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Toyota Levin 20v track car – “McLevin” – by Kai Vaksdal

I wasn’t really looking for a Levin, in fact I hadn’t even heard of them before! I had recently sold a fantastic little Honda Civic track car and wanted something a bit faster. I had just bought a Toyota MR2 mk2, but wasn’t overly impressed – compared to the stripped out, lightweight Civic, it felt slow and sluggish. As luck would have it, a fellow member of my local “Hampshire Jap Club” was looking for an MR2 for his girlfriend. He had also just upgraded to a Skyline, so was selling this sleek little Toyota Levin. Always one for a deal, we agreed a straight swap – MR2 for the Levin. Great!

 It’s a great looking car which goes well and handles superbly. Although they are already light as standard (about 1050kg), I wanted to get the weight down well under the ton – First step was to completely strip the interior. I mean completely, so rear seats, all plastics, carpets, sound deadening, roof lining, door cards, speakers, stereo and the electric sunroof had to go!  I replaced the sunroof with a sheet of Perspex then removed the sound deadening from inside the engine bay, shortly followed by everything in the boot – including the spare wheel. The car now felt much better and was starting to look like a proper track machine. The wheels that were on the car also had to be changed – they were nice looking multi-spoke 18” wheels, but wheels that size are just for looks and I needed light wheels which (with a smaller rolling radius) could help with acceleration and bring the gearing down. I sold the 18” wheels on Ebay and collected a set of 15” black, lightweight OZ alloys within a week.

That’s when the real fun began. I wanted the car purely for track days  and to move up to racing next year, so better braking (ventilated front disks with braided hoses, 5.1 fluid and race pads -Mintex 1166 or Pagid race pads – uprated  pads on rear disks) and a bit more power were next on the list.

Having those 4 individual throttle bodies inside the intake plenum seemed such a waste, so the whole plenum came off and I found some race spec short intake trumpets on Ebay USA that bolt directly to the throttle bodies. The sound that these make is fan-bloody-tastic!! Intake trumpets are a bit of a black art, but in general, the longer the trumpet, the lower down in the revs power is delivered – I wanted top end power so went for the shorter ones! To feed the intakes, I have a twin cold air intake from the front nearside with two heat resistant air hoses feeding cold air directly to the intakes.

With more air in, I went for the best exhaust system I could find. This is made by “Solid Fabrications” in London, specifically designed for the Levin. It’s a full system; manifold (completely heat wrapped), decat pipe and straight through with one (small) rear box to stay under the 98dB sound limit at most tracks – just!! This also made a huge difference, not just to the sound – which is awesome on power with pops on the over-run – but also to the power delivery which feels much stronger across the rev range, but particularly between 5000 and 8000rpm where it’s happiest! Despite a hard track life, it doesn’t use any oil and holds its temperature all day even in the summer.

I have recently fitted a pair of race seats, bolted very low to the floor, together with full 4 point harnesses which make a big difference to the overall feeling. Being lower down gives a much better feeling of what the car is doing; it helps to keep the centre of gravity low and saves me banging my hedtec helmet on the roof!

The standard suspension has been superb so far, just needing the tracking and alignment sorted plus I have fitted Toyo R888’s for track work. The R888’s are phenomenal on track. I may lose a bit down the straights compared to bigger power cars, but I can make it all up on the brakes and round the corners. The LSD also helps with traction and really pulls the car out of the corners.  It really is surprising and I have taken some proper “fast car” scalps – including staying with a race prepared Integra DC5 lap after lap at Brands and the two big power Subarus at Japfest recently will definitely remember us!!!

 In the meantime, the Levin gets plenty of track use and we have days organised where sponsors (and potential sponsors) friends and family come along to get involved in it all. Track days tend to be run at Southern circuits like Brands and Silverstone, but we’ve done Donnington (before they chewed it up), Oulton Park and Cadwell before. I also enjoy the airfield days organised by Motorsports Events like Abingdon, Hullavington and Keevil Airfields. These give you a bit more room to explore just past the limits.