What cars do rally legends buy? A WRC rally car of course

Do you ever wonder, what kind of cars do racing legends contend themselves with? More often than not, you'd think that they will buy cars they used to race in. And you'd be correct. Take for example, one Nicky Grist who purchased a racer he had fond memories of, the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185. No, not a replica, an actual car that participated in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1992.

By now you'd be asking, Nicky who? Nicky Grist's CV includes co-driving for rallying gods such as Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae. Grist's fondness for the Celica ST185 stems from the fact that he won the WRC title with Kankkunen in one. You can see it in action below;

The Celica ST185 was also one of the most dominant WRC machines during this era, winning three consecutive WRC Driver's Titles from 1992 to 1994. So, when the opportunity to own this car arose, Grist wasted no time acquiring it.

This particular Celica ST185 was initially built by Toyota Team Europe (TTE) for Carlos Sainz to compete in the 1992 Australian WRC round leg, where it scored a podium. Being a car that spent its life rallying, this Celica had seen better days by the time Grist bought it.

He lovingly spent 18 months restoring the car to its original specifications. Oddly enough, Grist's Celica was converted from a left-hand drive (LHD) to a right-hand drive (RHD). One of his first order of business after buying the car was to restore it back to LHD. 

These days, the car still sees action, but in the form of demonstration and tribute events. Grist said of his prized possession, "I don’t want to rally the car in anger; it’s too precious for that. After a long career chasing every tenth of a second, I’m quite happy just to drive my car for fun.”

Apart from Sainz, Grist's Celica has also gone through the hands of Kankkunen for testing in the Monte Carlo Rally, as well as Didier Auriol for the 1993 Rally of Sweden.

What do these three men have in common? Yup, they were all WRC Champions in the Celica ST185. To say that the Celica ST185 is a WRC icon is kinda selling it short. It is WRC nobility.