Toyota GR Yaris brings back the homologation special

[INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC] The Toyota Ghazni racing. [MUSIC] We bought it some way that it should fail well barrier hype. This is South Wales and these roads are not only brilliant to drive, but they're surrounded by fantastic rally stages. names that will resonate to anyone that's followed Wales rally GB or the RSC or the Well, the network queue. However you think about it named like resulting Rio LA scene Gwenno tile, some amazing things you've happened in these Hills in rally cars. I don't think there has been. Another car that I can remember that people have been so excited about. I've had so many messages from people wanting a review of this people buying one people wanting to buy one. And I was trying to work out why is there such excitement about this car? I think it's a number of reasons. I think part Because 2020 hasn't exactly been great, has it? And it's nice to have some good news. Also, this is an entirely new car, and that doesn't happen very often. We're so used to cars being the next in line of something. But I suspect mostly, it's just down to the spec of this car. It's extraordinary. 14.6 meters more than on the standard Yes, yet despite the strengthening the whole car weighs just 1280 kilos. There are other cool things like ball bearings in both the turbo and suspension joints. Aluminium is also used for the transfer case and steering. Mix it all together and you've got a car that will do not 262 miles an hour and five and a half seconds is 143 miles an hour flat out. All for less than 30,000 pounds. This is so much fun. It feels like a Mini GT are almost. [BLANK_AUDIO] The spec of the interior of this car. Well, it's kind of rare. Old Mitsubishis and Subarus in terms of it's quite basic and cheap and there's some [SOUND] Scratchy plastics. But john, I kind of dig that assessing because it reminds me of those Group A homologation cars. I love the fact we've got a properly round wheel in here feels a nice sort of small diameter 13 point 6 to one This is a ratio for this, the gear shift. I mean, it's a beautifully sort of hefty mechanical gear shift. They've actually raised the lever 50 millimeters from a standard Yaris so falls nice and easily to and journalistic cliche for you, but it's true. [SOUND] I love the really. Simple analog dials in here, just white numbers on a black background with a red needle. Classic. It works [LAUGH]. Talking of working part of the appeal of this car is that it's still a Toyota and should therefore be reliable and easy to live with. It has things like radar cruise control lane keep assist and reversing camera. Apple CarPlay two Good podcast that yes, the boot is small. The battery has background now. And the seats are for those of us smaller stature only, but it's still more practical in most sports cars. Things that aren't quite so good well, the seats. Hold you nicely but that just seemed to be set a bit too high certainly if you're at all and then we've got this big screen here which actually feels like his angle for a left hand drive car. big mirror here and not really gap in between so there's a bit of a blind spot going on there. Shouldn't really need, there is a small button with IMT on it that you can press if you want the car to roadmap for you. But despite the slightly gappy pedals, I never felt the need anyway enough about the interior, because I want to talk a bit more about the extent I thought we stopped here because just over there. Is the Rhonda rally says which some of you will probably know as I put my bobble hat on for this stage for from wells rallies up 2001 which is where Colin McRae crashed. There's some great onboard footage from Richard burns Cox, he goes through the stage afterwards, and he sees the crash nearly bends it just afterwards. But of course, burns got to the end and became world champion for 2001. Take the bobble hat off because I just want to talk about the car and the whole reason for wanting to build. Homologation special because you can change an awful lot when you're building a WRC car these days, but it's the fundamental body shell that they wanted. So this is the only three door Yaris available. And in fact the only bits really remained from a Yaris are the headlights. It's up here. door mirrors. And the real lights the rest is totally bespoke to this car accident we got some lightweight panels here so we've got an aluminium bonnet aluminium doors because you can't change those with a WRC car. These are also frameless which helps them sit flusher with the body and an aluminium boot up as well. But the main reason they wanted to do this is to change the overall shape. Have the car to eight aerodynamics. So the roof up here, forged carbon sits 45 millimeters lower overall but a massive 95 millimeters lower at the back here when it should be a huge rear wing it looks slightly denuded with actual railing here. This though an awful lot of effort. For a rally car that's never gonna compete. You see, Toyota had intended to run the new GR Yaz WRC in the 2021 season of the World Rally Championship. Testing had begun and the signs were good bu then COVID-19 struck. All testing had to be canceled. And without testing, well it just wasn't feasible to get it ready in time. So the current spec Yaris, WRC will continue in 2021, and then an entirely new set of regulations coming in 2022 based around spaceframe silhouettes. This means the GRS WRC joins a list of very cool what ifs, like the group or Sadie quatro in the 2017 Polo WRC. Thankfully there will be a Rally 2, or R5 version of this car, and Toyota has in fact got special permission from the FIA to homologate a little three-cylinder engine. So it's not a complete waste from a homologation perspective, and it's certainly not a waste from an enthusiast perspective. So what's it like to drive? Well, as soon as you get into it it feels really tough. It feels really Small as well. Such a tiny wheel base. It's almost as though it's wider then it is long. [BLANK_AUDIO] I love the drive train. I love the way this gear shift feels. I love the three cylinder engine. In terms of it's respondance, it really revs. [BLANK_AUDIO] Again, feels Nicely short and punchy. So even if you're not using the top end of the revs, it's still really quick. But then if you want to hang on all the way to the red line is not one of those turbo engines that just sort of dies towards the top end. We got three handling modes, we got normal and then, track and sport. sports in the middle and that's what you really want. In normal, the torque is Standard 4060, track 5050 and then in sport 3017. This car also has a circuit pack which is an extra three and a half 1000 pounds, but for this you get torsen Limited Slip deaths front and rear, you get stiffer springs, retune dampers and firm anti roll bars. You also get forged instead of cost alloys and Michelin Pilot Sport for us instead of Dunlop sportmax tires. In terms of how the car drives, it just feels so enthusiastic. As soon as you get into it. The handling is interesting and feels really tough, really grippy. It's not it's not a playful That'd be aggressive with the throttle. The other thing you can do is LeFort brake, which just helps put some more weight pressure on the nose really helps you feel through the corner. And this is a cardio. Can the left foot braking which is really nice because most certainly hot hatches these days, won't let you do that. The AC just throws a complete wobbler but this is absolutely fine with it and you do need to do anything when you're driving really quickly. The sound of this little three cylinder Well, I love the sound of threes and wrenches and really cared for. It's definitely one of the benefits of downsizing. However, from my side it doesn't really sound like The actual four wheel drive system. Well despite being very much rear biased in the sport setting, it still feels like it's trying to just it squares the corner off and then keeps the car straight. It's not a system where you're gonna get lots of. Great playful oversteer on the throttle. Certainly not on the road anyway, just be nice to make it perhaps little bit more Mitsubishi Evo just with that really sharp turn in so that he would come around. Of course there is a little lever between the seats that could help with cornering. In fact, Toyota's own press pack actually advocates it More conventional braking is also worth mentioning actually is it feels really strong and, the pedal feels fantastically firm. Okay, affirm. The ride is definitely on, the firm side. But importantly it's never crushy or harsh. The only thing you notice is over bigger Rolling your dice from, the moment you get into it. I love the back story to it. I love this engine and gearbox. I think it's not perfect. Definitely not perfect, but I'm so glad it exists. [MUSIC] At the end of the day, with a knight to rapidly fading and me wondering how easily you could fit a lamp on the Garrison's bonnet, we headed back out of the hills to one final rally related destination. I'd be really intrigued to try a standard non circuit pack car to see if the slightly softer setup needs to feel from the front end. And conversely I was also left wondering what an even more focused version might be like and Evans addition perhaps and where is our stage end in this GR Yaris well Mark. Bringing the GRS a toy or success story. Back to the scene [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC]