When you have spent the majority of your summer weekends growing up alongside drag strips watching your dad run down the quarter mile, there is a strong likelihood that you’ll follow in their footsteps. Marc Huxley was that kid.
At the 14th Annual Retro Toyota Gathering last year, Marc brought along his stunning KE20 Toyota Corolla drag car. Not only is it a well-presented machine, it has a great story behind it, so I had to take a closer look.
Marc’s father Brian began drag racing in the late ’70s in a 1969 Ford Mustang, but in 1981, he decided to build a car with a better power-to-weight ratio. A KE25 Toyota Corolla was chosen as the base. While drag racing modifications at the time were quite rudimentary by modern standards, the little Corolla named “Can Do II” was still a serious machine, back-halved with box section tubing and powered by a 289ci (4.7L) small block Ford V8 with nitrous oxide.
A best-ever quarter-mile ET (elapsed time) of 10.55 seconds meant it was never competitive enough in heads-up racing. However, in bracket racing, where you specify your ‘dial in’ ET and then try to get closer to it than your competitor does to their nominated ET, without going faster (aka ‘breaking out’), Brian and the KE25 won the 1988 UK Street Machine national title. The story goes that Brian was so consistent in his V8 Corolla that, on occasion, some competitors would load their cars back on the trailers before even firing them up if they saw him arrive in the paddock.
Marc started drag racing in 2013 before the drifting bug bit. His choice of drift cars stood out amongst the usual suspects, starting with a KE70 Corolla before moving onto a Volvo 240 estate and an RA28 Celica. Ultimately, though, the allure of the quarter mile was too strong for Marc to resist.
In its previous owner’s hands, Marc’s KE20 – a Portuguese import – had been booked into Huxley Motorsport to be transformed into a rotary-powered drag car. However, when the owner decided to go a different route with another body/chassis combo, Marc was able to make a deal and continue the Corolla build for himself.
While not exactly the same car as his father’s, the similarities between the KE25 and the KE20 were strong enough for the Marc’s Corolla to become a homage of sorts. The transformation from road car to race car started with the shell being dramatically cut up. The floor pan was removed entirely, and the body draped over a custom tube-frame chassis with an integrated roll cage that’s legal down to 7.5-second ETs.
Marc races the Corolla in two UK drag racing classes. The first is Pro ET, which is a bracket class similar to the one his father won in, for cars and dragsters running 8.50 to 11.99-second ETs. The second class is Super Gas, which is head-up racing where both drivers are given green lights on the start line at the same time, and the first to the finish line without going faster than 9.90 seconds wins.
Marc’s KE20 is powered by a 5.7L small block Ford V8 stroker motor built by ASD Engines, making around 580hp. This is backed up by a John Sleath Race Cars-built Powerglide 2-speed transmission running out to a 3-inch Proptec propshaft and, finally, a custom narrowed 9-inch rear end with 4.11 gearing and beefy 35-spline axles.
15×13-inch Weld Racing wheels sit in the tubbed rear, tucking giant drag slicks. These are paired with narrow RC Comp 15×3.5-inch front wheels and skinny tyres. Strange Engineering suspension features at all four corners of the car and is fully adjustable to help dial in compression, rebound, and squat.
Along with Strange Engineering brakes, Marc has fitted a chassis-mounted parachute to help slow the Toyota down from the 135mph (217km/h) it reaches at the end of the quarter mile.
The interior is dominated by the roll cage, with the Kirkey aluminium seat enclosed further in the interest of safety. You’ll also find a Vertex Seven Star steering wheel as a subtle nod to Marc’s interest in drifting, and a custom throttle pedal that’s linked directly to the carburettor via a rose-jointed rod.
The airbrushed patina outside may not be to everyone’s taste, but it does give the immaculate shell a more used and weathered appearance like the OG “Can Do II” Corolla it’s styled upon.
That “Can Do II” name originates from the 15th Regiment of the United States Army, which earned the nickname “Can Do” after demonstrating extraordinary heroism during operations. Here, it references the fact that nothing was deemed too great a challenge – a mindset that Marc’s father Brian and now Marc have adopted in their respective drag racing careers.
Many view drag racing as easy when compared to other motorsports, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. From nailing the perfect start to keeping the car straight for 400m when all it wants to do is go sideways, there is a lot that goes on in a very short amount of time. And that’s before you even start talking about drag car setup, which is an art in itself.
Drag racing in the UK is becoming less and less accessible with several venues closing in recent years, but with die-hards like Marc and his V8-powered Corolla on the scene, I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.
Chaydon Ford
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