Toyota Race Cars

Toyota wouldn’t be the first brand you think of when talking about exciting cars. However, the Japanese brand has been on something of a roll in recent times and the GR Yaris is one of the best examples. Chris Harris has driven and raced more than a few cars, so he is quite qualified to talk about it while finding out its limits. As you might guess, some epic driving is in store, and here’s what Harris makes of Toyota’s rally-bred hot hatch.

Mat Watson from ‘Carwow’ got three Gazoo Racing race cars to the drag strip for a series of races. The three cars were a 2021 Toyota GR Corolla British Touring car, a 2022 Toyota GR Corolla Touring car, and an old-school 1986 Toyota Corolla AE86. These racing cars are a different breed and aren’t your typical quarter-mile cars. But, the team here decided to put them on the drag strip and see how they perform.

We talk about how the upcoming electric pickup trucks are fast and heavy on performance. Trucks like the Tesla Cybertruck, the Rivian R1T, the GMC Hummer EV, etc. are all quicker than some of the famous supercars of this era. Although internal combustion-engined trucks aren’t known to be ‘fast’, there are a handful of them that could are quite agile. Doug DeMuro decided to list 10 such cool fast trucks, and we agree with every entry on this list.

In mid-2018 we learned that Toyota was planning a road-going hypercar to complement its WEC racer and, a few months later, we laid eyes on the concept for the first time. Toyota has apparently been hard at work, and even revealed a camouflaged prototype earlier in 2021, but all of that may have been for nothing if the newest report coming out of Japan is correct. In short, the road-going GR Super Sport has been canceled after a horrendous crash and burn during testing.

Throughout the years, automotive history has recorded many worthy achievements. Some of them praise the car, others praise the driver, and sometimes both. This was exactly the case with British racing driver Andy Wallace and the Toyota TS010, both of which literally share blood…or cracked bones. The most fanatic of car enthusiasts find some romantic aspect about a car that can hurt you, but was it really the car, the racetrack, or a combination of both that resulted in the incident?

The internal combustion engines are on the verge of getting knocked off into oblivion, but that doesn’t mean electrification is the only way to go. A lot of automakers are fighting to keep them alive for as long as possible before euthanizing them. Toyota is one of them, and it recently gave us a preview of the hydrogen-powered version of the GR Yaris’ engine. The automaker plonked it into a Corolla hatch and released a video of how it sounds. If this doesn’t give you the chills, we don’t know what will.

Ever since its debut, the GR Yaris has been putting a lot of smiles on a lot of faces, mostly those of the car journos that had the chance to sample the feisty hot hatch. But the time has come for Toyota’s pocket-rocket to go rallying and looking at this video, it really seems up to the challenge.

Latvia-based HGK has a long repertoire of drift car projects, most of which BMWs (think E92s and E46s). Every now and then, however, HGK likes to switch it up and massage Japanese sports car as well. Case in point: this rad looking Supra.

PS: It has a 2JZ engine.

Toyota Gazoo Racing will campaign a brand-new car in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, the top long-distance sports car series in the world. With both technical components and design cues taken from the multi-Le-Mans-winning TS050, the GR010 Hybrid is our first look at a novel breed of racing cars, the Le Mans Hypercars. Developed in conjunction with a road-going version that’s set to be launched later on this year, the GR010 is powered by a 3.5liter V-6 twin-turbo engine that, together with the hybrid system, delivers 940 horsepower to the wheels. Glickenhaus, ByKolles, Peugeot, and everyone else should heed the warning.

Back when Toyota threw the Corolla into the fiery pits of the World Rally Championship, it had big shoes to fill: the Corolla’s predecessor, the legendary Celica Turbo had written history for the Japanese carmaker. But so would the Corolla, although to less resounding extent.

Debuted in 1997 during Rally Finland with underpinnings taken from the E110 road-going Corolla, the rally car won four rallies (Monte Carlo, Catalunya, and New Zealand in 1998 and China in 1999) and secured the World Manufacturers’ title in 1999.

