LEGENDARY Celica GT-Four: My First Drive! - Nürburgring

[00:00:00]cuz this one has the famous or infamous Toyota Super Strut suspension.

[00:00:12]That is my Toyota Celica or Chilica or Celica or I don't know every country pronounces them differently. And this is a legendary GT4 Preston. What makes it legendary?

[00:00:26]>> Uh it's a homologation special. Uh Toyota used to rally race these back in the 80s and 90s >> and they cheated a bit.

[00:00:33]>> Yeah, just a little bit.

[00:00:34]>> Yeah, >> they got away with it for a little.

[00:00:36]>> Yeah, they had a variable restrictor that was restricting during technical checkup but when you go on the boost it would derestrict itself basically same what Volkswagen did more or less with all the diesel gate things and uh yeah very smart smart fellas. The other thing that is also very smart about this particular car before we go into the specs is so-called super strut suspension. Toyota engineered it all by themselves which is sort of in between McFersonen and double wishbone. So it eliminates bump steer. It allows you more camber and therefore it also well actually handles bumps much better. It was a homologation special show for the well the superstar suspension and JDM specific and I actually found one for my Gen 7 city car and I was very curious to see and feel how this car drives. Now we always record the intros after the laps to make sure we can get on the track to and because otherwise it's going to get like 20° hotter even after uh in 10 minutes. Jokes aside, it does have BC suspension, BC coilovers, something I didn't know. And actually you only have BC, you have Tine or Tain and you have K Sports that you can get I think for the Super Strat suspension. It's a very limited particular system.

[00:01:53]>> Super limited because it's like yeah you only have essentially thousand cars made and yeah out of those thousand how many of them are going to modify it?

[00:02:01]>> All of them. Yeah. Anyway, uh we're going to have something made special as well. But going back to the specs. Um, so what do we have underneath the ST 205?

[00:02:12]>> It is a uh turbocharged 3S GTE. Uh, got a lots of little bolt-on kits tuned up to roughly about 300 310 horsepower.

[00:02:20]>> Mhm.

[00:02:21]>> Um, intake uh upgraded. Used to be a charge intercooler. All the GT4s that came with a top-mounted charge intercooler similar to Subaru, but >> yeah, that's why you you would have a scoop somewhere. Uh, but it's been, uh, swapped to a front mount.

[00:02:37]>> Uh, upgraded radiator, upgraded fans.

[00:02:40]Uh, still OEM turbo with a little bit of upgraded internals to to help with, uh, turbo lag. The CT20B is a bit laggy.

[00:02:47]>> Yeah.

[00:02:48]>> Um, obviously semi tires with OZ wheels.

[00:02:51]>> Yeah, we're on Nank Air1s. You have also upgraded endless pads on it >> and steel brake lines.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah. Which is phenomenal brake feeling, but today super super hot. There's also a lot of people spilling coolant and oil because of the heat. So, we're taking it smooth and easy, >> but uh I really love the experience.

[00:03:09]It's not the fastest car out there. It's h from those 300 horsepower, I think a lot is going lost in the transmission as well and the heat because yeah, old and allhe drive and all of that. And yeah, love the but the styling is amazing.

[00:03:25]It's really one of the most iconic cars.

[00:03:27]all the original parts that I can find, >> including rust because it's lighter than carbon fiber.

[00:03:31]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:33]>> It's It's been in Japan and the UK and that's about the worst that there is.

[00:03:36]So, I'm pretty happy with it.

[00:03:38]>> Nice. Nice. No, I loved it. I really loved it. The feel like again, it might not be the fastest, but it's a very emotional. The turbo whistles, the blowoff valves, everything. It's amazing. I think I had the same seat in my Civic.

[00:03:51]>> I have a second one.

[00:03:53]>> Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. a 5-speed gearbox, Momo steering wheel, and yeah, that's all there is to it. As mentioned, super hot today, like extremely hot, like close to 40°. Uh track temperatures are actually towards 60°. So, uh I think towards the end, the car was also a bit like didn't liking it. So, we took it off on the uh hill climb, but I was really impressed by the suspension. So, great job to Toyota. And speaking of which, looking forward to see what they're going to do with the upcoming GT3. So, uh, but we'll see that soon.

[00:04:30]Anyway, Preston, thank you so much.

[00:04:31]>> Always a pleasure.

[00:04:32]>> Really, really loved it. Really, really loved it. A unique car to drive on the channel and you guys enjoy the lap. Just tell me something off camera. I think we should repeat because you're going to come back probably in a few years time.

[00:04:44]So, we need to lock in this memory. So, what's the plan? Um, [clears throat] eventually I want to get a team started with cancer charities in honor of my sister who lost her battle.

[00:04:55]>> Uh, but to do that I will get a gener uh, Rev 4 3SGT from a Caldina and it will be a a father son project with my dad and we're going to make it a Celica from hell essentially and just do what we can.

[00:05:08]>> Nice.

[00:05:08]>> Brand new transmission, brand new brand new motor, brand new everything.

[00:05:11]>> Awesome. Well, I'm looking forward seeing Preston back with his car and do another lap hopefully in a less heat.

[00:05:18]>> Yes.

[00:05:19]>> Uh and then uh yeah, let's do it. And uh if you have some parts laying around, reach out to him. I'm sure you can help him to achieve his goal and dream.

[00:05:28]>> Everybody I can get I can get parts for anybody.

