Pre-dating Toyota Team Australia’s factory MA70 Group A attack at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, there was a plan to enter the outright class in touring car racing in Australia.
Liverpool Toyota dealer Peter Williamson against the Australian manufacturer’s wishes had raced the Celica in the 1977 Bathurst 1000. Termed as a ‘hairdresser’s car’, the Celica was simply dismissed by class rivals, the media and the top brass at Toyota, but when the Japanese coupe was fastest by 1.3s in the Under 2.0-litre class.
Although a clutch failure at the end of the first lap ended his chances early, Williamson was enthused by the Celica’s performance and changed Toyota Australia’s tune.
“I was a Toyota dealer and plainly to me the Celica GT was a good way to go,” Williamson told the Shannons Club.
“I had faith in it but Toyota (AMI) didn’t. Well, not initially anyway. Various people in the industry, including a few motoring journos who should have known better, told the Toyota people at AMI that if I ran that car I’d make a fool of myself so I got a lengthy letter from them saying that they would prefer it if I didn’t run the car.
“Anyway, I ignored that and went ahead as I had a lot of belief in the Celica’s potential.”
Having cured the reliability problems the Celica endured in its debut, the Class C (Under 2.0-litre) battle was the closest all day. Williamson and brother in law Mike Quinn combined, but fell short of class victory to the Ford Escort RS 2000 of Rod Stevens and Bill Evans.
However, a struggle with the boot after contact from Dick Johnson may have given Williamson the class win. The scene has been immortalised in Bathurst folklore as one team member decided to attack it with an axe!
The pace of the pair of entries is highlighted by the six lap gap back to third place.
Class C was hotly contested at the end of the 1970s as eight manufacturers were represented at one stage or another.
A class win 1979 proved redemption for Williamson as he carried the first Racecam to class victory in the new RA40 Celica twin-cam GT coupe.
Williamson’s success with the Celica enticed others to join as he entered Bathurst having finished third outright in the Australian Touring Car Championship of 1980.
A new green paint job in a fresh RA40 led to retirement die to the Racecam being ill-fitted resulting in the alternator overloading.
Numerous class designation changes in the early 1980s proved hard to keep up with and Williamson’s patience run out in 1982 when he crashed the Celica, electing not to enter Bathurst.
Williamson elected to petition CAMS for some freedoms to elevate the Celica into the outright class joining the likes of former class rivals Nissan and Mazda alongside the Holden, Ford, BMW and Chevrolet.
However, these freedoms were not allowed and Williamson pulled out of racing until purchasing an ex-BTCC Toyota Supra prior to Group A being introduced in 1984.
A pioneer of Toyota’s Australian racing program when it was arguably uninterested, Williamson passed away in 2016.
Toyota Australia honoured his legacy by featuring Williamson’s previous liveries on four of its 86s at the final round of the inaugural season at Homebush.