But what if the Group B was to make a comeback and Toyota built a rally car to do battle there?

A year after unveiling a tricked-out TRD version of the Avalon, Toyota is back at it with an even more radical setup for its resident full-size four-door sedan. It’s called the Toyota Avalon TRD Pro Concept, and it’s loaded to the brim with track-spec modifications that enhance every detail of the sedan.

From aerodynamic modifications to powertrain enhancements, the Avalon TRD Pro Concept has them all. It’s a fitting homage to TRD’s 40th anniversary, though it would probably be even cooler if Toyota has plans to produce it in some capacity. For now, we can enjoy the Avalon TRD Pro Concept for what it is: a glimpse into what a full-blown, track-spec Toyota Avalon could look like if it was left in the hands of TRD. Maybe someday we can also find out what it feels like to drive.

Toyota and Porsche did battle in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship between 2014 and 2017 when Porsche abruptly decided to pull the plug on its LMP1 program as the whole VAG Group was looking at ways to reduce costs post-Dieselgate. Shortly thereafter, Porsche unveiled the 919 Evo, an unrestricted version of the company’s Le Mans-winning car that went on to better Porsche’s very own record around the Northern Loop of the Nürburgring circuit. Now, Porsche’s old rival, who’s still in the FIA WEC and has won Le Mans two times on the trot already reckons it could better the 919 Evo’s record around the Nordschleife through the voice of Rob Leupen, the LMP1 Team Boss. The sad part is that Toyota isn’t committing to a record attempt just yet.

Toyota, the company known Stateside for building everybody’s favorite fleet car, the Camry, looked to brush off its reputation as a boring automaker and, at the same time, prove to the world that it could not only make cars by the bucketload but also innovate and compete with the best in the arena of motorsports. Since the ‘80s, Toyota had been involved in the World Rally Championship and the advent of the Group A regulations that replaced the perilous Group B after 1986 was seen by Toyota executives as a great way to really get in the game with the Supra GT-Four. The ultimate version, known as the ST205, briefly competed before being banned and this is the road-legal version of that very car – albeit not in the bombastic Castrol livery.

What would you say about a 1994 Celica that cranked out over 250 ponies from the factory and came equipped with the WRC-specific water injection, sport manifold, and turbocharger anti-lag components installed? Granted, the anti-lag isn’t working and, as such, nothing keeps the turbo from spinning off-throttle but the components are there as are most of the aerodynamic upgrades applied to the Group A car driven at the time by the likes of Didier Auriol and Carlos Sainz: an elevated rear wing and the different hood. On top of that, Toyota only ever made 2,500 of these WRC Edition ST205s so it’s mighty rare, which is why Japanese Classics is asking $18,000 for the example it’s selling, one that’s been driven quite a bit. It shows 129,000 miles on the odometer, but otherwise presents itself in a very tidy shape given its age and mileage. The early Celica GT-Four models are now just old enough to satisfy the pesky 25-year rule for cars that weren’t originally sold in the US so you will see more pop up for sale here but WRC Edition examples will surely be few and far between.

The 2019 Toyota GR Supra Drift by HKS is a heavily modified Supra that will make its debut at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Built by HKS, a Japanese company known for modifying cars and selling aftermarket parts, this Toyota Supra looks like a full-fledged race car and drifts like no other fifth-generation Supra. The really cool thing is that it has a 2JZ-GTE engine under the hood instead of the Supra’s BMW-sourced mill.

Are you happy that the Supra is finally back but you’re also upset that it has a BMW engine? Are you crazy about the iconic 2JZ-GTE in the previous Supra? Well, this might be the car you’ve been looking for. It looks like the new Supra but it sounds and drifts like the old Supra. The bad news is that you can’t take it home. The good news is that you can see it in action at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Toyota Corolla nameplate has deep roots in drifting, most notably with the AE86 “Hachi-Roku” produced during the ‘80s. However, in the 30-plus years since the demise of the original 86, the Corolla has been a bit of a pariah when it comes to the business of getting sideways and smoky. Nevertheless, Papadakis Racing has transformed the modern front-wheel drive twelfth-generation 2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback into a winning entry in the cutthroat Formula Drift Championship.

