Toyota is not sending any mixed signals about its intent to occupy every performance niche. Hot on the heels of a rumor about a mid-engined Celica, Toyota showed off a pair of supercars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We’ve seen the GT3 race car concept before, but what’s notable about this appearance is the fact that its road car counterpart came along for the ride.
We must hand it to Toyota. They must have learned a lesson from the GR Supra’s extended tease that the public will get tired of a slow information drip in the years leading up to the car’s debut. That’s probably why we haven’t heard a peep about the GR GT3 since its appearance at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2022.
The two camouflaged cars ruised up the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb, less of an effort to get on the leader board and more of a signal of Toyota’s intent. Toyota works driver and former 24 Hours of Le Mans champ Kazuki Nakajima was behind the wheel of the road car, while Daisuke Toyoda, an amateur racer that’s following the footsteps of his father Akio, piloted the race car.
Other than the big wing, the GR GT3 race car differs from the road car by sitting lower to the ground with a taller central grille, large hood vent, diffusers, and race mirrors. It was a short run, but enough to reveal that the deep rumble of a V8, possibly turbocharged, emanated from beneath the hood.
That’s welcome news because production of the LC500, the last of Toyota’s 5.0-liter V8s, is likely ending soon. It’s likely the car will be branded a Lexus if it comes to market, adding to the GR Yaris/Corolla, GR86, Celica, and possibly a Supra built jointly with Mazda. Even a few years ago, who would’ve thought that Toyota would be the brand with the broadest portfolio of sports cars in the world?
I understand why they were cruising…but I kinda wish they’d have hit the pedal on the right a bit more.
It’s also nice to see Daisuke involved.
Even a few years ago, who would’ve thought that Toyota would be the brand with the broadest portfolio of sports cars in the world?
Well… in the current scenario, Toyota is a japanese company run mostly by japanese citizens who care properly about their country. They don’t have to care about complaints of ocidentals (especially from europe or north-america). Let alone someone called Greta Thunberg and her astonishing efforts with zero results to save the world from whatever she thinks that stole her dreams. Sweden is a country with a very high GDP, sure? I couldn’t care less about Sweden.
With that WPP question solved, I think Toyota is doing this for themselves. When everyone keeps mistaking what EVs and hybrids are meant to be, chinese companies are superbly conservative as the japanese, make no mistake from their common origins and beliefs. They could’ve been producing sports cars in the same vein as well, though they’d never set wheels on statean soil for cultural reasons. Its not only about the money.
I think I understand Toyota. Cars are meant to be cheap and reliable and fun. There’s no need for horsepower wars, neither to build a specific MR exotic to compete with europeans or americans (sorry Koenig & Henney). Honda (with the NSX) was mostly producing another grand tourer disguised as a “Ferrari killer”. It was never meant to kill Ferrari. They just have to amuse themselves, and things can get better as soon as the world wake up and realize that internal combustion is less of a threat than nuclear cookies.