Of all the any forms of motor racing, rallying has been Toyota’s true center of excellence. This hall of fame showcase extends back to the 1957 Toyopet Crown in the Australian Rally – when is a deep set of roots.

From there, the Celica, Supra and Celica GT-Four have all been world-beating rally cars in their decades. By the late 1990s, Toyota’s Corolla GT-4 rally machines were so dominant that they ran Mitsubishi and later even Subaru out of the World Rally Championship.

Rallying in this sense has a broad definition, one that definitely includes the Paris-Dakar and dozens of smaller racing series around the globe.

By the 2000s, it was about Pikes Peak-zooming Celica’s, Auris rally cars in Europe and even a first-gen Prius taking the Gumball rally by (quiet) storm.

All these amazing achievements in rallying are now cared for by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne, Germany. This technical center is responsible for much of Toyota’s most-special projects via their engine development, chassis engineering and aerodynamics prowess.

Evidence of how amazing this Toyota center is? You can see the new TS040 Hybrid in the background of a few of the images — snapped well before the car entered the 2014 Le Mans World Endurance Championship.

Our favorite among all these winning Toyota rally cars?

The black MR2 Group B widebody, of course!

 

Toyota Motorsport GmbH Aero Lab / Wind Tunnel

 

Toyota Rally Racing Hall of Fame