Track Stars: 1983 Toyota Corolla 1.8SE Liftback (TE72)

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Why did you choose to race this car?

There’s a bit of a backstory to this car and how it came about. The question was: how could a group of friends go racing on a tight budget without drag- or oval-track racing. Karting was ruled out, as were traditional routes like Formula Vee. Then we heard about a 24-hour endurance race for cars costing less than R55 000. Divided among a team of four, the costs suddenly become much more manageable.

The intention was to build a car that could do more than just endurance racing, and as we are all fond of drifting, something rear-wheel-drive would allow us to practice drifting as well. When we found the Corolla online for a mere R12 000, we thought that could be the answer. Little did we know…

We negotiated the owner down to R8 000 and drove the car home; something we realise in hindsight we never should have done. It had no brakes, the tyres had steelbelt ‘mohawks’, and the interior looked like the bathroom from Trainspotting.

However, all the team members had some knowledge of the KE70/TE72/AE68 , so we knew we could turn this into a workable recipe.

What major challenges have you faced?

Life. Life sometimes gets in the way when you’re tackling a large commitment like a racecar. As such, a few members have departed, and others have joined. The team aspect of things has always been fluid, but Chad and Ray have been consistent and have been guiding the project forward. 

Aside from that, the car’s age and pockmarked history have presented their own set of challenges. We wanted to keep the car road legal so we could drive to and from events if need be, plus it’s always more fun beating the trailer queens in a car with a license disc and RWC.

Brakes have been our biggest nemesis, and while the original rulebook for iLamuna didn’t cap spend on safety, including brakes, finding an effective solution on a budget has been tricky. The car now runs a mishmash of Audi A4 calipers with 280 mm Nissan S13 discs, vastly improving performance but still far from where the team would like them to be.

Was it a good choice to go racing with this model? 

We like to believe so. The car has amazing handling and corners exceptionally fast, even when fitted with the spec Dunlop road tyres as required by the iLamuna regulations. The FR layout allows us to spread the workload between both axles, and on the tight twists and turns of Red Star Raceway, it offers a distinct advantage over many FWD competitors.

The robust engineering of the Toyota components has also meant that, in general, reliability and durability have allowed us to enjoy the car more, with less downtime, while the affordability of older Toyota parts has made maintenance more palatable.

What has been your best achievement with this car to date?

Simply making the start line of a 24-hour race is an achievement. We have to concede that this would not be possible without assistance, and we’re so very fortunate to receive support from Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and Hestico Plastic Packaging Equipment.

We’ve progressively brought the car down from a 2 min 42 sec lap time at RSR to a competitive 2 min 30 sec over the years, but our proudest accomplishments have been the three successive 24-hour races that we’ve completed, each time placing a little better than the last.