Prolific drifter, automotive personality, and friend of PASMAG Ryan Tuerck has embarked on yet another ambitious project, and this time it's not entirely for the street. Inspired by Toyota's golden era of 1990s World Rally Championship, he's transforming a 1994 Toyota Celica GT into what he calls a "rowdy rally car" turned up to 11. The car is a FWD USDM model, but will end up with AWD and a full makeover before it makes it to SEMA 2024, or to any off-road rally courses. In the meantime, you'll be able to watch the entire build come together on Tuerck's YouTube channel - we've gone ahead and linked the first video in this article, which mostly consists of stripping the Celica down to its bare chassis in entertaining fashion.
Needless to say, we're excited to see how this comes together, and to see how Tuerck brings his signature wild style to the upcoming rally car.
Full GT411 Press Release Below
The builder and racer behind the Toyota 4586, Formula Supra, and Stout viral builds drops the first episode of his new GT411 project on Thursday. Over the next four months, pro-drifter Ryan Tuerck will stretch his build skills and adopt new techniques to transform a 1994 Toyota Celica GT into his vision of a rowdy rally car -- just in time for SEMA 2024. Fans and followers have a lot to look forward to as the latest Mobil 1 build is inspired by the 1990s golden era for Toyota in the World Rally Championship.
The build plan brings together a mix of modern and classic technology to realize Tuerck's vision of what a throwback rally car can be. When it is complete, the vehicle will be powered by a fully built version of Toyota’s modern G16E 1.6 Liter, three-cylinder engine, which Tuerck expects to produce between 600 and 700 horsepower on Supertech internals. It will also feature a Hollinger sequential transmission and MoTeC electronics.
“The 1990s golden era for me is when I learned about the WRC and JDM Toyotas, and it’s a big part of the reason I love Japanese cars,” said Tuerck. “I’m so excited to partner with the Mobil 1 brand on this iconic build and document the build process as we invite fans to join us in our shared love of driving. I have a motocross background and cars jumping and flying and racing on dirt through the forests just seems like the coolest thing in the world to me.”
Episodes are slated to drop on the Ryan Tuerck YouTube channel every two weeks.
“The idea is to bring a little new school flair to an old school heritage project and have a dual-purpose car that can go to the gravel and to the asphalt, all while having an absolute blast jumping and smoking them tires,” said Tuerck.
In this week’s Episode 1, Tuerck brings the USDM Toyota Celica GT to his home garage in New Hampshire and begins its disassembly. After wrestling the engine and interior out of the car, Tuerck and his team bring in dry ice to deep freeze the car’s gummy sound dampening materials, making them easier to clean off.
“Using dry ice to strip out sound deadening makes an incredibly tedious process pretty fun – especially in the summer in New Hampshire,” said Tuerck.
The vehicle is then mounted to a rotisserie so seam sealer can be removed, and the bare metal shell is transported to Teixeira Fabrication for the next stage of the build.
Throughout the remaining eight episodes, Tuerck will design and install a safety cage, deliver a deep dive into a full engine build, upgrade the suspension, explore fueling, cooling, and safety systems, as well as prepare a support vehicle to tow and service the car -- wherever it might find itself. Like Tuerck’s previous project builds, the finished vehicle is not intended for competition and will ultimately find its feet on closed course demonstration events.
Tuerck is a leading social influencer and racer. His competition performance in Formula Drift, engaging builds, and content series have earned him a social following of over a million fans. The project builds and the inspired content he creates around them have found viral audiences online. He is currently touring two of his most recent projects, The Stout and The Formula Supra.
Recently, Tuerck stripped down and built back up a vintage Toyota truck. The Stout was reimagined with modern styling and sponsored by the Mobil 1 brand. It emerged as the sensation of SEMA 2022 and is now touring the world for demonstration events including this year’s FAT Ice Race Aspen presented by Mobil 1 and the upcoming 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
A MKV Supra powered by a screaming F1-derived V-10 Judd engine became the Formula Supra and has made popular appearances on the Time Attack circuit, including last year’s World Time Attack competition in Sydney, Australia, and various GRIDLIFE events.
Tuerck’s build legacy started with the viral Toyota GT4586 build released in 2016. This project for Donut Media inspired the genre of build content online when he paired a Toyota GT86 with a Ferrari 4586 engine to generate some 70 million digital impressions.
He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing AMA motocross through his early teens. He developed a passion for drifting at age 16 while learning to control rear-wheel drive cars on the snowy winter roads near his family’s New England home.
In Formula Drift, he currently drives the Papadakis Racing built Rain-X / Nitto Tire Toyota GR Corolla. In addition to a full competition schedule and serial build projects for YouTube, he maintains a full demo and appearance calendar, counting GRIDLIFE, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Winter Jam, and Pro Bro Down among some of his favorite stops in recent years. He lives in New Hampshire.
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