GT-4 Burner

Mark Armitage of Adelaide's Autosport owns this hot red Celica GT-4 as he likes to keep his daily racing urges satisfied. His father owned the GT-4 since new, but it wasn't until around 1997 that Mark was able to get his hands on it. With modifications such as a HKS blow-off valve, 14 psi boost from a high-flowed turbo, straight-through 3 inch mandrel exhaust and a ram-pod air filter, it's no surprise to see all that brake dust covering the big 17 inch Momos! Mark always has a wry smile across his face whenever he talks about the car, so you can imagine why!

He'd previously taken the boost pressure level up to 16 psi, but unfortunately that spelt the end for the factory-assembled 3S-GTE. So after a full re-build, Mark has now kept a lid on boost to around 14 psi, but we wouldn't be surprised if it went up again - along with some other mods to ensure engine durability. All-wheel-drive turbo cars chew clutches and the GT-4 is no exception. Mark has had a couple of different clutches in it before, but has ended back with the faithful factory part that seems to cope fairly well and gives a nice pedal feel. The gearbox has also been upgraded to a short ratio TRD gearset that helps the fairly weighty Celica utilise all of its power (we'd guess to be around 270 horses).

Inside are just a few of the products Autosport sell, such as a BES turbo timer, Momo leather wheel and Momo carbon fibre gear knob. The latest interior addition is the kickin' sound system. There's an Alpine CD/tuner, Philips 4 inch splits, Alpine 6 inch rear drivers and a pounding 12 inch Kicker sub in the boot. The system is boosted by a sizable 4 channel Alpine amplifier that's able to drown out the bark of the big straight-though exhaust.

The body is dead stock in its factory red paint (what other colour would you want a modified GT-4?). The lowered Road Hugger springs bring the body 11/2 inches lower to the bitumen, and another mod that sure catches the eye are the number plates - LAMA. And please don't ask us about 'em, as we haven't been able to get the full story either!