Toyota has been making headway in the motorsport scene again, both in WEC and WRC and has done admirably but championship success eludes them. Meanwhile, for the rest of us driving on the public roads, the Japanese carmakers has launched a new performance brand for selling sports cars, called Gazoo Racing. The first of this brand has already been introduced to the world by way of a limited production hot hatch, the Yaris GRMN.
While the next-gen Supra is still being discussed on many JDM and general car forums, Toyota’s engineers were busy cramming a petrol-electric powertrain of their Le Mans racecar into a street legal avatar called the GR Super Sport Concept, where the GR stands for Gazoo Racing. On paper, the transplant seems to have required no dilution with the Super Sport boasting a combined output of 1,000bhp from its twin-turbo 2.4-litre V6 and electric motors.
Take a look at the car’s design and you can immediately spot the aerodynamic elements that are clearly suited to a track racer and not a road car, including the 18inch centre lock wheels in fat rubber.
The concept here is most likely not going to directly result in a new sports car for their new performance brand but is a hint in terms of what the world can expect – both in terms of design and performance technology. It is also a suggestion that Toyota are looking to make brand new sports cars for Gazoo Racing instead of just steroid-ed versions their production cars.
“Rather than developing production cars into sports cars, we aim to work out how to incorporate the know-how gained from racing and rallying into production cars,” says Gazoo Racing boss Shigeki Tomoyama. “This is how sporting competition contributes to Toyota Gazoo Racing’s efforts to make ever-better cars.”
With the world focussing so much on autonomous driving, Ferrari making an SUV with maybe even an all-electric supercar, it’s quite exciting to know that we can expect some proper sportscars from Toyota, again, in the near future. Do you like the GR Super Sport concept? Share your thoughts in the comment section and let us know.
Gallery:
The Auto Loons 