Front engined. Rear-wheel drive. Motorsport pedigree. Internet, please be upstanding for the new Toyota Supra. This isn’t it.
But it is a Gazoo Racing Supra Concept that confirms Toyota’s commitment to reviving its most “celebrated sports car”; the doyen of the Nineties tuning scene and a name synonymous with thatmovie franchise and many, many gearchanges.
We’re not told how many gears the Supra will have, but we do know this new concept – unveiled today at the Geneva motor show – features strong, lightweight composite materials for body parts including the front and rear bumpers, front splitter, rear diffuser, side skirts, door mirror housings and that rear wing.
Ditto the bonnet and air inlets. The windscreen and side windows are full circuit spec – they’re plastic.
Toyota tells us the concept’s suspension has been lowered, while it comes with BBS racing wheels and Michelin rubber. Brakes? There are some. They are from Brembo, and they are racing-spec. Sensing a theme here?
If not, step inside. It’s all stripped and focused. There’s a racing dashboard, OMP driver’s seat and safety harness, OMP quick-release steering wheel mounted on a racing column with a paddle-shift gearbox. Even the doors get a carbonfibre lining, and should you overcook it, a full roll cage and fire extinguisher is on board.
While this one is a track-friendly iteration of a future Supra, it’s necessary to demonstrate that motorsport helps refine road-stuff (what we’ve been banging on about for years now) to a massive degree. It’s all about transfer of technology, something that Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda firmly believed in.
Which means that when the fifth generation Toyota Supra finally arrives – a sports car built in collaboration with BMW, for the new Z4 – it’ll be something quite punchy.
Ready the gearchanges!
