Toyota’s Rally-Build GR86 Honors a Bygone Era

What could be better than a turbocharged version of Toyota’s beloved modern sports coupe, the GR86? One with the turbo three-cylinder engine from the GR Corolla, of course. The powerplant is essentially pulled from the homologation version of Toyota’s smaller hatchback, the GR Yaris—you know, the one that’s won the last four World Rally Championships.

Meet the GR86 Rally Legacy Concept, one of Toyota’s many badass concepts it brought to the industry-only, aftermarket-centric SEMA show this year. Our own Larry Chen got a peek at this build back in June, when Eimer Engineering and Evasive Motorsports were in the middle of the project. Custom solutions abounded, especially because they were fitting the AWD system from the GR Corolla into the low-slung coupe along with the hatchback’s 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine and manual transmission. A custom subframe and engine mounts, plus custom coilovers and control arms only scratch the surface of the modifications here.

Beyond the driveline swap, Eimer and Evasive stripped the interior, added a full roll cage, plus a suede-finished Sparco race seat and steering wheel, a race ECU, and an oil cooler for the engine. As finishing touches, the collaborators also fitted a set of mudflaps, a custom exhaust, and a spoiler designed to recall the Celica GT-Four. Splashes of red and green over white call up the Castrol livery of yore.

“The GR86 Rally Legacy Concept is a testament to Toyota’s enduring passion for rally racing,” said Mike Tripp, group vice president of Toyota Marketing. “We did this build for our GR and Toyota Rally fans—it’s a fantasy car come to life, our way of celebrating our past achievements and the possibility of the World Rally Championship making a return to the United States.”

Toyota has good reason to celebrate its success in rally competition. Not only did the Celica win three WRC drivers’ championships and two manufacturers’ titles back in the ’80s and ’90s, but Toyota is currently dominating the series, winning the last four WRC titles with its GR Yaris. The last time Toyota won a WRC title before its current win streak was in 1994, with a Celica GT-4, which this SEMA build honors. (Don’t ask Toyota about 1995.)

There is some light irony about this project, since Toyota’s rally program moved from coupes to hatchbacks in the late ’90s to stay competitive, and has now swapped the engine (and FWD-oriented AWD system) from its current rally-winning competitor, a hatchback, into … a rear-wheel drive coupe. In this author’s opinion, restomodding an ’80s or ’90s Celica with the driveline from the GR Yaris would—in theory, if not in practice—make more sense. Then, if Toyota really wanted a GR 86 project, they could put the twin-turbo V-6 from its endurance-racing GR010 prototype into a GR86—make it mid-engined, while you’re at it! Hey, maybe that’s the plan for 2025. Toyota has a WEC manufacturer’s title to celebrate, after all …

As a build, we respect this concept, and we can’t get enough of the rough-and-tumble look applied to the 86. But don’t get your hopes up that we’ll see the 86 supplant the Yaris in WRC—modern rally is chock full of hot hatches that, with their short wheelbases and overhangs are more suited to the brief. Besides, why change a good (and very successful) thing?

So, while Toyota (and everyone, really) should rightly be excited about rumors of the WRC returning to the U.S., the low-flying GR vehicle in our airspace won’t be the 86. Its competition takes place on road courses rather than rally stages: Toyota built an entire spec series for it, called GR Cup. Enjoy this nostalgic SEMA build for what it is, then: A testament to some talented fabricators and car builders, and a salute to a bygone era.