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Fastest car at Goodwood? A Toyota Celica

Published: 05 Jul 2011

Think of a supercar - any supercar. We bet you LOTS OF MONEY* it was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. So you might be alarmed to discover that the fastest car up the hillclimb course was actually a Toyota Celica.

Unsurprisingly, the Celica in question hadn't just rolled off the production line. Largely because Toyota stopped building them in 2006, but also because it had an 800bhp WRC-winning Corolla engine in it.

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But not just any WRC-winning Corolla engine. As well as a Garrett GT35/42 turbo charger, its builder/driver - British Rally Champion, Jonny Milner - had stuck on a Rotrex supercharger and nitrous in a bid to win the coveted FTD (fastest time of the day).

He also made it ridiculously light (1050kg) and played around with the sixth-gen car's physics. The driver's seat was moved back 12 inches for better weight distribution and, by raising up the wheel arches and upper suspension mounts, he lowered the centre of gravity.

The reckoning? It took Milner 48.07 seconds to blast up the 1.16-mile course, beating all 200 cars over the three-day event.

Given the chance, would you take the Celica up the hill, TopGear.commerers? Or would you have preferred one of the ‘ordinary' supercars?

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*no money

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