Toyota Unveils GR Supra Racing Concept, Next year will be good for cool cars.
2020 Toyota Supra
It seems Next year will be a year filled with revived nameplates. As you might’ve heard, Toyota is bringing back the Supra as part of a co-development program with BMW (which produced the new Z4), and it’s aiming to be a front-engine alternative to a Porsche Cayman. A turn behind the wheel of a prototype a few months ago indicates that the fifth-generation Supra will live up to the legendary name.
As 2018 winds down, we reflect on what we enjoyed this year, but we’ve also got an eye on the future. This is The GR Supra Racing Concept we’re most excited for in 2019. It’s going to be a good year for cool cars.
The Legend Returns
With a one-two punch of cutting-edge technology and the same high-performance DNA that defined four generations of Toyota’s most iconic sports car, the GR Supra Racing Concept is a competition-ready glimpse into the future. Its headline-hogging reveal at the Geneva Motor Show confirms Toyota’s commitment to bring Supra into the 21st century with a no-compromise, fifth-gen design that delivers world-class power, performance, and handling on the road or track.
Based on a compact, two-door layout, the GR Supra Racing Concept has a pure front-engine/rear-wheel-drive configuration and makes use of advanced lightweight materials in its construction. Itching to get behind the wheel and sample its incredible performance? The GR Supra Racing Concept is featured in a new update of the Gran Turismo Sport racing video game, set for release in April 2018.
GR Supra Racing Concept Highlights
The Legend Returns: Toyota Unveils GR Supra Racing Concept
The modern racing concept signals Toyota’s commitment to bring back its most iconic sportscar.
GENEVA (March 6, 2018)–The GR Supra Racing Concept makes its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show, reviving the name and spirit of the most celebrated model in Toyota’s illustrious sportscar heritage and demonstrating Toyota’s commitment to bringing the Supra back to the market. It also shows the future potential for a car that can deliver high performance both on-road and track.
Toyota Supra Heritage
The GR Supra Racing Concept revives the great heritage of one of Toyota’s most famous sports cars. The Supra name evokes power, performance, and handling that defined a succession of world-class cars for a quarter of a century. As a thoroughbred sports car, the Toyota Supra built a reputation both as a formidable performer on the road and as an all-conquering machine on the racetrack, dominating Japan’s top-level GT racing series and earning legions of fans.
The Toyota Supra still enjoys an iconic status among sports car aficionados, 16 years on from the end of production. Its enduring popularity has been helped by its success as a popular model in the Gran Turismo® driving simulator video game series, which is only playable on PlayStation consoles, and as a starring car in the first film in The Fast and the Furious global action movie series.
The Supra badge first appeared in 1978 on a larger and more powerful version of the second-generation Celica before becoming established as a successful model in its own right. Known as the A40, the original Supra was followed by three further generations: the A60 in 1981, A70 in 1986, and A80 in 1993.
The front-engine/rear-wheel drive GT sportscar remained in production until 2002, and in its final generation, it was Toyota’s most powerful production model.
The Supra’s reputation was greatly enhanced by its success in motorsport. Most notably, the fourth-generation Supra, introduced in 1993, became the dominant force in the All-Japan GT racing – today’s Super GT series – winning the GT500 class four times.
The Toyota Supra also competed in American IMSA sportscar racing in the 1980s and twice appeared at Le Mans in the 1990s.
GR Supra Racing Concept
A compact, two-door car, the GR Supra Racing Concept has a pure front-engine/rear-wheel drive configuration and makes use of advanced lightweight materials in its construction.
Created by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, the concept perfectly expresses the “fun to drive” quality that is intrinsic to Toyota’s commitment to making ever-better cars. The large “90” race number on its doors is a historical reference to Supra’s codename and a big visual clue to the fact that this concept heralds Supra’s return in a fifth generation.
Its development is true to the belief of Kiichiro Toyoda, founder of the car company, that participation in motorsport provides the challenges of performance and durability that can directly help develop better cars, while at the same time generating interest and excitement among motoring fans.
This ethos has been fully embraced by both Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda and by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, with the pursuit of success at the highest levels of international motorsport, including the World Rally Championship, World Endurance Championship, and the Le Mans 24 Hours race. Taking part in these and other racing series around the world provides technical learnings that can be transferred from the race track or rally stage to the development of not just new generations of Toyota’s sports-focused GR models, but also to its wider range of vehicles, driven by tens of millions of people around the world.
