![]() In addition, Toyota Team TOM’s expanded to add a second car, and reshuffled the driver lineups to put two young rising stars from overseas – Michael Krumm of Germany, and Pedro de la Rosa of Spain – in the flagship number 36 car. Wholesale aerodynamic refinements, a lighter engine, and the switch from an H-pattern to a Hewland sequential-shift gearbox were the big technical changes for ‘97. Toyota continued to make improvements to the Supra GT. After McLaren departed acrimoniously after just one season, 1997 saw the spotlight put back on the power struggle between Nissan and Toyota. ![]() Lehto in their McLaren F1 GTR.ġ9 were building years for the Toyota GT500 programme, though in ‘96, both Toyota and Nissan were overshadowed by the factory-run Team Goh McLaren F1s that ran roughshod over the GT500 category. The team was led by Masanori Sekiya, a long time Toyota/TOM’s ace driver who, just a week earlier, became the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans when he joined Yannick Dalmas and J.J. On June 25th, 1995, at the tight and technical Sendai Hi-Land Raceway, the Castrol TOM’s Supra scored Toyota’s first victory in JGTC competition, igniting the rivalry between Toyota and Nissan that still continues to this day. Tuned to the rigours of circuit racing, the 3S-GT was lighter, more efficient, and still produced a whopping 493 horsepower and over 600 Nm of torque – more than enough to match the Skylines for power and performance. So instead of copying Nissan’s approach and using a souped-up version of the three-litre 2JZ engine from the road-going Supra, Toyota instead opted to install the two-litre, turbocharged 3S-GT powerplant that powered their rally car fleet. Toyota were the first major manufacturer to take advantage of the early regulations of the JGTC, which allowed for cars to run any engine, so long as it was in the original manufacturer’s range of engines. ![]() It was the exact same colours of Toyota’s fleet of Celica GT-Fours, which were the dominant force of the World Rally Championship at the time.Īnd that wasn’t all that the Castrol TOM’s Supra had in common with its rallying counterparts. The car was clad in its unmistakeable livery of pure white, dashed with the contours of verdant green and fiery red from their title sponsor. It helped to firmly establish the GT500 class, which would eventually evolve into the fastest GT racing category on the planet today Who better to lead the way for Toyota than TOM’s (Tachi Oiwa Motor Sports) – who had represented Toyota at the highest levels of motorsport since 1974, including as fixtures of the Group C era at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was the second full season of the new JGTC, and Toyota had their sights set on taking the fight to Nissan, whose fleet of mighty Skyline GT-Rs took the inaugural series title in ‘94 – and utterly dominated the Japanese Touring Car Championship (JTCC) in the early ‘90s before. The Castrol TOM’s Supra made its debut in the 1995 All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). IV.Īnd more importantly, it helped to firmly establish the GT500 class, which would eventually evolve into the fastest GT racing category on the planet today. Even now, it maintains its status as one of the legends of the early years of GT500 – the ultimate version of one of Japan’s most beloved supercars of the ‘90s, the Toyota Supra Mk. Both cars should stand out in traffic, as a sports car should, so choosing between them will be a matter of preference.The Castrol TOM’s Toyota Supra GT may be the most recognizable and beloved car from the early years of the Super GT series in Japan. The squared-off grille harkens back to the 240Z, and those taillights pay homage to the 300ZX, which should appeal to hardcore Z enthusiasts. But whereas the 370Z looked like an evolution of the 350Z, the 400Z calls back to older generations like the 240Z and 300ZX. ![]() The design looks mostly production-ready and keeps the same overall proportions of the 370Z, which is not a nock by any stretch. Nissan had its fair share of design restrains, too, since the Z Proto uses the same FM Platform as the 370Z (and 350Z). Toss in some other cool styling bits like a double-bubble roof, and the Supra looks like nothing else on the road today. Its pointed front end looks aggressive, and the rear ducktail spoiler looks sleek. The final design is smaller and less pronounced than the concept, mainly due to the constraints of sharing a platform with the BMW Z4, but we think the Supra came out looking great. Toyota styled the Supra to look like the FT-1 Concept from 2014.
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