Fifth Gear at Castle Combe.

[meirion]

The Castle Combe story.

We arrived early in the frost and mist. I did a few miles of rally driving down muddy single track lanes when the sat-nav sent me on a wild goose chase. Useless piece of crap!!!! Got in eventually.

The Fifth Gear lads were busy getting all the video gear sorted and I stood around like a spare part.

The Celica was absolutely rancid after 180 miles on the motorway and several miles of muddy backlane so she got a wash and polish before the cameras rolled.

The Celica was bristling with GoPro cameras and microphones when Jason Plato arrived. We all got introduced then it was back to business.

The Celica was set up with all the electronics required and Plato jumped in. His warm-up lap looked fast as hell and then he was on it. Jeez, it looked bloody quick. You could hear the brrrrraap of him hitting the apexes and the squeal of the tyres as they were made to pay the price.

The Yaris was next and all I can say is WOW!!!! That thing was like a little missile. Plato was amazed by it. He commented on the suspension being absolutely spot-on. He loved everything about it apart from the synthetic noise played into the cabin.

This pattern was repeated several times during the day with cameramen changing positions and the drone operator also moving around the circuit to get enough shots.

Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 WRC - BEST LAP 1min 25secs.

Yaris GR4 - BEST LAP 1min 17secs.

The lap time for the Yaris says it all, it's a proper little beast and outstanding track tool. Well done Toyota, nearly 27 years since the ST205 was built and 98000 miles later it's just 8secs behind the new king of the hot hatches.

[jeffers]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us mate.

Looking forward to seeing it 

[meirion]

They reckoned on it being on their YouTube channel within a couple of weeks. No idea about TV. They are playing massive catch-up with not being able to film during lockdown.

[oldredcelica]

I await the link.

[dinger]

Great report Meirion, really enjoyed reading it. I was at Castle Combe for Rally Day last September in my MR2 before driving up to the Club National Rally/AGM on the Saturday evening. We didn't get onto the circuit but it seemed a quick layout and based in lovely countryside and friendly folk.

Really look forward to the TV coverage. The Celica 205 GT4 the best performance Toyota, until the arrival of the Yaris in GRMN and now the GR4 versions. The Celica GT4s in 165 and 185 versions really needed a bit more power. The Yaris GR4 getting rave reviews in the press, but no official test yet in Autocar magazine, who give the best and most comprehensive performance figures. Jeff and I have compared the Autocar figures for his Celica 205 GT4 and my Yaris GRMN. Nothing between them up to about 70mph with the lighter GRMN pulling away beyond the ton. So I reckon if Plato had tried a GRMN he would have come in somewhere between the new Yaris and your Celica.

Well done again and will be great publicity for the Club and the Celica 205 GT4. Fantastic to see your car doing what it was built for and not just an over polished trailer queen.

[oldredcelica]

The video will be on Youtube soon.