The GR Supra Racing Concept is to be featured in a new update of the Gran Turismo Sport® video game, developed by Polyphony Digital Inc., and scheduled for release in April 2018.
Design, Chassis, and Equipment Features
The racing concept has a dramatic bodywork design that includes a large rear wing. It makes extensive use of strong but lightweight composite material for elements such as the wide front and rear bumpers, front splitter and rear diffuser, side skirts, door mirror housings, and the rear wing. The hood is crafted from the same material and features louvered air inlets. The windscreen and side windows are made of plastic.
The concept’s chassis features lowered front and rear suspension using original equipment (OE) components. BBS racing wheels with center-nut attachment are fitted with Michelin racing tires. The braking system uses Brembo Racing calipers and discs and there is a racing exhaust.
The cabin is entirely competition-focused and is fitted with a racing dashboard and OMP driver’s seat and safety harness. OMP has also supplied the quick-release steering wheel, mounted on a racing column and equipped with a paddle-shift system. The doors are lined with carbon fiber panels and the dashboard includes a racing display.
Competition safety requirements are met by a full roll cage and fire extinguishers, and the fuel and brake lines, pedal box, battery, and wiring looms are all designed to competition standards.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing first competed in Europe in 2007 (as GAZOO Racing). It began a long association with the Nürburgring 24 Hours with two Toyota Altezza cars (equivalent to the first generation Lexus IS) and a team comprising drivers and mechanics who were Toyota employees.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has since become the international umbrella organization for Toyota’s global sporting program. In just the past year it has claimed two victories during its first season in the FIA World Rally Championship and won five rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Its new vehicle development program has produced the Yaris GRMN performance hatchback, the latest in a successful series of performance-focused GR-branded cars, and the first GRMN model to be developed and built-in Europe.
Its work is based on three pillars: developing people through taking part in motorsport; creating fans through the excitement of motorsport and producing fun-to-drive cars, and making ever-better cars by using the knowledge gained from competition.
By bringing employees into the racing garages and pit lane, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing helps them improve their skills and help them acquire new abilities, working as a team in extreme, high-pressure environments. The personal development aspect of this work again feeds directly into Toyota’s making of ever-better cars, supported by people who have the experience and vision to excel.
Dimensions
Length | 4,574mm |
Width | 2,048mm |
Height | 1,230mm |
Wheelbase | 2,470mm |
OUR 200-MPH THUNDERSTORM.
The 2019 Supra Xfinity Series Race Car
The racetrack is where we live. It’s where we prove our commitment to making ever-better cars. That’s why we’re proud to announce our latest creation for the racetrack: the 2019 Supra Xfinity Series Race Car. With its ability to produce over 700 horsepower, and unleash a roar that literally makes the earthquake, this purpose-built race car really gets our minds racing.
Our teams at Calty Design and Toyota Racing Development worked hand-in-hand with NASCAR 24 to ensure the iconic race car shape was safe, powerful, and ready to take this car to speeds in excess of 200 mph. It’s set to shake up racing when it makes its on-track debut at the NASCAR Xfinity Series on February 16, 2019.
It’ll Debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. This has been an open secret in the automotive world—even Toyota admits as much—but now it’s officially confirmed. Toyota tweeted out on Oct 30, 2018, that the 2020 Supra will finally make its debut at the Detroit Auto Show next January.
Want the First 2020 Toyota Supra? Get Your Auction Arm Ready!
PLANO, Texas (Dec. 13, 2018) — Sportscar enthusiasts have been anxiously anticipating sliding behind the wheel of their own all-new 2020 Supra. The honor of being the first one to do so will go to the highest bidder at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Saturday, January 19, 2019.
This one-of-a-kind Supra will be the first new Supra available in the U.S in more than 20 years and will carry VIN number 20201. It will feature a matte gray exterior with red mirror caps, a red leather interior, and matte black wheels. A carbon-fiber badge on the interior will indicate its status as the first 2020 Supra. Additional exclusive experiences will be announced prior to the auction.
All proceeds of the sale will be shared by the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The American Heart Association’s mission is to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. The Bob Woodruff Foundation finds, funds, and shapes innovative programs that help our post-9/11 impacted veterans, service members, and their families thrive long after their time in uniform.
The Supra prototype on display at Barrett-Jackson will be representative of the actual production vehicle that will be delivered in the first half of 2019.
The World Premiere of the 2020 Supra will take place Monday, January 14, 2019, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The reveal will be live-streamed for global audiences.
(what is TSS, TSS-P, TSS2 & TSS3?)