The GT-Four
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Toyota Celica GT-Four Road Car
The GT-Four is a turbo-charged, four wheel drive, coupé style sports car produced by Toyota, and is a derivative of the Celica range. Confusingly, it is not known as the GT-Four in all markets. In the US, it goes by the name of All-Trac. In Europe, it is badged 4WD Turbo. Other markets know it by the name GT-Four - We use GT4 as shorthand.
The GT4 hails from the days of rallying when manufacturers were required to produce road going versions of their Rally cars (In actuality the reverse is true. Manufacturers had to produce their rally cars from their road going variants. Either way the end result is the same)
Model runs were quite limited although the GT4 has been in production in various guises since 1986 and has been successfully rallyed by Toyota and privateers for many years.
There have been 5 generations of the GF-Four dynasty to date. In chronological order these are
- ST165 Celica GT-Four
- ST185 Celica GT-Four
- ST185 CS/RC Homologation special
- ST205 Celica GT-Four
- ST205WRC homologation special
- ST215 Caldina GT-T
- ST245 Caldina GT-T
All variants feature turbo charged 3S-GTE engines and full time 4WD 5 speed transmissions In the later Caldina variants the transmission is automatic with all Celica variants using a manual transmission
ST165
The first 4WD variation of the Celica
The ST165 and the 2WD ST162 which is is based on were manufactured between 1986 and 1989
Full Specification of the ST165 GT-Four
Sadly now a rare car as rust has claimed many of them over the last 25 years
ST185
The second generation GT-Four was manufactured between between 1989 and 1993 Aside from body style mechanical changes over the ST165 predecessor were relatively minor Full Specification of the ST185 GT-Four
ST185 CS/RC Holologation special
This was a limited production model featuring extensive changes over the regular ST185 model. These special models fulfilled the homologation requirements of rallying at that time
They featured a number of upgrades over the standard 185 cars and indeed share some parts with the later ST205 models. The most notable difference is in the charge cooling system. Standard ST185s have a top mounted air to air cooler whereas the CS/RC versions have a water to air charge cooler system as found in the 165 and 205 cars. The pictures show the difference in front bumpers to accommodate the radiator for the charge cooler There are a few other variations such as limited slip rear differentials
Full Specification of the ST185CS GT-Four
ST185 Group A
This is a very rare beast. Externally identical to the standard air-to-air ST185 this model wad engineered for group N rallying It utilised a different gearbox using lower gear ratios for improved stage performance It also "featured" removed luxury componentry :- electric windows were replaced with lighter manual versions!
ST205
The third generation GT-Four was produced from 1994 to 1999
Aside from bodystyle it featured a number of mechanical upgrades over its standard ST185 predecessor including air to water chargecooling (as per the 185 homologation specials) and an upgraded engine management system and better braking package Full specification of GT-Four ST205
ST205 WRC homologation Special
A minor apgrade over the stock ST205 the WRC came eqquiped with various de-activated homologation systems which mostly cannot be re-activated
- Turbo anti-lag
- Water Injection
- Radiator water cooling spray
Aero performance was enhanced with the addition of a high level rear spoiler which produces genuine downforce at speed There was also an additional spoiler at the rear of the bonnet on JDM cars but this was standard on UK spec non WRC models already Full Specification of GT-Four ST205WRC
ST215 Caldina GT-Four
The first non Celica based GT-Four. It is based on the Toyota Avensis chassis with the 3S-GTE engine from the previous Celica based GT-FOUR models
Only available in "Estate" format it featured an automatic gearbox and is the first real practical proposition in the GT-Four family
Production ran from 1996 - circa 2000
ST245 Caldina GT-Four
Toyota Celica Rally Car
Toyota ran an extremely successful factory rally operation under the guise of TTE (Toyota Team Europe), an outfit based in Cologne, Germany
More detailed information is already available on wikepedia
