The Toyota GT86 is often seen as an ideal track day car or a Sunday morning cobweb-blaster. But just as our recent interviews with enthusiastic owners proved, the GT86 can become your driving ‘wingman’ in many other ways too.
James Mortimer is another owner aiming to prove the reliability and all-round usefulness of the GT86 via a worthy cause – the gruelling pan-European Rally for Heroes challenge that raises money for the forces charity SSAFA.
Mortimer’s car is one of 50 that will be taking part in the challenge that covers 11 countries in just eight days, in the hope of raising over £100,000 for the charity. The SSAFA’s aim for this event is to cover five miles for each member of service personnel that has fallen since the beginning of the Afghanistan conflict. This equates to a total of around 2,600 miles.
Keen to get the very best performance from his car on occasionally rough, cross-country roads, James approached suspension manufacturer Bilstein to ask for its advice. Happy to sponsor this effort, Bilstein created a bespoke version of its B16 suspension setup to help the Toyota cope with any type of road surface James was likely to encounter on this mission. Fitting and a full geometry service was carried out by tuning specialist Litchfield, which also joined the action by enhancing the GT86 with uprated Eibach anti-roll bars and a full set of alignment products. It is hoped that this fettled chassis will plaster a smile across Mortimer’s face for every one of those 2,600 miles.
We hope to catch up with James after the conclusion of the Rally for Heroes challenge to hear how he and the GT86 got on.
Read more: Toyota Land Cruiser crosses continents for charity
Wow! I don’t know how you guys came across this but it shows the power of social media! I’m very proud to be flying the Toyota flag. My car did brilliantly and so far we’ve raised over £100K for SSAFA. Maybe if you are interested I could give you a post rally report? There are pictures of the GT86 in some awesome locations and some fantastic video footage. Thank you for your support. James.
Hi James
Thanks for your post and great to hear of the substantial amount of money you have been able to raise here. We have passed on your details regarding the story so they can be in touch with directly regarding any follow up.
Best wishes.