Well now I kinda want a '97 Corolla.
I bet it'd be a hoot to drive with a supercharger.
Photograph Courtesy 24 Hours of Lemons
What makes people want to go buy a Toyota Corolla–not the GR Morizo, but the no-frills 1997 model?
“My father-in-law is one who drives cars into the ground,” says the owner of the Corolla, Britt Mann. “[He asked me,] ‘What should I buy?’ I said, ‘A Corolla.’ He went out and bought a Corolla.”
Family members weren’t the only ones impressed. It wins events–and the hearts–of those who see it.
“The guy who runs SCCA RallyCross [in Central Florida region, David Kincaid], he bought a Corolla wagon because of this car,” Britt says.
Britt’s Corolla competed in its first 24 Hours of Lemons event this year at Barber Motorsports Park. It finished eighth out of 23 cars in its class, 62nd out of 118 entries. The surprise performance of this 100-horsepower-or-so vehicle earned it an award from Lemons: “So Easy, Even Floridians Can Do It.”
Now, that’s a compliment.
This car’s low-budget roots go back to the Grassroots Motorsports $2000 Challenge.
“The guy who built it … took the springs out of it to make it a stiff, solid ride,” says Britt. “He set the ride height with washers. From my understanding, it did well in autocross. After [the $2000 Challenge], it sat for a bit.”
The Corolla entered Britt’s life, thanks to our Tom Suddard.
“Tom called me up and said, ‘Hey, I got a free Corolla,’” Britt says. “I asked, ‘What’s the catch?’ That’s when I got told about it not having a suspension or interior.”
Nevertheless, Britt jumped right in and took possession of it in 2018.
Photograph Courtesy Britt Mann
“At first, I didn’t know what to do with it,” says Britt. “I put [its suspension] back to stock and ran it in SCCA RallyCross.”
Britt found that it was a formidable car in RallyCross. It won a regional championship in the Constructor class. It also finished second regionally in Modified Front Wheel Drive, mainly because Britt didn’t compete in every event. In the point standings, two cars built for rally racing sandwiched his–a Ford Fiesta ST in first and a Peugeot 206 in third.
“Everybody hated that car and loved it at the same time,” Britt says. “I was out there destroying people. Everybody was like, ‘How is that possible? That car does not have the horsepower.’”
[Dirt, dust, fun | An introduction to rallycross]
The car uses the stock 4A-FE engine paired with a three-speed automatic. It puts out about 100 horsepower on a good day.
“The car handles phenomenally,” says Britt. “At a rally, every person who drove the car came back asking, ‘What did you do? Why does that car handle so good?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. It’s got a stock suspension. When I got the car, all I did was go through the suspension. It got new struts on it, new ball joints–and it was all from Rock Auto. At the time, struts were $8 apiece. The only expensive part I put on the car was a gas tank, because one of the straps had worn through the tank.”
Photograph Courtesy Britt Mann
Britt’s wife, Ellen, competed with the car, too, in RallyCross.
“My wife said, ‘Hey, if you turn the Corolla into a Lemons car, I’ll race it,’” says Britt. “I called her bluff and put a cage and everything in it [to do so].””
Challenge accepted.
Ellen will race the car later this year after getting some seat time in it. However, Britt and a team of racers took the Corolla to its first 24 Hours of Lemons at Barber Motorsports Park in February.
[Running the 24 Hours of Lemons with as little time and effort as possible]
“It ran like a champ,” Britt says. “Our fastest lap time at Barber was a 2:02. However, there were cars in our class that weren’t much faster. Some of their best lap times were a 1:57. That’s not too far off.”
Once again, handling provided the Corolla its key advantage.
“I put a set of coil-overs on it, but they were an Amazon special, for $300,” says Britt. “I put on the coil-overs because I knew the car wasn’t going to be fast, so I wanted it to handle. At Barber, when people got out of the car, they were like, ‘That thing around a corner is amazing … if it only had more power.’”
Despite the lack of umph from the power plant, it had no problem running with the faster cars.
“I was watching some videos from Barber–we were hitting 90 mph on the front straights,” Britt says. “There were other cars just slightly faster than us–they were hitting like 95.”
And, as an added bonus, very little collateral damage from its first wheel-to-wheel race.
“The only thing we had to do to it is put in a wheel bearing and axle,” says Britt.
Photograph Courtesy 24 Hours of Lemons
While some might scoff at the idea of a 1997 Toyota Corolla as a race car, Britt Mann wants you to understand one thing: “You don’t need deep pockets to have fun in motorsports,” he says. “The only time it got expensive is when we made it a Lemons car. I put in the roll cage myself, but even then, I had $1000 in tubing, $500 in a fire suppression system. I put EBC brake pads on the front, because that’s the only thing I could get for racing brake pads. And, I did put some Falken Azenis tires on it.”
Britt admits that he has some items on his wish list for his beloved Corolla. He’d like to swap in a five-speed manual and maybe add a AMR500 supercharger to solve that meager power problem. However, he enjoys the car as is.
“I’ve beaten the snot out of this car … and it still continues to take it,” says Britt. “It has 196,000 miles on it. This car is amazing. That’s why it’s going to stay with me until it’s no more.”
Well now I kinda want a '97 Corolla.
I bet it'd be a hoot to drive with a supercharger.
I like it! I guess this car is at the center of Ven diagram.
Good. Cheap. Fun.
I absolutely love my Corolla. One of my favoritist cars I've ever owned.
I liked them so much, I owned three during my 20's! Every single one got around 32mpg, no matter how I drove it. Every single one started consuming a little oil around 200k. Great little appliances, back when you could actually find $5000 cars on CL
When I first met my wife (in 1997,) she had a 1994 Corolla. Naturally, I became the caretaker of it. It was a fantastic car and lasted us for years. It was rugged and somehow managed not to feel cheap.
A friend of mine pulled one out of a field, fixed a couple things, and just did his first track day. Automatic trans, all season tires, and a big smile on his face.
They're highly thrashable cars..............what's not to love.
I've raced this thing (at the Lemons race)! The secret is throw it into the corner about 80% harder than you think you should. It'll stick!
AWESOME!!!!...... yup this is my car and I put it together, however......... big thanks to my wife and the BAR racing team that races the car, without them this would not be possible.
if you guys are reading this thank you again from the bottom of my heart
Something about the design of the chassis makes these handle really well for a 4 door sedan. I bought mine new in 2001 with the manual transmission. I raced local autocross for 4 years in H Stock and took two first place regional champ trophies due to that car. It certainly wasn't due to my mediocre racing skills. 233,000 miles later and it still sits in my driveway and starts and goes anytime I need it. when the model year 2000 corolla added VVTI it went a long way to fix the previous engines issues with running out of steam at higher rpms. I always thought it was a shame they didn't add the 2zz and 6 speed to the car until the next gen jelly bean.
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