Gyoza Caminoa WRC

*"This car was Gyoza's return to the WRC in '97 after getting caught cheating with an illegal turbo restrictor plate mod in '95, stripped of their championship points, and banned from the '96 season. Built to World Rally Car specification, this snappy little ride has the whole package, with new aerodynamic devices, bigger wheel arches, all-wheel drive, meticulous weight re-distribution, and over 200mm of suspension travel, plus a turbocharged four-banger making 299bhp. Right after it won the WRC for Manufacturers in '99, Gyoza decided to focus their efforts on Formula 1. Original Caminoa WRCs are hard to come by, but we have quite a few Caminoa three-doors, of the model that the rally car is based on. Thankfully, there's this company that makes body kits which makes 'em look like the Caminoa WRC (with working aero devices no less!), so the M.R.A.'s bought up a good number of these body kits in an effort to create replicas of the Caminoa WRC for the Festival."*
-Garage Description
The **Gyoza Caminoa WRC** is a fanonical Rally Car created by JustAlex93.

## Details

In a routine inspection during the 1995 World Rally Championship season under the Group A formula, it was discovered that GRTA had implemented an illegal modification into the restrictor plate of the Arctica GA95 rally car. The plate itself was legal and up-to-spec, but once installed and tightened into place, a set of hidden elastic washers would compress to open a 5mm bypass between the turbo intake and restrictor plate. While the bypass appeared meagre, it in fact drew in a significant amount of compressed air for an added 50 horsepower. The team was stripped of their championship points and were banned from racing in the 1996 season.

However, they would make a comeback in 1997. During 1996, GRTA teamed up with Gyoza Racing Europe (GRE) to develop a new rally car for the then-upcoming WRC (World Rally Car) specification. Having different options, they chose the 3-door Gyoza Caminoa hatchback as the basis for the new vehicle, due to its higher rigidity. Plus, the shorter distance between the axes of the WRC rally cars offered an advantage on narrow and twisty roads, but not so much for long, fast turns. To compensate for this, they tried to lower the center of gravity as much as possible while redistributing engine parts to equilibrate the weight distribution between axes, along with working to get the maximum suspension travel level, longer than in any other rally car then, at over 200mm.

The car would have its AWD drivetrain copied over from the Arctica GA95, and its powerplant would be a modified 1,972cc I4 with a water-cooled turbo making 299 bhp.

The Caminoa WRC was designed and built in Gyoza's facilities in Cologne, Germany. By November of 1996, it was ready for its aerodynamic validation, developed from wind tunnel testing carried out at the German-Dutch Wind Tunnels Foundation (DNW) located in Marknesse, Netherlands. Three main areas were covered; enlarged wheel arches, front bumper, and rear wing. The front bumper included two central air inlets for engine cooling and two side inlets for brake cooling. A front splitter was included, with an elevated central part to avoid damaging on turns cutting. Initially, a single-plane rear wing was designed and used in the wind tunnel, but tests indicate the benefits of adding a second plane to increase downforce. The final design included the bi-plane wing, with wickerbills added to both planes to facilitate flow separation and the generation of low-pressure areas behind, making for increased downforce.

With all aerodynamic devices in place, the car's drag coefficient remained at a modest rating of 0.47. The aerodynamic package concluded, the first car was finally assembled in December 1996, allowing for tests to be started in the snowy German roads in January 1997. Asphalt and gravel tests, as well as tests on fast Finnish roads, were also carried out in subsequent months.

The tests were so successful that the team decided to start their campaign in Finland instead of in the Sanremo Rally as initially planned. To prepare for the rally in Finland, they aligned the car in the Mantta Rally, where it suffered from teething problems.

From 1997 to 1999, the car had shown its potential, especially with Gyoza-FlowOil winning the 1999 FIA WRC for Manufacturers. After the WRC for Manufacturers, however, Gyoza decided to stop participating in rallying in order to focus their efforts on Formula 1 racing.

Years later, for those who are fans of the Caminoa WRC, there is a company that makes body kits for the standard Caminoa 3-door, based on the WRC car. This allowed others to turn their humdrum hatchbacks into visual replicas of the rally car.

Of course, performance and weight-reducing modifications were also carried out to juice up those Caminoas that were given the body kit.

The M.R.A. purchased a number of these body kits as part of an effort to create functioning replicas of the Caminoa WRC for use in the MotorStorm Festival.

## Trivia

* It is inspired by the Toyota Corolla WRC (which is based on the European version of the 3-door Corolla E110 hatchback), with the grille of a 1997 Audi TT and the headlights of the Citroen Xsara WRC.

## Gallery

WhiteRedAsia-Pacific Rally '98 liveryGyoza-FlowOil '98 liveryMonte Carlo Rally '00 livery (driven by Landslide)Marleau Cigarettes liverySecuritas liveryRC car, Gyoza-FlowOil'98 livery