Of course, breaking away from the pack has been a staple of team owner Stephan Papadakis’ career, and it shows everywhere in this latest build. Beyond the extensive rear-wheel drive conversion and complementary bespoke suspension, the Toyota also arrives to the party with half as many cylinders as most of its competitors, while still producing four-figures on the dyno thanks to mind-blowing levels of boost and a hearty shot of nitrous. Then there’s the unique five-door body style, which is enhanced by a custom carbon-fiber widebody kit.

Read on for all the nitty gritty details on what makes this machine so incredible.

Updated 03/19/2019: When this article was originally written, the author assumed Ryan Tuerck would drive the featured Corolla race car in the 2019 Formula Drift season. This is incorrect. Papadakis Racing built the featured Corolla race car for Toyota for demonstration purposes, and Ryan Tuerck is not a regular driver for the Papadakis Racing team. The author apologizes for the error.

The Supra name has been in a close-knit relationship with racing for decades, and this tradition is bound to continue with the fifth-generation model. After announcing that the Supra will replace the Camry in NASCAR, Toyota now gives us a preview of what could be a very popular customer racing car: the Supra GT4, the company’s first factory-developed GT4 racer.

The GT4 class is the baby brother of GT3: cheaper and less complicated to operate while also pertaining to closer wheel-to-wheel action due to the limited aerodynamic dependency of the cars in comparison to the GT3s. That’s why GT4 is, nowadays, a booming class just like TCR is in the world of touring car racing. Still, that doesn’t mean they are cheap. A Mercedes-AMG GTG GT4, for instance, will set you back $227,000 while the Multimatic-built Ford Mustang GT4 costs in excess of $260,000 but you can also go for something cheaper like the [$179,000 Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4-art184037]. By comparison, any GT3 car is well over $400,000 to purchase.

In this context, the Supra GT4 might become a very interesting entry-level GT4 option as it’s based on a not-so-expensive platform - it’s no McLaren or Mercedes-AMG GT. It’s also an official project, and that means it has credibility on its side right out of the box. Until now, if you wanted to go GT4 racing in a Toyota, your only choice was the GPRM-developed GT86 GT4 which never really performed on par with its rivals. Things must change now that the Supra is just around the corner.

Update 3/12/2019: We’ve updated this review with fresh images of the 2019 Toyota GR Supra GT4 Concept that we took at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Check them out in the gallery at the bottom of the page!

Sometimes, this job comes with some pretty cool perks. Last week, during my visit to Savannah, Georgia, where I drove the 2020 Toyota Corolla Sedan, Toyota had a little surprise waiting for me - a ride-along with Ryan Tuerck in the mind-altering Papadakis Racing Corolla Hatch drift car. Suffice to say, the experience made quite the impression on me.

Updated 03/19/2019: When this article was originally written, the author assumed Ryan Tuerck would drive the featured Corolla race car in the 2019 Formula Drift season. This is incorrect. Papadakis Racing built the featured Corolla race car for Toyota for demonstration purposes, and Ryan Tuerck is not a regular driver for the Papadakis Racing team. The author apologizes for the error.

Last week, I was in Savannah, Georgia, driving the new 2020 Toyota Corolla Sedan and while I was there, Toyota had a surprise waiting for me - a ride along with Ryan Tuerck in the 1,000-horsepower Papadakis Racing Toyota Corolla Hatchback drift machine! It was an incredible experience, and it served as a stark reminder of just how amazing drifting really is.

Updated 03/19/2019: When this article was originally written, the author assumed Ryan Tuerck would drive the featured Corolla race car in the 2019 Formula Drift season. This is incorrect. Papadakis Racing built the featured Corolla race car for Toyota for demonstration purposes, and Ryan Tuerck is not a regular driver for the Papadakis Racing team. The author apologizes for the error.