ge5277180822327634379
ge5203963187009839462
ge5461183692610628331
ge5095693363109458749
ge5370019612007290341
James Stanford1 Jan 2008
NEWS

Rallying: Pro v Punter

Take two drivers: one a rally champ, the other a motoring writer. Take two rally cars: one a Group NP rocker, the other an ageing club racer. We put the pro in the bucket and the bunny in the rocket to find the tipping point of performance versus panache

Reigning Australian Rally Champion Simon Evans leans in the window: "I don't want to put any pressure on, but this is the car that won the Rally of Canberra [in June]. So if you don't win, it has nothing to do with the car."

Any pressure? I'm sitting in a TRD Corolla rally weapon, its hand-built turbo-boosted engine idling gruffly, seemingly impatient. I nervously flick the switch for the anti-lag. The revs rise as it pumps through extra fuel to feed the turbocharger and keep it spinning. Now it sounds angry.

My mission, improbably as it may sound, is to beat Evans. The sideways superstar had already won his second consecutive Australian Rally Championship.

I hadn't competed much since I wrote off my Datsun 1600 autocross car with a spectacular sequence of rolls, followed by a mid-air pirouette, capped off by an engine fire.

No-one could beat Evans in a fair fight this season, but ours was never meant to be fair.

We wanted to test a theory. Could a novice in a fast car beat a champion in a slower car?

The test would see champion Evans climb into a mid-1980s front-drive Corolla club car. I would drive his spare TRD Group NP all-wheel-drive racer. After three laps, we'd know if technology could conquer ability.

It would all be done on a safe, flat and relatively low-speed rally track at the Melbourne 4x4 Training and Proving Ground. No trees, telephone poles or nasty gradient. That was until an overnight rainstorm drenched the track. Facing a wash-out, we decided to use a combination of drier ground and gravel across roads on the same property.

Part of the track included a steeply rising path cut into a hillside. The ground drops away to one side of this narrow, slippery gravel road so steeply that advanced 4x4 drivers test their mettle on trecherous tracks that snake up the hill. My intestines start twisting with panic. Surely we can't use this track? But I keep quiet.

Minutes later I wriggle into the cockpit of the Toyota racer through the web of chrome-moly steel that makes up the roll cage. I had never driven an ARC car and I hadn't been able to get any test time up my sleeve.

Now I had to learn to drive it, go as fast as I could in three laps, record a reasonable time and not trash the car. My heart had already risen closer to my mouth when TRD team boss Neal Bates turned up with the Group NP Corolla. It was not the spare car was expected, but Evans' actual ARC race car.

Arriving late from a job for his concreting business, Evans warns me not to crash his championship chariot. He smiles, but I know there's a good chance I'd end up mixed into someone's new driveway if I bend it.

I'm told to flick the fuel, ignition and battery isolator levels then press the starter button. I memorise the process, expecting to stall.

The owner of the old Corolla racer, Rob Birrer, was giving Evans a quick tour of his impressively quick car that weighs just 800kg - 585kg less than the TRD Toyota. It runs an early-'90s 1.6-litre 4A-GE engine that happily revs to 8000rpm, and has a new limited-slip differential.

Evans belts himself in, raises the revs and launches with a furious 20-valve howl as the front wheels grab a the muddy survace. Within metres he has sensed the grip level and is neat and fast through the first turn. He keeps the revs high, courting the engine limiter as he tears out of sight. We can still hear the engine snarl and bark as Evans eats up the rest of the course.

His first run is a 1m14.6sec. Second time around, Evans develops a better knowledge of the car and track and whittles down his time. The watch stops at 1m12.2sec and Evans comes in relaxed and smiling, "Two runs will do. I think the brakes are getting a bit hot," he says.

Now it's my turn. The TRD Corolla lunges furiously off the line, its AWD system defying the surface as the Michelin rubber bites through the sludge for incredible traction. Almost instantly the turbo has forced the engine to 5200rpm and the big yellow shift indicator on the digital MoTec displays lights up like a traffic light.

The engine could run all the way to 8000rpm, but a 32mm restrictor means it's starved for air at the top end. Besides, this baby churns out 530Nm at 3200rpm so there's no need to ring its neck.

Arriving at the first corner, I can't get the car to stay in tight, and slide into slush outside the racing line. Not even the complex active centre differential Bates and his team developed for the Corolla can stop the car sliding sideways as I helplessly wait for it to grip.

Once straight, the Corolla picks up speed all the way to a small jump. I tap the brakes to settle the car. There is a concrete telephone pole on one side of the road and big gum trees on the other.

The Toyota lands straight, before the anchors are latched on in preparation for a second-gear left-hander preceding the climb up the hill.

