GR Yaris Altocumulus's Gen1

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Altocumulus

Dedicated member
Jul 16, 2024
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When I was younger I owned a 2000 GC8 WRX, and still have very fond memories of it, great car in its day. My mate had an Evo 7 and we had a lot of fun. Life got busy and I was forced to buy more practical cars, but I still had that itch for a fun car.

In 2024 I went looking for a small, fun car. The contenders were a Golf R or S3, i30n, i20n or Fiesta ST. I had largely overlooked the GRY, only because I didn't know much about them. I mentioned the potential choices to my young (car mad) nephew and he suggested I consider the GRY.

I did a lot of reading and decided the GRY sounded very interesting. It was nearly exactly what I was after: a small, AWD, fun car that could punch above its weight. It sounded like a modern WRX (more so than an Evo). Being a Toyota was also interesting; I knew they made very reliable cars, but since the demise of the Celica GT4 they had hardly built many interesting 'enthusiasts' cars.

In Australia there were 2 models of Gen1 GRY offered: base spec and Rallye. The Rallye includes all the goodies of the Circuit Pack, but also includes sat nav, heated seats and steering wheel. I bought a Rallye with 12,000 kms on the clock.

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I continued to put miles on it, driving it hard through the mountains - it truly shines when pushing it hard on real roads, off and on the throttle keeping it in 3rd or 4th gear. When people ask me what the car is like, I usually say it's like a small rally car. It excels when driving hard in the real world. It has a lot more suspension travel and body roll than most 'sports' cars. The standard suspension is very good on the road.

A friend asked if I would like to join him with his GR86 on a track day. I used to drive car and ride motorcycle ride days, so it's familiar territory. I took the completely standard GRY to the track on PS4s tyres.

It was fun, but the stock tyres held it back immensely. They quickly overheated and started feeling very 'greasy'. The good thing was that the chassis was very communicative and I could drive it at the edge of the traction very easily. I experimented with Track and Sport settings, and TC in Expert mode (I found this resulted in much less electronic intervention). The other shortcoming was the seats; they're very comfortable on the road but inadequate on the track, exacerbated by the grip the car can generate.

I figured I need the following minimum modifications to continue to enjoy track days:
- a harness or race seat
- additional front camber
- sticky track tyres

This is primarily a road car, I didn't want to take it far for track use, so I fitted a Scroth Quick Fit harness that plugs into the standard seat belt receptacles.

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I bought some camber bolts and got the local race suspension shop to advise. They had worked with a few GRYs. I ended up with -3 degrees camber up front, and -2 in the rear. They also set the toe. When I picked it up I could tell it was better straight away - perhaps a little more nervous/flighty on the road, but I soon got used to it.

I also found a used set of standard BBS wheels, for some track tyres. I wanted something that could deal well with heat and provide consistency. I'm not a pro driver: consistency is key to me to become a better track driver. This website has very good information on the usual 200TW tyres:

Ultimate track tire guide | 200tw, 100tw, street-legal track and R-comps

Ultimate track tire guide | 200tw, 100tw, street-legal track and R-comps
grassrootsmotorsports.com grassrootsmotorsports.com

I ended up fitting Kumho V730 tyres, handy that they are also one of the cheaper options.
 
A friend with an M3 asked me to do a track day, and I was keen to see how the geometry changes would be. The weather forecast for the day was 40c - very hot! I was reluctant to drive too hard in this weather, but because it had been planned for some time I decided to go along.

The geometry changes were excellent on the track, and the sticky tyres were simply incredible. Unfortunately, with the very hot weather the engine experienced significant heat soak and pulled boost/power. I was thankful that the engine has these protections, but the car felt very slow. Oil temp never got to 130c, but I kept a close eye on it.

I drove all sessions, and even in the hot weather the brakes and tyres never let me down. After a cool down lap and back in the pits I took the temperature of one of the front brake discs: over 300c... Many cars retired due to the heat (inadequate brakes, tyres, clutches), but the GRY just kept consistently lapping all day. Even leaving the bonnet open between sessions couldn't alleviate the heat soak.

