I AM LEGEND

THIS ST205 CELICA PROVED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST DOMINANT RACE CARS AUSTRALIA HAS EVER SEEN. AND NOW WE’RE GOING TO DRIVE IT

- SCOTT NEWMAN

WE’VE ALL HAD THOSE moments where you’re not sure whether you’re awake or asleep. You’d swear it was real, but what your eyes are looking at seems impossible. This is one of those moments. I’m rolling down Winton’s main straight in a Ford Focus ST-Line with photographer Ellen Dewar poking her camera out the window. This in itself isn’t unusual, but the focus of Ellen’s lens is a growling, popping Toyota Celica GT-Four wearing a white, black and yellow livery like someone’s hit the race modification button in Gran Turismo.

This Celica, registration YYO 221, is a legend of Australian rallying, one of its most successful ever cars. Having secured second place at its debut event, the 1994 Rally of Canberra, YYO 221 went on to dominate 1995, winning nine rallies including eight rounds of the Australian Rally Championship and Targa Tasmania as well as ninth outright at the 1995 Rally Australia WRC round. Behind the wheel, both currently and for those events, sits four-time Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates. YYO 221 is his favourite car, and to celebrate its 25th anniversary I’m going to drive it. Gulp.

Having secured two straight ARC titles in an ST185 Celica GT-Four it was time for Bates and long-time co-driver Coral Taylor to upgrade to the new ST205. A mild upgrade on paper, the new generation represented a significant step forward for Neal Bates Motorsport (NBM). “It was the first proper rally car we had,” explains Bates. “If you look at the [ST]185 it was more a road car converted to a rally car.” NBM took a bare ST205 road car shell and the Toyota Team Europe (TTE) parts catalogue and combined the two, creating the most serious rally car Australia had ever seen.