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The infamous Toyota MR2 Group S

Submitted by on April 23, 2014

1979916_752164884816797_224281252_oIt was completed but never competed. Let’s take a look at Toyota’s forgotten rally monster.

Group S was a stillborn class of rallying which was canned alongside Group B in 1986. Originally slanted to replace the outgoing Group B with an exciting power-limiting formula not dissimilar to current WRC, Group S was instead shelved along with Group B, in favor of the considerably less exciting Group A.

The rules for Group S were to stipulate that competing cars be limited to 300hp, and that only ten models needed to be built for homogolation. Group B had previously demanded 200 be built, meaning that Group S could have been responsible for some seriously creative, wild builds had it been allowed to run its course.

As a result, only a handful of prototypes were built – including 11 Toyota 222Ds, like the one you see here today. 1601970_752164781483474_1112064737_o The 222D was based on the AW11 MR2, however as you can see – the level of modification was extreme. 1939757_752164851483467_109360858_oThe engine was lifted from the 1980s Toyota Le Mans cars, a 2,140cc, 16-valve, dry-sump inline four-cylinder DOHC turbocharged piece known as the 503E.

680510_752164784816807_6779224_oTake a look at this video of one making noise around Goodwood:

Here they appear to be just hooning it around the carpark, as you do:

1907729_752164788150140_725952804_o  1052305_752164908150128_1489724214_o  857677_752164891483463_419285462_o  914074_752164934816792_108605664_o

 

Images thanks to Toyota Motorsport.

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