[00:05:30]>> Yeah. Nice. No problem.

[00:05:32]>> Awesome. Well, good luck. See you. And you guys enjoy the lap.

[00:05:36]>> All right. Welcome aboard of Toyota Celica GT4.

[00:05:43]No air con, hottest day of the year, and no ABS.

[00:05:51]We're going to chill.

[00:05:53]So, is it Selica Celica or Chela or something else? I'm going to keep the windows open cuz it's like close to 40° so no air con.

[00:06:08]And I don't feel like dying from heat stroke today. First impression, enough power, lots of emotion, nice pops, not pops and bangs, but turbo whistles, enough grip with the AR1s and these hot temperatures.

[00:06:27]What I'm mostly focusing on is how the front axle is behaving because this one has the famous or infamous Toyota super strut suspension which is basically in between double wishbone and McFersonen. something that Toyota engineered themselves specifically for GT4 so they could dominate even more in WRC and you name it.

[00:07:00]There's a saying that actually it was over complicated and overengineered and that the actual WRC racing team eventually afterwards just swapped back to McFersonen because it was just like too much too many components complicated the maintenance but allows more camber nearly eliminates bump steer.

[00:07:26]So if you really want to have ultimate performance should be good but maybe not in terms of serviceability.

[00:07:33]First impression is very nice. Very compliant. Front axle going quite well. Should the trips over there.

[00:07:54]The planet is moving. So, do not want it to fly off.

[00:08:03]Hasn't happened to me yet, but one day it probably will.

[00:08:21]Temperature is still okay. oil pressure as well.

[00:08:30]Hope you can hear the whistles. That's the best part about this car.

[00:08:35]Bit of crunchy synchro in the third.

[00:08:42]Very good brake pedal feel.

[00:08:52]That was nice.

[00:08:54]I'm sure the car doesn't like the heat.

[00:09:05]Something is coming out of the rear when I let go the boost. So, making sure we're not spilling any coolants. So that's the biggest nightmare.

[00:09:22]Gold four. Is that R32? At least the bumper is.

[00:09:27]Oh yeah.

[00:09:34]I'm going to have a very nice pan after this.

[00:09:48]Yeah, funny thing is I haven't driven in almost a month.

[00:09:52]My last drive was 2 weeks ago in Adacha and before that I was 2 weeks on holiday cuz we're just so hot.

[00:10:03]There was some uh something the car didn't like. There was a drop in RPM, quick stutter.

[00:10:16]Going to definitely take it easy here on the uphill.

[00:10:20]Not going to send it too much.

[00:10:25]There was a stutter again. So, yellow flag is very convenient.

[00:10:31]Can drop the windows a bit more down. I really like the car.

[00:10:37]Like, it's has decent performance. It's we need to remind ourselves it's like what 30 or so years old car. So definitely not nothing that we're used to of the last 10 years or so.

[00:10:52]Very laggy turbo, but great emotion and handling is actually really nice.

[00:11:10]And there was the stutter again.

[00:11:18]Temperature is still okay. So that's good. Oil pressure as well. Going to take it easy on this uphill.

[00:11:32]Enjoy the pan.

[00:11:47]Heat. Heat.

[00:12:06]Cruising down the ring in my GT4.

[00:12:10]Not mine, but GT4.

[00:12:33]Oh, not sure if you saw it, but he has his hand out of the window on the roof.

[00:12:40]I think the car is getting too hot, but that's very dangerous. If something is to happen, he's going to lose his hand or sheep.

[00:13:03]Yeah, the car really doesn't like it anymore. Way too hot.

[00:13:08]Yesterday I canceled all my drives as well because now it's a bit better cuz we're earlier in the morning. Wow, the curb was very nice the way it took it.

[00:13:22]I think that that's for me the biggest verification. I'm really happy with how it performed over the curb.

[00:13:56]Watching out. Watching out.

[00:14:06]Too much braking from the BMW. Not expected.

[00:14:12]No. O. Why would you break here?

[00:14:18]You can see how loose he is cuz there is no confidence and that's very dangerous through this section.

[00:14:26]I think traction control is fully saving it. Oh man, it's all over the place.

[00:14:39]I really like the way it handles.

[00:15:24]Very nice.

[00:15:26]Very very nice.

[00:15:30]That's cool.

[00:15:35]Ah, the verdict. Well, it's kind of unfortunate that it's very hot. The car doesn't like it. The driver doesn't like it. Other cars don't like it. As you can see, there are lots of cars these days that just don't even make it to the finish line. They just over boil and some of them even catch fire. So, I didn't want to be one of those guys and really backed off. The other thing I'm taking extra caution because there are lots of coolant spills as well from cars that get too hot. What I really really enjoyed is the suspension.

[00:16:10]I mean, I don't know if it has like some different springs or shocks, but I was told it's proper super strut, and I was really nice the way it handled the curbs.

[00:16:23]That makes me very happy for my suspension. The one I'm going to be putting in my Celica or Chela or Celica or Toyota or Selotka. That's how Russian keyboard autocorrected Celica for one of my recent chats.

[00:16:45]Well, I'm going to go and cool down.

[00:16:49]Oh, but one thing we need to do, you need to listen to the tunnel blow off.

[00:17:05]Didn't want to.

[00:17:08]I don't know if it I think it's probably really way too hot.

[00:17:12]H Well, it was great great fun. Hope you guys enjoy the lap.