherous Weather Conditions on Epynt Ranges but Corolla takes Class win. Well the morning certainly wasn't a pleasant experience - it poured! Tyre choice ??? Whatever we chose you could guarantee that by the time you got to the stage the weather would have changed (in fact on average it yo-yo'd all morning between sun, drizzle and stair rods!). Anyway despite all of this the weather did brighten up and we came away with a Class win and Gary receiving the John Horton Motorsport Management 'Star Drive' salver at the awards ceremony. See Rally Reports for full details. 27/08/10 - Testing Times! With the car still having some handling difficulties a Test session was arranged in Tregaron Wales with Phil Roach and Graham Middleton to try and improve the 'set-up' prior to the Mewla Rally at the weekend. After lowering the car and making some other adjustments the car handled much better and we headed off to the Builth Wells. 16/08/10 - Team return from Richard Burns Memorial Rally After a 7 hour journey the Team finally arrived at RAF Marham for the RBMR. With the clutch problem identified and new seals fitted we were hoping for of a good weekend. See Rally Reports for full details. 01/08/10 Clutch Problems Force Early Retirement First Outing for Corolla WRC
Unfortunately, we had to make the decision to withdraw the Corolla from the Fat Albert Stages after Stage 7 with clutch problems rather than risk causing damage to the transmission. However, we had managed to complete more than 50 Stage miles which gave us the opportunity to 'Test' and adjust settings throughout the day. After a very slow Stage 1 time (where the car stalled at a hairpin and wouldn't restart), we found ourselves in 24th position but were pleased to have made up time and were lying 6th overall when we retired. This was the first time the car had been driven at pace since the build so we were always expecting teething problems. For a view from Paul Hollingham's side of the car see Rally Reports
26/07/10 - First Event - Fat Albert Stages 31st July. Gary and Paul are planning to use the new Corolla WRC for the first time this weekend on the Fat Albert Stages at Keevil in Wiltshire. The event has attracted a strong entry of 90 crews including four WRC cars and a host of other top class Escorts, Subaru's and Mitsubishi's. The Team has been seeded at No. 4 and the plan is to use this event to try and learn as much as possible about the new car and test different set-ups throughout the day. 21/07/10 - Corolla WRC Log Booked and New Registration assigned. Today has been the day that our two year project finally became reality. After what once seemed like a crazy idea that Gary had to drive to the Czech Republic to collect the ex-Henning Solberg WRC car then do numerous trips across to France, Belgium, Germany and Holland collecting the various parts required to do the rebuild ......................she's here!
07/07/10 - Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 The Rally Team were delighted to be asked again by Toyota Europe to represent the Celica st185 Gt4 on their stand at this years Festival of Speed. The Celica was put into full original Castrol livery prior to the Goodwood event.
The event hosted by Lord March has a wonderful atmosphere and attracts over 150,000 spectators who come to see World class drivers and National Champions along with the hundreds of cars and bikes .The Festival is set within the grounds of Goodwood House (Lord March's home) and is divided into various sections, with the infamous Hill Climb which goes straight past the front of Goodwood House and proceeds up to the Top Paddock where the Rally Stage can be found. This event is 'a must' for any Motorsport enthusiast.
This year the 'Toyota Line-Up' was as follows:- Celica st205 owned and driven by Mark Courtney, Ernst Kopp's Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo (driven by himself and former World Rally Champion BjÖrn Waldegard), Corolla WRC owned by twice British Champion Johnny Milner (driven by himself and three times British Champion Mark Higgins), Corolla WRC owned and driven by John Reid from Ireland and finally a Dakar Rally Land Cruiser driven by Frenchman Ronan Chabot.
But there was more to the festival than socialising and although the Rally Stage was short it was certainly very demanding with hairpins, flowing corners, gradients and even a jump! This meant that once again we were given the opportunity to do demonstration runs on the 1.7 mile Forest Stage which was designed by Hannu Mikkola in 2006. Although the runs are not meant to be competitive - try telling that to the drivers!
30/05/10 - Emcos Stage Rally Despite setting fastest times on the first three stages and leading the event by 22 seconds the Toyota Celica wasn't able to start the fourth stage due to gearbox problems and the crew were forced to retire. High hopes had been set to see if the Celica could win this event for the fourth consecutive year but sadly it wasn't meant to be. See Rally Reports for full details. 10/05/10 |
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Action on Rally Stage 
It was the first time that
Alex had driven a Rally Car except (for on ice) and he
thoroughly enjoyed the experience so much so that he went on
to do a second loop around the stage. 
Celica on Forest Rally Stage at Goodwood in 2010.
Picture taken by Alix Jones
picture by Teltphotography 
picture courtesy of Burnham on Sea Newspaper
.JPG)
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