Why was Toyota the only manufacturer who took under 2-litre Group A racing seriously?

[Graham Clayton]

Does anyone know why Toyota was the only manufacturer who regularly and frequently homologated their models for under 2-litre Group A racing? Did none of the other manufacturers in the world have under 2-litre cars that could be made competitive under Group A rules?

[KA]

Toyota certainly weren't the only manufacturer to homologate cars for the small capacity classes, but for whatever reason, most of the other cars that were competitive in the 'baby' class (and it probably didn't help that Australia had a class split at 2-litres, whereas Europe and Japan split the classes at 1600 and 2500cc) didn't find their way to Australia.

Ford were successful early on in the BTCC 1600cc class with the fwd Escort RS1600i, which was a regular class winner over here in 1983/4/5, but fell off the pace after that, and Honda had a 1600cc Civic which was very fast at home in Japan- but few serious Honda efforts were seen other than at home. When one turned up in the BTCC in 1989, it proved to be more than a match for the Corollas.

Did GM import the Astra/Kadett to Australia under the Holden name in the late 80s? When the BTCC altered it's class structure to bring in a 1600-2000cc class in the late 80's, the 2-litre 16v Astra GTE proved to be a very useful piece of kit, which dominated the class (albeit against limited Golf GTi opposition) in 1989 with John Cleland, and I suspect a 2-litre Astra in capable hands would have slaughtered the Corollas down under...

It's a funny thing, that IIRC I've mentioned in some of the other Group A threads- the three main 'markets' for the Group A touring car ruleset, UK/Europe, Japan and Australia all had cars which were very competitive in their 'home' market, but were almost unknown elsewhere, usually because the base model wasn't sold in all markets.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by KA

Did GM import the Astra/Kadett to Australia under the Holden name in the late 80s?

We did get that shape Astra/Kadett in Australia in the 1990s, sold as a Daewoo (just with a different grille)

In the late-80s the 'small' Holden's (called Nova's) sold in Australia were actually re-badged Toyota Corolla's.

[GTRMagic]

Gibson Motorsport ran a 2 litre Nissan Gazelle in the under 2 litre championship. Originally a Nissan dealer customer car, it became a part of the works family when multiple Bathurst & championship winner Mark Skaife used that car to race at Bathurst back in 1987... alongside another, different Nissan dealer...

In 1986 form...


In 1987 form.... facing the wrong way after a crash at Amaroo Park...


In privateer form...


But Nissan here didnt mind running class cars in the main game at the time. Their strength was in the participation, not just the winning. Ahhh the good old days

[chunterer]

One of those ran in Germany as well?

To add to KA's post, Ford made sure they had a decent homologated car in the RS1600i in the early days of Group A and then Toyota took ocer tbe class mantle.

That PG Tips Civic was indecently quick in the 1989 BTCC and often ran close to Cleland and ahead of the Golf 16 valves' in the class above iirc.

VW also had a potent car in the mk1 Golf Gti in Europe but perhaps should've had more than one good season in the UK?

One car I thought would've done well in the right hands was the Fiat Strada or lattetly, Tipo but both were 2.0 cars?

[andy97]

Originally Posted by chunterer

One car I thought would've done well in the right hands was the Fiat Strada or lattetly, Tipo but bith were 2.0 cars?

Certainly the Strada/ Ritmo did OK in rallying with a 1500 SOHC engine and I did see for sale a fair while ago (I was tempted) and Ex DTM 2 litre Ritmo Twin Cam from when the DTM ran in classes for Group A cars. Generally, though, I think they were prevalent in Italy only, and competing against Alfa Suds etc

[Umai Naa]

Originally Posted by chunterer

One of those ran in Germany as well?

Yes, that's correct.

[KA]

Originally Posted by andy97

Certainly the Strada/ Ritmo did OK in rallying with a 1500 SOHC engine and I did see for sale a fair while ago (I was tempted) and Ex DTM 2 litre Ritmo Twin Cam from when the DTM ran in classes for Group A cars. Generally, though, I think they were prevalent in Italy only, and competing against Alfa Suds etc

The 2-litre Abarth 130TC was pretty popular in prodsaloons in the first half of the 80s as I remember, but I guess there wasn't much future in going the Group A touring car route with the class breaks being at 1600 and 2500cc

There were some factory-backed(?) Uno Turbos in European Group A rallying around 85/86 as well, but not a lot of racing activity outside the domestic Italian scene- An Aussie team did build one for Bathurst in '86, but didn't achieve much with it- they had some major electronic issues and the car was very slow- IIRC, later testing suggested it had far more potential than the Bathurst outing had shown, but I don't think the budget was there to take the project much further. Patrick Watts had one for Prodsaloons in the UK, and as I remember took an outright win against the Starions and RS Turbos, on a day when it was peeing down with rain, possibly at Cadwell...?