Fantastic news for New Zealand race fans today when Toyota NZ CEO, Alistair Davis, not only confirmed that the Toyota Racing Series would continue with a new engine and a new chassis, he also confirmed a fully-fledged support series that would be run with the acclaimed Toyota 86 sports car as a basis.
Speaking at the local launch of the Toyota RAV4, Davis said that the company was fully committed to continuing with the TRS series and was currently evaluating potential new chassis’ and engines for the series’ future.
“We will probably do these things separately,” said Davis, “We will do a chassis change first, followed by an engine change, just because the sheer logistics of doing it in one year would be a nightmare for the team”
In terms of the new chassis, all Davis would confirm was that Toyota would look to retain its impressive safety record by improving driver safety in terms of cockpit protection of the driver’s head.
When questioned on what chassis’ were being considered, Davis refused to comment, however when asked the same question about engines, he was more forthcoming: “Surprisingly, Toyota engines…” he quipped.
“There are a number of options, but we are looking at something that will give us a bit more power, just to keep us as a stepping stone for guys looking at going into Europe.”
Currently the Toyota Racing Series has an impressive international reputation as a feeder series into serious top-line European single seater racing.
When questioned about Toyota’s total level of investment so far in the TRS, Davis said “I am not prepared to say, because it is actually too complicated a question to answer. We lease cars, we sell cars, we lease engines – it’s too complex. You just have to look around to see the capital investment is considerable and it is part of our investment to promote the brand.”
“And we are going to continue to promote the brand with this series for the 86,” he went on to say.
Toyota launched the 86 sports car last year as a part of its push to bring more passion and driver enjoyment back to the brand, which it says has been missing for some time. No one has disagreed with this conclusion so far.
“The TR86 is a standard product designed for a one-make race series,” said Davis.
“We showed the car at race tracks around the country during the summer and have taken a lot of the feedback onboard and modified the car. One of the strong demands from people was for the competition dash. They wanted more telemetry from the car, so we have added that.
“We are basically in the process now of developing prices and taking orders for the car. We will build them over the coming winter with the aim of having the series start up later this year at Highlands Park in Cromwell, and running potentially 15 to 20 races across seven meetings this coming summer.
“Interest is extraordinarily high. The car looks to be in the order of $70,000 plus GST and the competition dash and a spare set of wheels adds another $8,000 plus GST.”
We dunno about you, but we reckon a Toyota TR86 with “OVERSTEER” branding splashed all over it would be just about right… anyone want to fund a big adventure into the world of Toyota 86 racing for us? We could guarantee it would be one hell of a lot of fun!
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