Toyota MR2 (W10) 222D Group B Rally Car 1986

[guywithanAE86]

This thing's super cool, and I'd dig to see it in GT6.
The 1986 Group B Toyota MR2 (AW11) Rally car.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Hell yes. This, absolutely.

 

[McZachenF1138]

How did I not know this thing existed? Brilliant!

 

[side_winder_9]

Its called the Toyota 222D.

 

[Deko Wolf-GTPT]

Never knew it was based on a MR2.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

I read that it weighs 750kg and can (reportedly) produce 750bhp!
WOAH!

 

[L8 Apex]

Technically, it was built for the Group S formula, which was to have replaced Group B in 1987 before it too was canceled.

But yeah, this thing absolutely should be in!

 

[Johnny1996]

Oh dear, I might have just found the most badass Toyota on the planet.

Please put it in!

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Indeed. They tried quite a few things with it, longitudinal engine for example. And said engine was 503E, if memory serves.

 

[Johnny1996]

The first pic of the car makes it look like its at a GT5 Photo Travel location, so let's hope that's a good omen.

 

[guywithanAE86]

I read that it weighs 750kg and can (reportedly) produce 750bhp!
WOAH!

They used a different engine for it at it's surprise appearance at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Since it never competed, we don't know what it woulda really used if it raced. I wager it would either be a custom 20V 4-AGE or the 3S-GTE engine most of Toyota's racing cars used back then =P

Super cool car though and we need it!

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

While Toyota's front-engine, rear-drive Celica rally cars proved dominant in the African Group B rallies of the 1980s, they were at a disadvantage on the twistier European stages. Thus, in 1985 Toyota Team Europe started a rally project codenamed "222D" based on the MR2, for competition in Group S and potentially Group B as well. Though somewhat similar on the outside, it's clear that it shared very little with the production car. Little is known about this project because it never competed before Group B was canceled in 1986.

During a surprise appearance at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota drove and displayed a black 222D. The race-ready car weighed around 750 kilograms (1,700 lb) and its transverse-mounted, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine (what appears to be a 503E race engine, though other prototypes may have used the 4T-GTE) was reported to produce as much as 750 horsepower (560 kW).[15][16] A V6-powered prototype was also rumored to exist, but has never been seen in public.

 

[Amac500]

@guywithanAE86 You should change the thread name to Toyota 222D rather than MR2 because, well it's the car's actual name, lol. Call it like "Toyota 222D (Group B rally car)" for the sake of accuracy and searches. It'll help get the car the attention it needs/deserves! Definitely a car I want to see in the game and with this car's historic tie to Goodwood, who knows, maybe we'll get it.

 

[guywithanAE86]

I edited it lol. But it IS an MR2 so I am keeping that. People need to know that the AW11 MR2 could have become something really wonderful had it raced. But yeah awesome car nonetheless.

 

[Amac500]

I edited it lol. But it IS an MR2 so I am keeping that. People need to know that the AW11 MR2 could have become something really wonderful had it raced. But yeah awesome car nonetheless.

Perhaps add the AW11 MR2 part in parenthesis since than, like Toyota 222D (AW11 MR2 Group B rally car). Btw, the are three-2's, ya left one out, lol.

It's crazy how different the Group B cars were from the street cars. The 222D was based off the MR2, but mechanically it was a completely different animal. It utilized a different engine and was to be AWD, rather than RWD. It was based as loosely on the MR2 as any other Group B car was with its street production counterpart, which is to say mostly a marketing exercise. It wasn't quite as different as the Delta S4 though, lol, that was not a Delta!

 

[guywithanAE86]

Perhaps add the AW11 MR2 part in parenthesis since than, like Toyota 222D (AW11 MR2 Group B rally car). Btw, the are three-2's, ya left one out, lol.

It's crazy how different the Group B cars were from the street cars. The 222D was based off the MR2, but mechanically it was a completely different animal. It utilized a different engine and was to be AWD, rather than RWD. It was based as loosely on the MR2 as any other Group B car was with its street production counterpart, which is to say mostly a marketing exercise. It wasn't quite as different as the Delta S4 though, lol, that was not a Delta!

I'll say. The only thing the AW11 shared with the rally car was probably just the chassis, and even that was beefed up to match rallying =P I bet if this car raced the Delta S4 would have had a much harder time winning group B

 

[Amac500]

I'll say. The only thing the AW11 shared with the rally car was probably just the chassis, and even that was beefed up to match rallying =P I bet if this car raced the Delta S4 would have had a much harder time winning group B

Yes, the Delta was certainly the most eccentric Group B car and it was in fact champion... for 11 days! Haha, I won't get into the controversy of 1986 cus I feel like I'm flooding this thread a bit, sorry about that!

I will say though, if it is true that the 222D only weighed 750kg, I don't think it would have been aloud to compete in Group B. There were 4 different classes for weight and wheel width, corresponding with engine displacement and aspiration, blah blah blah. But I think the lightest of these classes was 820kg, thus making the 222D too light. However, this car was coming about at the end of Group B when a number of teams were looking at development for Group S, and the 222D was being prepared with Group S in mind. One of the rumors that I've heard was that a change to the purposed rules for Group S made the engine in the Toyota ineligible, thus killing the car. Of course the sanctioning body ultimately made the worst decision in the history of rallying and adopted the less popular Group A rather than S, throwing everybody's development programs out the window.

 

[guywithanAE86]

Finally found a decent pic of the interior:

All hail the golf ball shift knob. And yes that's a regular manual, no sequential stuff here =P

 

[spsajewski]

I know this is a pretty old thread, but I also would love to see this car in a GT game. To back up my point, I created the 222D as best I could in GT5. Understandably, it's a monster.

 

[Epic B]

That thing looks awesome. With that much power, AWD and such light weight, this could be a monster.

 

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Wednesday Want: Toyota 222D
We're back in the 1980s this week, for a rally car that was killed off before it ever turned a wheel in anger...

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on May 10th, 2017 in the Car Culture category.

 

[Robin]

WRC needs to get back to this sort of stuff. With modern materials and improved safety as well as crowd control cars like this Toyota should race again. Instead we have a little Yaris!

 

[Pfei]

Wanna drive it? It's in Sébastien Loeb Rally Evo as DLC.