For the second week in a row, we’ve picked an ultra-rare racing car from our Suggestions Forum.
This week marks the 31st anniversary of an infamous Tour de Corse round of the World Rally Championship. The events of that race caused the cancellation of the high-powered Group B category and with it Toyota’s 222D.
Originally conceived of as a Group S car, the 222D was a first generation Toyota MR2 underneath. Selected for its mid-engined layout, the first 222D prototype used a 2.0-liter turbo engine and an all-wheel drive system. These came from the next generation Celica GT-Four, itself still in development.
Alongside packing the required 300 hp, the little Toyota was a featherweight. Coming in at just 1,700 lbs, the 222D was 40% lighter than 2016’s World Rally cars, with the same horsepower.
Toyota refined the car over 1985, building 10 of the 20 required examples for Group S homologation. The car was almost ready for competition.
But then the high-profile fatal crashes involving Lancia and Ford saw Group B banned. Group S, scheduled to replace it in 1987, was also cancelled and, despite two years of work, the 222D was abandoned.
Group A became the top category of rallying so, instead of the 222D, Toyota campaigned a three-liter Supra over 1987. The brand’s day in the sun would soon come though, as its Celica proved the rally car to beat in the early 1990s.
Sadly, the 222D’s destiny was never to race competitively. Of the ten cars reportedly made, only two Toyota 222D development prototypes still exist. A white version is displayed at the Toyota Mega Web showroom in Tokyo, and Toyota Europe holds the keys to the black car.
See more articles on Group B, Suggestions Forum, Toyota, and Wednesday Want.
