One to Buy: ex-TOM's 1988 Toyota 88C
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For the 1988 season, Toyota created the 88C which was a fairly straightforward evolution of the previous year’s 87C. These updated cars, again powered by a turbocharged 2.1-litre 3S-GT inline four cylinder motor, would be campaigned on Toyota’s behalf by the factory-supported TOM’s organisation based in Tokyo.
A further uprated 88C-V came on stream in late July.
1988 would see TOM’s compete in both the six-round All Japan Sports Prototype Championship and at the Le Mans 24 Hours. A formidable opposition variously included factory cars from Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan.
That year’s best results for the 88C were a brace of fifth place finishes at the Suzuka 500km on April 10th (Stefan Johansson / Paolo Barilla) and at the Suzuka 1000km on August 28th (Paolo Barilla / Hitoshi Ogawa / Tiff Needell).
At Le Mans, the Toyotas qualified eighth and tenth. The car of Geoff Lees, Masanori Sekiya and Karou Hoshino went on to finish twelfth overall while the sister entry of Paolo Barilla, Hitoshi Ogawa and Tiff Needell was classified 24th.
For 1989, Toyota moved on to the 89C-V as the old 88Cs were dispatched to the USA for an IMSA campaign managed by Dan Gurney’s fabled All American Racers.
Currently on offer at the Historic Classics showroom in East Sussex is 88C chassis 87C-007 which contested five races for TOM’s in 1988 to include an appearance at Le Mans. It was the car that Barilla / Johansson drove to fifth in the Suzuka 500km and that Barilla / Needell used to claim seventh in the Fuji 500km. It was also the chassis that Barilla / Ogawa / Needell raced at Le Mans where a creditable 24th position was realised despite two trips into the gravel. 87C-007 then completed a full IMSA campaign during 1989 which yielded two pole positions, three podiums and four top-five finishes.
Today, 87C-007 is presented in immaculate race-ready condition.
