The picture above is showing the first usage of the Toyota AE86 in Rally sports and possibly also the first use of the AE86 in motorsports at all!
The screenshot was taken from a collection of videos (13 in total!) of the first AE86 to be entered the All Japan Rally Championship B Class. This particular round was held on June 4th and 5th 1983. Since Toyota first started the AE86 production in May 1983, these brand new hachis must still have smelled like a typical 1983-era Japanese Toyota showroom when they rolled up to compete in this rally!
Hit the jump for the videos and more history!
You can see this 2 door Corolla Levin AE86 in the fifth video:
The car is driven by Rin Akira and Kase Yuuzi and it is mentioned as being “a new machine”. :)
Funny enough the car gets a big applause. This in contrary of the previous competitors. Maybe because they were really kicking up some dirt or could it be that the new Corolla got a warm welcome from the audience?
The next Corolla Levin is seen in the seventh video:
Number 11 is driven by Masamune Shigeo and Nagasaka Masumi.
And two other AE86s are in the ninth video:
The Sprinter Trueno number 17 is driven by Katsuta Teruo and Ogawa and is also announced as a new machine. The Corolla Levin number 19 is driven by Inada Syouzi and Hotta Noriyuki.
In the eleventh video the Sprinter Trueno gets in trouble:
It looks like they had suspension problems. Most probably a problem with the left strut.
Other cars to be seen in the videos:
Toyota Celica TA63/TA64
Toyota Starlet KP61
Toyota Corolla Levin (TE71)
Isuzu Gemini PF60
Nissan Silvia S110
Nissan Bluebird 910
Subaru Leone AB5 (4WD)
Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo A175A
In the end, not surprisingly, the Toyota Celica TA64 won. The TA64 was one of the homologated 3T-GTE models, so relax: it was not the TA64 monster which dominated the Group B of the WRC during the early 80s. Comparing the TA64 with the AE86 it is still amazing is that a Corolla Levin AE86 (number 19) took second place only a few points away from the TA64. While doing this it beats a Isuzu Gemini PF60 and a Lancer Turbo A175A, not a bad achievement for a car which never had been used in motorsports yet! :P
If you want to see the whole video, I’ve added them in the correct order in this playlist:
All Japan Rally Championship 1983 playlist
And if you are interested in the results, you can find them here:
All Japan Rally Championship 1983 results (Japanese)
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