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There's no eascaping hot weather in Australia in summer. I decided to fit an aftermarket intercoler and intake mod to reduce potential engine bay heatsoak. I bought an Airtec intercooler and King3d printed intake snorkel (I wanted to keep the stock air filter).

Fitting the intercooler was pretty easy with the front of the car on ramps. Removing the front bumper bar took longer than fitting the intercooler. I thought about replacing the 'meep meep' horn, but decided that leaving the standard horn reduces my propensity to use it...

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The Airtec intercooler has around 60% more volume than the standard unit, but weighs quite a bit more (since the stock unit has plastic end tanks and has a more narrow core).

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I was a little worried that the larger intercooler would introduce some turbo lag, but I couldn't notice any difference. A bonus of fitting the freer flowing intake duct is that you can now hear much more turbo noise.

The intercooler has reduced the heat soak issues in hot weather. Any heat soak (e.g. after idling at a red light for a few minutes in air temperatures >35c) goes away a lot more quickly.
 
I was now ready for another track day. This was the first time I drove to the track with road tyres, fitting the track wheels at the track. Being able to fit 4 wheels in the car is a massive bonus!

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The car now had the following basic modifications:
  • Schroth harness
  • Kumho V730 tyres
  • front camber bolts, geometry set up for fast driving
  • Airtec intercooler
  • 3d printed airbox duct.
And it was a lot of fun on the track, a nice balance of grip and consistency.

Here is a video of a lap from that day.

 
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Of course more power would always be nice, so I booked the car in to get an Ecutek tune on the dyno.

This tuner had done a lot of GRY Ecutek tunes. Interestingly, he mentioned that boost is only increased by 1-2 psi, most of the gains come from holding on to the boost for longer, where the standard ECU bleeds off boost rapidly at higher rpms. The tuner made around 5-6 dyno runs in total.


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I am happy with the results. Power is increased significantly in 3rd gear onwards (there is gains in 1st to 2nd gear, but you can still feel ECU limiting boost in these gears).

The Ecutek race tools were also enabled; probably the only one of these that I will use is flat-foot shifting on the track (no need to lift the accelerator during shifting). I've used it on the road at slow speeds and it takes some getting used to to replace years of manual driving habits (even though my motorcycles have essentially the same thing with their quickshifters).

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Since getting the ecutek tune I have fitted a Fujitsubo Authorize-R cat back exhaust. I didn't want something that was too loud, just more engine note, and this exhaust is perfect for me. I managed to fit it with the rear of the car on ramps.

Next on my wishlist is a less restrictive turbo downpipe. I haven't got one yet because I don't think it's a job I can do myself. Valve springs for additional protection and cams for a power bump would be nice too...! ;)
 
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Good to hear your journey and enjoyment of the car. Nice write up 👍.
Is an oil cooler something you have considered given high ambient temp usage?
 
RichM said:
Good to hear your journey and enjoyment of the car. Nice write up 👍.
Is an oil cooler something you have considered given high ambient temp usage?
Click to expand...
Yes, I have considered fitting an oil cooler (HEL with 10 row Setrab core). I have held off though as the car is currently serviced by Toyota and I don't necessarily trust them to fill the engine with the additional amount of oil required with the cooler. I've managed to find a reputable independent garage that will be taking over servicing soon.
 
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I had a few issues shifting on track and was looking for a solution. The car already has a torque mount insert, shifter cable bushings and shifter base bushings, all of which helped firm up the gearshift, but under hard acceleration it was sometimes a little fussy to find a gear quickly.

I fitted a taller shift knob (Likewise Daytona 2), and it has helped greatly. Shifter movement is greater with the taller knob, but more easily finds home (if that makes sense). It fits my stature better also when using a harness, falling to hand more conveniently.

Although I have a harness, I use the standard driver's seat. This doesn't keep your legs contained as well as a dedicated bucket seat does, and I found my knee constantly banging into the console during aggressive cornering. I got a cheap stick on knee pad from aliexpress which works surprisingly well.

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I had similar issues with shifting. in my case the screws between trans mount and transmission got loose.
 
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