Nobody expected an old Toyota Celica to be the fastest thing up this particular hill. But that’s exactly what happened. Ryan Tuerck showed up to Mount Ascutney in Vermont with his insane 600-horsepower Celica GT411, a car built to honor Toyota's rally past but stuffed with modern race tech underneath, and he ended up breaking a 23-year-old course record. A Celica Built For Chaos Ryan Tuerck / YouTubeTuerck’s Celica GT411 blasted up Vermont’s Mount Ascutney course in 3:16.143, smashing a 23-year-old hillclimb record and turning what was supposed to be a simple shakedown weekend into one of the wildest debuts a modern Toyota build has ever had.The GT411 may wear the body of a U.S.-market 1994 Toyota Celica GT, but underneath, it’s something far more serious. Built as an all-wheel-drive, rally-inspired hillclimb machine, the car uses an upgraded version of Toyota’s modern G16E three-cylinder turbocharged engine, the same family of engine found in the GR Corolla and GR Yaris. In this setup, it produces roughly 600 horsepower, giving the lightweight Celica brutal acceleration and massive uphill pace.The build pays tribute to Toyota’s legendary Celica GT-Four rally era, but this isn’t a restoration or retro tribute car. It’s a full modern reinterpretation designed to attack mountain roads.Long-travel suspension, revised geometry, rally-spec hardware, and aggressive aero helped keep the car planted over Mount Ascutney’s rough and unpredictable pavement. Based On The Toyota Rally Legend via PinterestThe Celica GT-Four ST185 earned its place as one of Toyota’s greatest rally machines by proving it could win with almost anyone behind the wheel. Driven to World Rally Championship titles by Carlos Sainz, Juha Kankkunen, and Didier Auriol between 1992 and 1994, the turbocharged AWD monster showed rare versatility across vastly different driving styles. Add in back-to-back manufacturers’ championships for Toyota, and the ST185 became more than just a fast rally car—it became a symbol of how durable, balanced, and dominant Toyota engineering could be in its golden motorsport era.
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