Toyota Team Europe: the untold stories of the Celica ST185 in WRC with Nicky Grist & Don Woolfield

[@donfinch862]

I saw one of these cars here near Perth, Australia on the first WRC trial. Carlos was flat out up a hill out of sight and appeared over a crest into a slight right hander. WOW. My friend and I looked at each other after with our mouths wide open in amazement. We'd done a lot of local rally spectating, but this was another level. The car sounded wonderful and the way Carlos had it balanced on the road - the "ball bearing" gravel we have - was so impressive. I'll never forget that.

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Great story! Love it. Thanks for sharing.

[@Tom-lf8hx]

How good was rally aust ❤ the bunnings stage with the jumps, water splash and carlos rolling it aswell

[@donfinch862]

Was awesome mate, a great intro to top level rally. I forgot about Carlos rolling

[@Tom-lf8hx]

@@donfinch862 yeah it happend right in front of me, i still remember them tellibg us to move back as if we didnt i would of been hit

[@Lou-f]

And Carlos throwing his helmet through the back glass, is my enduring memory 🤪

[@daven7185]

Nicky, you have a top man there of Don. From the time I met him back in 1988, he had racing in his blood then, working with Don at a Toyota dealership helping him build his off-roader here in New Zealand and for him to go on to TTE later on was a dream of Don's. Have to mention love the photo of us two at 2.11 at the Greenlane showgrounds!! Very special!

[@TheTenderhooligan]

Iconic car, iconic driver and co-driver. Also, that's a really nice tribute to Colin you've got up on the wall there! Great video Nicky, this stuff is like mana from heaven for rally nerds like me. Fantastic to see Don's passion - rallying happens cos of blokes like him.

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Thanks for the kind words

[@stevepascoe]

Owner of #69 Aus delivered Group A here. My 5th Celica 😍 love this car.

[@Danger_mouse]

15:50 I remember our second night spectating at Rally Australia one year, we set up inside the service tent to watch the TTE service Carlos' car. At one point the ignition switch was accidentally turned while a tech had his hands in around the rear driveshaft. He suffered an injury (luckily not too bad), but the amazing thing was another mechanic took the remaining work over without a word... No 'He Bernie, where are you up to'? The change was just completed and the car sent out to Park Ferme. Very polished indeed. 👍

[@jakub_frohlich]

Thanks so much Nicky for uncovering so much of the behind the scenes info from your Toyota era. can´t wait for part two.

[@RhoryBurnside]

I knew this car when it first came to Ireland (1997ish ) and i used to go and help the owner when it was going out on events and, as a 16yr old, it was a dream come true and i can say i lived my dream's each weekend i went to his workshop, everything about it was first class, the sound, the smells, the acceleration (when i got a run out in it) was magical. I always thought the headlights stayed up to reduce weight rather than cooling ( no need for the motor/mechanism to lift and lower the lights so its saved weight )

[@Hamish1968]

Great stuff, nice to see Don and Nicky talking so knowledgeably about this well-loved car.

[@happyguy6911]

Fantastic insight, thanks for sharing. I'd love to see the service crews changing the gearbox and clutch during service to see how they work their magic. I changed the clutch on my st185 road car and it took a whole day, had to remove the entire engine.

[@Rontti]

The best rally car ever!

[@nickygristmotorsports]

She's a beauty!

[@flat4-]

Thanks for the great video..... This car steered (correction , mastered) by Juha in the rAC on snow and ice, and of course the Gwynno stage onboard with Colin in the focus are my personally most watched onboard footage....

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Glad you like the videos! Flat out!

[@ricardofernandes7303]

I love these stories so much

[@EDGEDAZZA]

Best rally car ever

[@silverbacksworld]

Just totally brilliant thanks - a beautiful car.

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Glad you love it!

[@jamesbondenry]

I remember the 1994 1000 Lakes Rally where he came back to 9th place after the crash that car managed to move even with an incredible broken wheel!!!!

[@novesforanada]

Thanks for the share. Please! Keep doing it!

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Thanks so much for the feedback. More videos coming soon.

[@supremefantastic]

I can't understand why the camerman is holding the camera so far away when you talked about the engine. It would be interesting to see the parts of it in detail. Did you build the engine and car yourself, Nicky? Best wishes from a swedish toyota and historic rally fan ❤

[@shamil808]

My kind of storytime. Waiting eagerly for part two. Fantastic insight into TTE and the ST185. Lovely to have a peek under the bonnet as well. Mr. Grist said it's a Carlos Sainz car, but there's a Finnish flag on the roof scoop. So Juha's raced it too? 🤔

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Nicky wanted it to replicate Juha's car, hence the Finnish flag!

[@XLargeEric]

"Not much stock parts." Oh yes, I´ve noticed reading the FIA homologation documents and compared the pictures to my ST185CS road car. And had the chance to compare my car one to one to the Safari car from the TTE museum when lenting my car to Toyota Germany for promotion in 2012 and they parked it next to the safari car.

[@181racing]

TTE had a great team there , Toyota reputation for great cars over the years , was well represented with TTE ❤ great icons of rallying ❤❤🏁🏁🏁🏁

[@endawalsh1]

Great video Nicky......just to pick up on the "irish guys" not keeping it original, i would imagine nobody expected those group A cars would be so collectable in the future and were just trying to have fun rallying and keeping their cars running as long as they could within their budget...... By the time they got them they were uncompetitive and lucky to find a buyer who kept them competing..... Keep up the good work with the videos .... maybe you can use your contacts to get some more background tech from the group A era . Well done Nicky

[@chasekolynko]

I’m looking into buying one for myself here and I’m curious on if they were ran in the WRC without the bypass in the intake? And how effective they were without them

[@181racing]

Great video ❤❤🏁🏁🏁

[@optimo9786]

Great video love it the 185 is just right rally car. On a side note guys TTE built the Toyota Carina BTCC Cars over the winter of 94 for the 95 season does anyone have any information or remember this programme going through the TTE workshops? First time TTE worked on circuit racing car?

[@wolfen_hart]

Awesome car! Too bad it doesn't have the O.Z Racing Crono wheels, I can see them on the rack in the background though

[@mrivantchernegovski3869]

I was just racing the same ST185 GT4 on Gran Turismo

[@paulfomin8945]

I fell I love with Toyota cos of this car......I still drive a Toyota to this day 😂

[@marfrandema1884]

Love the CELICA GT4, you have a great ally in your amazing mechanic. Nicky did you test paddle shift or something similar as subaru did?. Juha didn't needed to use the clutch, right?

[@nickygristmotorsports]

Don does a great job. Thanks for the kind words.

[@michaelb6729]

12:45 .... the turbo restrictor ??? 🫢🤫🙂

[@strahinjastevic7480]

Wrong celica

[@MohdjesriOthman-oi1id]

i want know this Celica gt4 st 185 carlos sainz edition model, is it same

[@explodingrabbit51]

21:31 clearly that advice was forgotten during the LMP1 program...