Hidden stories : The TRD MSB Vitz
A couple of months ago this little Vitz popped up for sale here in Ireland, at a first glance you could see the little cage peeking out through the back windows so we clicked on the ad to take a look. You just have to love the mystery surrounding many of the cars which made their way out of Japan. This is a classic example of that mystery, this quirkly little white Vitz, or Yaris as they are known here, generally seen outside of Japan as a proper commuting A to B machine has a much cooler story than meets the eye.
Dave (the original owner of the Brown AE86 we have featured) decided to get something a little more practical to kart around in and decided to go check this little car out to see what the story was. I have never been a big fan of the Yaris and its attempt at a futuristic display and I remember the first time I seen this display in the turbo Variant, and when he went to view the car he was amazed.
Inside the car was a little unusual, it had a couple of Omori and HKS Gauges and a bunch of unusual looking red trip around the vents and other bits. This Vitz was pretty damn cool already, a car that you would never consider to be something that one would modify or even race, that is unless you had no idea that these are raced heavily in Japan.
Since the early 80’s Japan has been racing every type of car you can imagine that rolls out of the factory, one of the most popular events was the Starlet series which ran throughout the 80s and 90s. At the start of the Millenium they began racing the Vitz which was to be seen as more or less the successor of the starlet and competitions like the Netz cup were born.
The story isnt 100% accurate with this little gem, but we are almost sure it competed in the netz cup and was retired, made into a road car and then some how it was snatched up at auction, put onto a boat and made its way into A friends hands. What an amazing little story. Dave quickly realised this was pretty much a race car, due to the ridiculously stiff suspension which he quickly laughed at, moving from an AE86 he wanted something economical and sensible to get around in and this was pretty much the opposite.
With the mystery of the car quickly unravelling, we found out this car was actually built by Toyota Racing Developments and sold to people to compete in the Netz 1000cc cup which is an all one make race. The MSB stands for “Motor Sport Base”. This little 1SZ-FE 997cc engine has a 7200 rev limit too with a TRD LSD.
The car was passed on from Dave to another friend Damien as it was too impractical to commute, seriously this thing is rock solid. Damien bought a set of cheap Advan RS replicas with good rubber, took out the passenger seat and embraces the cars rigidity. You have no idea how incredible the cage fit is, I’m a little sad I forgot to take a picture of the fitment through the dash, its nuts, the car handles like its on rails due to the TRD Coilovers.
Damien has added a Willians Harness, the inside has non electric windows, and no aircon or any back seats, pretty much the most basic model as would be expected for racing. The cars still had to be road legal and was known as the Netz Cup Vitz Street-legal Series. This series started in 2000 as “participatory” races. So far, approximately 7,200 people have competed”
Other little goodies this thing has is a white line rear anti roll bar, the car has been poly bushed all round including the engine mounts, a couple of other TRD bits, including short shifter with shortened stick, TRD shift knob, TRD radiator cap, upgraded discs and pads and a Toms front strut brace. The little vitz is made obsolete from the series when the new model comes out which is then used for the Netz cup. The 1.5 Vitz is used at the moment for the newer series, the retired cars are then turned back into road cars and snatched up by anyone who has an interest.
I love this little Vitz, I’ve never seen another like it and its just one of those cars that gets everyone interested, especially when they hear its story and where it came from. We may never know its true origin, it would have been nice to know what it looked like racing before the decals were pulled off, or know if it an extra car that was never used, but we like to imagine that this was blasting down Fuji with another 40+ Vitz Netz cars trying to squeeze into that first corner.
Google Next Cup in-case you cant picture this image. The unsuspecting Yaris, or in this case the TRD MSB vitz which now has one seat and tears up the small back roads of Waterford far from its original life in Japan but with a similar use. You just cant help but enjoy a story like that.
Good old Japan.