Toyota’s Gazoo Racing high-performance division is putting on quite a show at the Tokyo motor show this year, including - yes - a mid-engined GR Yaris M.
Development car
Now, it’s not as if the GR Yaris wasn’t already fast, loud, and fun, but can you imagine all that with the engine where the back seat should be? Sadly, this is very unlikely to become an actual production-ready rival to Renault’s recently-announced electric Renault 5 Turbo 3E (Group B is back and we couldn’t be happier!) because it’s actually just a development car, designed to be hacked around the Nurburgring (and other race tracks) just to see what it would feel like. Power comes from a four-cylinder, 2.0-litre turbo engine with the G20E code number.
Still, at the very least, lessons learned from this GR Yaris M (the M stands for Midship) will filter back to production models. According to Gazoo Racing, the idea is to: “implement “driver-first” carmaking, in which cars are repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing and in which feedback from Morizo [the racing nom de plume of Toyota president Akio Toyoda), professional drivers, and gentleman drivers is thoroughly incorporated.” That does, you’ll notice, not include the words ‘we’re not building it’ so there is hope, but we wouldn’t be holding our breath.
Return to the Nurburgring
Whatever about the GR Yaris Midship, Toyota will return to the Nurburgring 24hrs race this year. Back in 2014, Akio Toyoda won his class racing in the 24hrs, and that was the catalyst for a lot of Gazoo Racing’s work since, so news of Toyota GR coming back to the ‘Ring, six years since it last competed with a works team, is good news indeed.
The team will compete under the banner of Toyota Gazoo Rookie Racing, but the name is a bit of a misnomer, as the drivers will include Akio Toyoda himself once again (racing under his ‘Morizo’ name), his son Daisuke Toyoda and Toyota Gazoo Racing works drivers Kazuya Oshima and Hiroaki Ishiura. All of them are experienced racing drivers. The team will run modified GR Yaris race cars (regular front-engined ones).
Yaris bodykit
On the road-going side, Gazoo will also use the Tokyo show to display a new optional aero body kit for the GR Yaris, which includes a fully adjustable rear wing and a factory-installed vertical handbrake for the ultimate in hairpin-tackling.
There are also some software upgrades for the GR86 coupe being shown off, including an improved automatic throttle blip when changing down in the manual gearbox model. All GR models will also be getting an updated ‘Circuit Mode’ added to the driving modes. When this detects, via GPS, that you’re at an approved racing circuit (only in Japan for now), it automatically switches the vehicle’s instrument panel to a dedicated gauge display that intuitively shows shift timing and engine rpm. Circuit Mode was launched in August last year, and now Toyota GR is expanding the number of circuits at which it operates — from 50 to 77 — “centring on facilities where gymkhana and dirt trials can be enjoyed.”
Classic parts
Gazoo will also show off some new high-performance aftermarket parts — including a mechanical limited-slip differential for the automatic gearbox model of the GR Yaris and cooling fins for the differential carrier of the GR86 — and some heritage model parts too. Those will be for models as varied as the A70 and A80 Supra, the AE86 Coupe, and the 40-series of the Land Cruiser.
Custom Land Cruisers
Speaking of the Land Cruiser, Gazoo Racing is going to collaborate with its in-house partners Toyota Auto Body, to launch a new brand called Land Cruiser Base, which will offer custom parts and kits for current and historic Land Cruiser models, as well as becoming something of a Land Cruiser club, with events hosted for customers.