Need For Expansion - Toyota Celica T230 Concepts

TRD Ultimate Celica Concept (2000)

The Ultimate Celica Concept was built in 2000, it was meant to be the a hardcore driver focused car. It had goodies like a race derived suspension system, new exhaust system, recaro bucket seats, rollcage by Rod Millen Motorsports and all that you’d expect from a serious track toy. In order to reach 500 horsepower, TRD had to do some serious modifications to the production four-cylinder engine found in the normal Celica models that was used in previous racing cars from Toyota during the 90’s. They increased the cylinder bore x stroke which increased the displacement from 1.8L to 2.0L, a larger turbo with more boost pressure as well as new headers. Modifications like these made the car produce its 500 horsepower @ 8,000 RPM and 460 nm of torque @ 5,500 rpm. And in order to handle that kind of power, it was converted from FWD to AWD.

The suspension was modified as well, with Bilstein struts and springs to balance and support the additional weight of the car, and race-inspired beefy brakes were installed for more efficient braking power. To help stiffen the vehicle’s chassis, Rod Millen Motorsports built the custom rollcage. The front tubes of the cage were welded to the already existing bodywork and hidden behind the interior panels, while the rest of the rollcage is only visible behind the front seats.

The car was wider than the normal Celica, by 3.8 inches at the front and 3.2 at the rear. It had magnesium BBS 19-inch racing wheels with 245/35 Michelin Pilot performance tires. Power was being sent through a 5-speed manual transmission, and it is capable of a top speed of around 300 km/h, and the engine had a cast iron block with aluminium head. The exterior itself was designed by Calty Studios in California. And to handle all the boost from the turbocharger that TRD added, the compression ratio was just 8.5:1. And the engine had a specific output of 250 bhp per litre. When the car was designed, Calty took inspiration from some classic Toyota racecars, and managed to modernise it all somehow. About the 2ZZ-GE engine, it was closely related to the 1ZZ-FE which was another member of the ZZ engine family. However the 1ZZ was mostly developed for low-end torque and focused on economy, where the 2ZZ was focused on top-end power and more performance. The standard version of this engine could hit 7,800 rpm, the whole engine weighed 115 kg. However this TRD version uses a 3S-GTE unit.

Celica Cruising Deck Concept (2000)

This concept was a car meant to be sporty and powerful, yet affordable. It looks like a coupe and a ute at the space time, which would make it good for transporting things. It was fitted with the normal 2ZZ-GE DOHC 1.8L engine producing 187 horsepower with VVTI variable valve timing system, and producing peak power at 7,600 rpm. The seats you see in the rear are an American invention that was first seen on the Ford Model-A from the 1920s. It was good for making the rear of a vehicle into an open-air sports convertible. It has been a featured on various older Celica models at past motor shows. The power was sent to the front wheels, and it had a 6-speed manual transmission

We decided to bring back the cruising deck one more time - Nakagawa

Celica Convertible Concept (2000)

Converting one of these cars into a convertible didn’t need that much work done to the suspension at all. The interior was designed to give the driver a race feel to it, the centre console was also painted in blue just like the exterior of the car. It had leather seats with blue accents as well, the back seats are made of gray leather with blue accents as well. The steering wheel was finished in the same colour tone, too. The car is powered by the same transversely mounted 2ZZ-GE 1.8L (1795 cc) Inline-four cylinder engine producing around 180 horsepower at 7,600 rpm with VVTI system. It was also FWD and had a 4-speed automatic transmission, and it used MacPhearson struts at the front with Double Wishbones at the rear.