1985 Toyota 222D Concept 1.0

Group B is infamous for putting out some of the most insane, ridiculous and fastest rally cars in history, with manufacturers from all around the world picking in on the competition. Racing teams used some of the most advanced automotive technologies and materials to squeeze out as much horsepower of an light as possible car, and this thing is no different: a ridiculous, 750 bhp, 750 kg, mid-engine, all wheel drive rally monster, that never came to be.

Toyota had already assed their capabilities in rallying. Their other model, the front engine- RWD third generation Celica, proved to be vastly dominant in the group B safari rallies, but had a large disadvantage on the twistier European stages compared to the other 4WD cars. So in 1985, Toyota Team Europe set out to create an All-Wheel Drive car to compete in Group S and potentially Group B as well.

Their basis was a first generation Toyota MR2 (AW11 platform), on which they would put a new chassis. While somewhat similar on the outside, their product was a whole different beast. In the middle laid a 2.2 liter, 16-valve Toyota 503E engine (hence the project nickname 222D - MR2 + 2.2 L engine), also used in the infamous Eagle Mk. III and Toyota 88C Group C cars. The engine, despite its small displacement, was still very much capable of putting out 750 brake horsepower. The 503E was also put in the 222, which ultimately weighed only 750 kilograms, resulting in a 1:1 power to weight ratio (roughly). For context, the Peugeot 205 T16 (that years WRC winner), had a power to weight ratio of 0.37:1.

However despite those promising stats, the project would meet a premature demise because of two reasons: a second, fatal accident during the Tour de Corse saw the FIA ban Group B cars for 1987 season, as well as Group S - which the 222D was originally intended for. And secondly, the reason you'd expect most of all; the car was borderline undrivable. The car had far too much power for how little it weighed, and combining that with its extremely short wheelbase and mid-engine layout made driving it at high speed on narrow gravel roads, pretty much a death trap.

Mercifully, the 222D made it very far through its development before being sacked. 11 were built as prototypes (because at least 10 had to be made for homologation), of which 8 were crashed during testing. That leaves us with 3 "known" examples of the car. Known between air quotes, because Toyota never officially confirmed to have made 11 cars. Of those 3 cars, two are factually known to exist - a black one stored at Gazoo Racing's facility in Köln, Germany - and a second car, supposedly RWD, that is painted white and is stored in a Toyota museum in Tokyo. The third one is speculated to have been sold to a private collector in 2017. The first one actually made an unexpected appearance during the 2007 Goodwood Festival of speed, which is why most of the information about this car even exists. I also included two "fictional" variants, to which I will get later on.


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SPECIFICATIONS:
Engine: 2140 cc inline 4
Bore x Stroke: 89 mm x 86 mm
Aspiration: Turbocharger
Fuel System: Direct Per Cylinder Injection, Race config
Redline: 8,500 RPM
Power: 758.4 BHP / 565.5 kW / 768.9PS @ 7,500 RPM
Torque: 745.0 Nm / 549.5 lb-ft @ 7,000 RPM

Chassis Type & Material: Carbon fibre Monocoque
Panel Material: Carbon fibre
Engine Placement: Mid longitudinal
Suspension: MacPherson (F & R)
Weight: 750.4 kg / 1654.3 lbs
Weight Distribution: 38/62 (front/rear)

Drivetrain: All-Wheel Drive
Gearbox: 5-speed manual
Top Speed: depends whether you can keep it in a straight line or not lmao, automation reckons a top speed of 301 kph
0-100 KPH/ 0-60 MPH: 3.3s
Differential: Geared LSD

Tire Compound: Radial, Chunky Offroad
Tire Width: 255 (F), 285 (R)
Rim Diameter & Material: 16" Alloys

Brake Type, Config and Size: 2 Piston Vented Disc, 270 (F) and 295 (R)

Wing Angle: 100 (F), 100 (R)
Downforce: yeah it has that

Power Steering: no
Traction Aids: no

Springs: Active Sport
Dampers: Semi Active
Sway Bars: Passive
Ride Height: 192 mm / 7.6 inches
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The mod itself:
This resource comes with 4 different variants of the car:

1. the "regular" 222D

This if the aforementioned 222D stored in Köln (hence also the German license plate). It's pretty much as close and accurate to its real life counterpart as I could make it (I should mention that I had to use an RS200 body).

2. 222D (RWD)

There is very little specific information known about this car so I could only base myself off of a 3 paragraph long subarticle on the wikipedia article about the MR2 and a handful of articles on obscure mid 2000s websites. One thing I found out was that "supposedly" 4 of the 11 cars made were actually RWD rather than AWD, with this being one of them. The car is mostly the same aside from being painted white, although it has a separate set of yellow fog/ rally lights, as well as having its Toyota badges placed elsewhere.

3. Replica by Wim Hapers

Sometime during 2016, fellow Belgian and car enthusiast Wim Hapers started working on a passion project of making a full scale replica of the 222D prototype. His basis was, just like the real cars, a rusty Mark 1 Toyota MR2. He then used detailed photographs and the few official measurements that existed of the project to create a bodykit which he would fit over the MR2's body. He also swapped the 1.6 liter 4A-GE engine in favor of a turbocharged 3S-GTE engine, as found in the second generation SW20 MR2 and the Celica ST205. Fast forward to summer of 2021 and Hapers' project is nearly finished. The car is fully functional and has already appeared at a number of motoring events, such as at a trackday at the Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet and the Course de Côte de Sy hillclimb, and according to a news article on Hagerty, will appear later this year at the Glosso circuit in Arendonk for a charity event.

This car varies from the other 3, since it "only" has 285 horsepower rather than 754, is on sports compound tires, has RWD, and somehow? weighs 100 kg less.
(I should also mention that the website URL on the side and spoiler was purely added for the sake of being an accurate replica of the car, it is not a product plug)

4. Group B

I mean it wouldn't be a replica of a Group B/ Group S rally car if I didn't include a sponsored rally spec. The livery is inspired by the red-green-and-white, Castrol sponsored Celica Group A cars, however this time boasting a red-yellow-and-white colour scheme, as well as being sponsored by Gasól (of which the name suddenly faded black upon exporting this thing for the final time, thanks automation). And yes it's #69, I am that mature.


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DRIVING THE CAR:
as you'd expect, a car with 750 bhp that weighs about the same in kilograms is borderline undrivable. Combine that with its short wheelbase and mid engine layout, and you've got a car that is actively trying to kill you. However there's also a handful of other factors that make driving this thing so perilous;
>it has no ABS and locks up very easily
>this thing has the BIGGEST turbo lag I think I've ever seen in any vehicle
>in true Group B spirit the turbos only kick in after 4000 rpm and 5-8k is pretty much instant, especially in 2nd and 3rd gear


>the car is very happy to clutch dump
>for whatever reason this car has the WORST gearbox I have ever seen, seriously, shifting up takes about an entire second in the worst cases, and that's with clutch assistant ON. Using the clutch manually does help a little bit but still takes a very long time. This genuinely surprised me since I quality spammed the gearbox in automation and also left the trim year at 2012, so my only guess is that the engine is literally TOO POWERFUL for the gearbox to handle.
>as mentioned above the car doesn't really have a confirmed top speed in beam, because the car starts spinning out on its own in excess of 270 kph. To add on to this, if you violently start spinning at over 230 kph it has a chance TO LIFT OFF (to a certain degree).

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PICTURES