MEDIA RELEASE: Japanese drift legend Keiichi Tsuchiya – known to thousands of fans around the world as ‘The Drift King’ – has unveiled an equally famous Toyota AE86 restored with the support of Toyota Genuine Parts especially for this weekend’s World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Owned by local drift ace Beau Yates, the 1984 AE86 suffered major damage at the 2013 WTAC and remained in storage while Beau concentrated on developing his current competition weapon, a 517kW turbocharged (2JZ-GTE) straight six-cylinder-powered Toyota 86.
Beau will be using his monster 86 to compete in the International Drift Challenge, running each night of the WTAC, while ‘The Drift King’ Tsuchiya will be performing demonstrations in the AE86 by day.
With the help of the Toyota Genuine Parts team, Beau performed the rebuild and upgrade of the AE86, including new body components, panels and trim pieces, ready for Tsuchiya-san to take the wheel for special drifting demonstrations over the two-day WTAC schedule (Oct 14/15).
Powered by a highly-modified turbocharged 2.0-litre (3S-GE BEAMS) four-cylinder engine, Beau’s AE86 is part of Australian drifting history, having taken him to victory in the Drift Australia Championship back in 2006.
Yates says it was a big job, but he was determined to do whatever it took to restore the car.
“There’s something about this car. I’ve owned it since 2003 and it definitely means a heap to me,” Beau said.
“We’ve renewed everything from the full driver’s side strut tower and chassis rail, to exterior pieces including the headlights and grille, and they were all available new through Toyota Genuine Parts,” he said.
