The Willall Racing Toyota 86 (WR86) proved to be the fastest 2000cc production road car at the 2012 Collingrove SA State Hill Climb Championships over the weekend.
Competing on Toyo’s Proxes R888 semi-slick tyres, the WR86 finished in the top half of its class against kit-car and Clubman competition clocking a best time up the hill of 36.5 seconds on its race debut, marking the WR86 competitive in class while also matching some of the turbo AWD cars for outright pace.
According to Team Manager Martin Donnon, the key to the WR86’s impressive debut speed was a combination of engine tuning, suspension refinement and outright tyre grip that saw the car over two seconds faster than a standard Toyota 86 GTS’ time across the 620m hill climb.
“The Toyo R888 semi-slicks we used were a revelation.
“The stiffer sidewall provided superb steering feedback over the factory tyres combined with a tread compound that quite literally bit into the surface of the track,” Donnon said.
“Even more surprising was how quiet the Toyo R888 is on the road, making it a serious daily driving choice, along with providing limpet-like grip levels in competition,” he said.
“We were seriously impressed with the outright grip on offer from the R888 and can recommend them for anyone that wants to instantly transform the grip of their Toyota 86/ Subaru BRZ.”
Dialling out some of the cars oversteer and neutralising on-throttle performance was accredited to the Whiteline sway bar and bushing combination. This allowed the chassis to be tuned to suit the track giving the WR86 a delightful power-on stance that has far improved the tendency of the factory 86’s rear-end to slide out.
Next up is the famous Legend of the Lakes hill climb at Mount Gambier in early November 2012.