Easing off the throttle produces a brutal crack and pop as the anti-lag fores unburnt fuel into the exhaust. The engine is protesting so I back off, trumpeting to the world that I'm soft and should get back on the gas.

Next is a tricky hairpin and tight left, running into a sharp right that leads back down the dreaded hill, with its frightening drop to my left. Trying not to think of crashing here is like attempting to block out the latest episode of Air Crash Investigation after the 747 you're on hits turbulence and the pilot asks you to read the emergency procedure sheet.

I run through the turns tentatively, still gauging how much grip the car has and soon the Corolla runs across the finish line. Bates doesn't tell me my time and I line up for two more runs.

The TRD Corolla has so much pace and grip that it's easy to get into trouble. Carrying far too much speed into one corner, I start to examine the run-off area, scanning for things I might hit. My eyeballs grow wider, but somehow the Toyota washes off enough speed to turn in.

A relieved Bates clicks the stopwatch button for the last time as I back off after the finish line, the engine emitting a final round of anti-lag fire. The stopwatch is frozen on 1m04.6sec - which is 7.5sec faster than Evans' best time in the old Corolla.

Mechanical genius had conquered driving skill. I survived and beat a champion - unfairly, yes, but a win is a win.

My euphoria is short lived, though, as the final part of the comparison has us swapping cars. No longer could I hide behind the shield of a turbo, two extra driving wheels and sticky tyres.

Evans tears away from the line and keeps the nose in tight, his left foot expertly riding the brake. He doesn't touch the clutch once on the entire run, matching the revs and the gears of the racing dog-box perfectly.

Evans throws his car into the corners with so much more confidence, braking far later and accelerating when I was still on the brakes.

He blazes through corners that had terrified me, drifting out to the edge of the road just metres from the daunting drop. In his first lap, Evans is 4.1sec faster than my best time. His second run is 5.6sec faster.

With ego brutally battered I head off the line in the old Toyota club racer, determined to record a decent time. A witches hat buckling under the Corolla's bumper would soon testify this was unlikely as I hopelessly overestimate the available grip.

It takes a while to adjust to the engine, which goes into a deep sleep if you change up early. I soon realise that revving it past 7000rpm won't result in a spectacular disassembly of its components and press it hard.

The car goes a lot faster than expected and I lunge onto the brakes heading towards a hairpin. The front anchors clamp sharply, locking the front wheels and the engine stalls. Keeping calm, I dip the clutch, select second and perform a bump start on the run. It works, but my first two laps are still dreadfully slow. The fear of crashing is still in the back of my mind and I try to ignore the fact the Corolla only has a half cage. "I won't need it," I tell myself.

Finally, I get used to the car and my best time on lap three is 1m14.0 - 1.8sec slower than Evans in the same car. It was still a beating, but nowhere near as bad as the merciless flogging I had received in the TRD Corolla.

It seemed the older Corolla club racer could only go so fast and I wasn't too far away from finding its limits. The TRD Corolla rally car, on the other hand, was a different beast. Its technology, which had allowed me to beat Evans, now helped him to go much quicker. It enabled the TRD Corolla to be driven so fast that skill and bravado had indeed counted for plenty ... damn it.

Pro drive
Journo James held his own in the old EA82 Corolla - just 1.8sec off the pace of Evans. The switch to the new car did him no favours, though - the margin blew out to 5.6sec.

Images: Cristian Brunelli

RESULTS
James Stanford Simon Evans
EA82 Corolla EA82 Corolla
Run 1: 1m 23.8sec 1m 14.6sec
Run 2: 1m 17.1sec 1m 12.2sec
Run 3: 1m 14.0sec DNS
TRD Corolla TRD Corolla
Run 1: 1m 10.0sec 1m 00.5sec
Run 2: 1m 04.8sec 59.0sec
Run 3: 1m 04.6sec DNS
2004 TRD COROLLA 1986 AE82 COROLLA
Engine: 2.0-litre dohc, 16v turbo (Celica GT-Four, with 32mm restrictor) 1.6-litre dohc, 20v (4A-GE)
Power: 200kW @ 5000rpm 120kW @ 7600rpm
Torque: 530Nm @ 3200rpm 162Nm @ 5600rpm
Transmission: 5-speed manual dog-box, four-wheel-drive with Neal Bates Motorsport active centre differential controller 5-speed manual, front-wheel-drive with limited-slip differential
Weight: 1385kg 800kg (estimated)
Price: $180,000 $5500
Share this article
Written byJames Stanford
See all articles
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.

If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
Download the carsales app
    AppStoreDownloadGooglePlayDownload
    App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
    © CAR Group Ltd 1999-2024
    In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.