► GR GT and GR GT3 revealed
► A new flagship for the GR brand
► Uses a 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo with hybrid power
It’s finally here. After multiple sightings at racetracks across the world and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota has taken the wraps of its highly-anticipated GT car – and it’s every bit as aggressive and single-minded as you’d hope. Called the GR GT (there’s no Toyota or Lexus badge in sight) it’s a front-mid engined race car for the road, but it’s been unveiled alongside a race-ready GR GT3 version and a all-electric Lexus LFA concept, too.
Wait what is it?
The mystery is solved. The GR GT is neither a Lexus nor a Toyota, but instead sits under Gazoo Racing which is now a brand of its own. The new set up can be simplified thus: Toyota is for everyone, Lexus is for innovation, Century is for premium, and GR is a natural home for Toyota’s rowdier products. And the GR GT you see here will be its flagship.
It’s taken a while…
The GR GT signifies Toyota’s ongoing dedication to motorsport, but it’s also here to keep the performance DNA of the brand intact. Toyota calls it their version of ‘Shikinen Sengu’ – the practice for moving ancient texts or relics from an old temple and placing them in a newly-built one. It’s all about renewal, without removing the original values. To that end the car has been developed by a team featuring TMC chairman Akio Toyoda, alongside professional drivers.
Toyoda’s team has three key targets for the new GT car: low weight, low centre of gravity and strong aero performance.
The GR GT uses Toyota’s first all-aluminium frame and skins it with carbonfibre reinforced plastic for the lightest, most rigid possible product. The weight of the road car is just 1750kg as a result, with a 45:55 distribution.
The GR GT will use a double-wishbone suspension with forged aluminium arms front and rear, along with adjustable Brembo carbon brakes. It’ll also use Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber, and most of these specs will migrate to the GT3 car too.
The engine, which we’ll get to, has been packaged low in the chassis and toward the cabin, while the aerodynamics were also finalised before the design team even sketched a line.
Well, it looks good
Measuring 4820mm long, 2000mm wide and just 1195mm high with a 2725mm wheelbase, the GR GT looks every inch the supercar you’d expect. That’s partly because Gazoo Racing’s engineers prioritised aero and cooling performance first and only then worked on styling. It looks somewhere between a Lexus and a Toyota, with the silhouette of a Mercedes AMG GT.
And the engine?
The road car will be a hybrid, with a front-mid mounted 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine, paired with a single electric motor. Toyota is quoting a combined target of 641bhp and 627lb ft of torque, with the whole system mated to an eight-speed auto ‘box and mechanical LSD. Power will only go to the rear wheels, natch.
Top speed is quoted at 199mph, though we don’t yet know much about the 0-62mph sprint time.
There are a few other details floating around about the car; pictures reveal the twin-turbos will be deployed in a hot-vee configuration for better packaging and a lower CoG, while Toyota also says the electric motor will be used to eliminate torque feel and provide more seamless gearchanges.
The GT3 car will use a similar engine, though we expect the hybrid element to be removed to account for GT3 rules.
Anything else?
As you’d expect the GR GT’s interior also focuses on the driver, with the most useful switchgear centred around the driver. At the same time, the width of displays, paddles and gear selection indicators have all been designed and laid out with circuit driving in mind.