RallySport Magazine April 2017

RETRO: TOYOTA’S DARKEST HOUR
TURBOGATE
Toyota have had a glorious
return to the World Rally
Championship, with Jari-Matti
Latvala finishing second at Monte Carlo
and then winning in Sweden.
The early successes of 2017 are a
far cry from 1995, however, when
the factory Toyota team were caught
cheating. It was, without doubt, the
company’s darkest hour in motorsport.
Martin Holmes’ annual World Rallying
book from 1995 explains how it all
happened.
~~~~~
At an extraordinary World Motor
Sport Council meeting on
November 3, Toyota Team Europe was
excluded from the 1995 World Rally
Championship and suspended from
competition for 12 months.
This came as a result of competing in
Catalunya with a turbo restrictor that
failed the scrutineer’s inspection on
three counts:
1. The restrictor was not sealed so
it was possible to move it without
touching the seals;
2. It was possible for air to enter
the engine without passing the
restrictor, and;
3. The position of the restrictor
could be moved so it was further
away from the turbine than the
50mm limit permitted.
FIA President, Max Mosley, said
Toyota’s air inlet system was “The
most sophisticated and ingenious
device I have ever seen in 30 years
of motorsport, or indeed had any
other member of the World Council,
scrutineers or technical experts.
“The marvel of the system was that it
was completely concealed under a hose
which encased the restrictor and joined
the turbocharger body with the air
filter. When the system was dismantled
there was no way of telling anything
irregular had existed.”
Mosley said the system was put
into operation when the restrictor
was assembled. As the restrictor was
attached to the turbocharger body it
was covered by an all-encasing hose.
This hose was then tightened with
three jubilee clips. One of these
required a special tool to operate
it, because it was used to pull the
restrictor outwards from its casing.
This movement not only served to aid
the airflow into the turbine blades, but
more importantly, opened up a 5mm
72 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017
gap through which extra air could enter
the engine on the engine-side of the
legal constriction.
The final clip then clamped the
restrictor in its new position with claws.
When the restrictor was dismantled the
three clips had to be undone.
When the central clip was loosened,
the claws released their grip on the
restrictor, which then regained its
original and legal position.
The spring against which the
restrictor was tightly held was a flange,
which appeared at first glance to be a
closely fitting device aimed at locating
the restrictor in an air-tight attachment
to its casing.
It served, in fact, as a diaphragm
spring. It allowed the restrictor to move
outwards by 5mm, leaving a 5mm ring
between the restrictor and its casing,
through which the extra air could pass.
Mosley emphasised that the body
in front of the World Council was the
team.
“The Toyota Motor Company itself
was at no stage invited to appear
before the World Council because there
was no reason to suppose they were in
any way aware of what was going on.”
The ban as applied to Toyota Team
Europe would have no effect on the
Toyota Motor Company, but if Toyota
Team Europe appeared in another
guise, it was unlikely the FIA would
accept such an entry during the period
of suspension.
“The drivers are unfortunately also
automatically excluded when a car is
excluded because of illegality. There is,
however, nothing to suggest that the
drivers were aware of what was going
on,” Mosley said.
- MARTIN HOLMES
FIA President, Max
Mosley, inspects the
illegal turbo restrictor in
Paris in November 1995.
(Photo: Holmes)