Toyota Supra in motorsport

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During its history the Toyota Supra has enjoyed considerable success in a variety different of motorsports.

1 Drag racing
2 Touring car
3 Rallying
4 Sportscar racing
5 Supra HV-R
6 Drifting
7 References

[edit] Drag racing

The Supra has a history of professional drag racing, mainly in Japan and the United States. The HKS team have used both the Mk III and Mk IV to showcase its products, known as the HKS Drag Supra. Mainly built on a custom chassis with a carbon fiber body, the Mk 3 version housed a de-stroked 2.89-liter twin-turbo 7M-GTE, good for 800 bhp (600 kW) at over 9000 rpm, giving a best quarter mile time of 8.09 seconds. ^[1]

One of the first Pro Mod driver in import drag racing, Vinny Ten used a Supra to hold national records for drag racing in the United States between 1997 to 2000 as well as being the first in the US to build an 1,000 bhp (700 kW) Japanese engine without the need of nitrous or alcohol fuel. Ten also achieved the first for the Supra to break into the 12 to 8 second barriers as well as achieving a speed of over 120 to 160 mph (260 km/h). Ten has since taken his Supra into the six second barrier. ^[2]

Craig Paisley, another pioneer of sport compact drag racing, also used a nitrous-assisted Supra, his first sport compact, to compete in the same category. He achieved a best of 8.2-second e.t.s at more than 160 mph (260 km/h) and would switch to the factory supported Tacoma by 2002.^[3] ^[4]

After years of competing in other cars, in 2002, HKS returned with the Mk IV version of the HKS Drag Supra, driven by Tetsuya "Dryhopp" Kawasaki,^[5] its 4.0 liter 1UZ-FE V-8, equipped with two prototype HKS GT3540 turbos, HKS rods and billet crank and stock valves, producing in total of 1,479 bhp (1103 kW).^[6] ^[7]

In 2003, the Supra was to compete in the NHRA Sport Compact Series, but the car became ineligible when the category it was to enter in, Pro V8, was axed at the beginning of the year, therefore it was permitted to perform demonstration runs throughout the season, where at a round at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, the Supra took the car's record time of 6.893 ET at 193.13 mph (310.81 km/h), eclipsing its best in Japan of 7.277 posted at Sendai Highland Drag Raceway.^[5]

In 2002, at NHRA's Street Tire Class, the unibodied Titan Motorsport Supra of Mark Mazurowski broke the all-season record breaking dominance of Ari Yallon's Rotary Performance RX-7 to take the title and became the fastest uni-body Supra in the world with a time of 9.42 second and 157.56 mph (253.57 km/h) at Maple Grove Raceway, Pennsylvania, despite a quicker time at Houston Raceway Park of 9.002 at 160.40 which was unrecorded.^[8]

The Supra won all but the first round, losing at a final to Yallon ^[9]. With the cancellation of the Street Tire Class, Titan would move to the Pro RWD class with a 2JZ-GTE powered Celica ^[10] The Supra was used by BF Goodrich to advertise its Drag Radials tires which it was equipped with.

Many cars that appeared in the series would appear in the NDRA (NOPI Drag Racing Association) BF Goodrich Tires Pro Street Tire series.

In the United Kingdom, Steve Whittaker used a 900 bhp (671 kW) Mk. III built around a Pro style chassis to achieve a best of 8.207 @ 169.89mph.^[11]

[edit] Touring car

During the Group A period, Toyota used the MkII for Division 4 category touring car racing, especially in JTCC, ETCC, BTCC and ATCC with the AE86 competing in Division 1.

The MkII Celica Supras, debuted in 1983, although relatively underpowered to be a serious contender against the Rover SD1 and BMW 635CSI, managed to be competitive despite this, being driven by drivers such as Win Percy, which he took it to win a BTCC round at Brands Hatch ^[12]

When its star driver, Percy was tempted away by rival Tom Walkinshaw and his TWR prepared Jaguar XJS V12, Toyota GB took on Grand Prix motorcycle racing star Barry Sheene, following his retirement from motorcycle racing, for the 1985 BTCC season, but the car was outclassed by the newer turbocharged cars and Sheene's performance was hampered by past motorcycle racing injuries. Nevertheless, he drew in the crowds and would retire from professional racing at the end of the season.^[13]

When the Mk 2 was replaced by the Mk 3 Supra, like the Mk 2, it had varying degrees of success but both TOM'S and SARD, who competed only in 1988, fared better domestically with the TOM'S team winning on its debut in 1987. In all, eleven MA70 Group-A turbos were built by TRD Japan for racing.^[14]

The reason for lack of success was due to its larger engine capacity requiring it to run at a higher curb weight required by the regulations and also its a lack of development. As the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, then the more advanced Nissan Skyline GT-R became the car to have. the Supra was abandoned at the end of the season in favour of the Toyota Corolla AE101 by 1991, but only a few was kept in competition by privateers until the end of the season.^[14]

[edit] Rallying

Although, the Celica and Corolla Levin represented Toyota in rallying, the touring car spec Celica Supra was used occasionally in Group A with modifications to make it drivable. The Celica Supra managed to finish second in category at Circuit of Ireland Ulster Rally, Scottish Rally and the Welsh Rally during the 1983 British Open Rally Championship, driven by Per Eklund and Dave Whittock, allowing them to successfully defend their championship title.^[12]

Toyota sold the car off after the 1985 season.^[12]

Following the demise of Group B and upon insistence by Toyota management, its rally entrant Toyota Team Europe used the Supra to specialize in African rallies while the lighter Celica took the job for the other rallies.^[15] The Supra 3.0i made Toyota's Group A debut with the Supra which was capable of producing 290 bhp (216 kW), despite its weight and size being a clear disadvantage, driven by Björn Waldegaard, it led the 1987 Safari Rally until its final day when engine overheated.^[15] The Supra scored its only win in the Hong Kong - Beijing Rally with the same driver. The NA version was shortly replaced by the 400 bhp (300 kW) turbo version, which on its debut at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, the Supra led but the team withdrew when their hired Cessna 340 crashed, killing the team manager, Henry Liddon and his assistant, Nigel Harris, plus a pilot and navigator ^[16]. TTE would return for its African attempt for the following two years but was unable to repeat its performance and was replaced by the Celica which achieved better successes there.^[15]

[edit] Sportscar racing

[edit] IMSA

The Mk III Supra, which replaced the MK II Celica, competed in the IMSA Camel GT series by Kent Racing and All American Racers in 1983 in the GTU (Grand Touring, under 3.0-liter) category, later in the season, AAR inherited the racing program of Kent Racing, although superior to the AAR cars, the semi-tube frame car Kent Racing used housed a 300 hp (220 kW), 2030 cc, 16-valve DOHC engine. Feeling that the car needs to be developed, it underwent further redesign by aerodynamicist Hiro Fujimori. ^[17]

For the 1985 season, AAR specially adapted a 2.1-liter turbocharged 4T-GT engine to one of their GTU car to be used at the GTO category, which scored a win at Laguna Seca, that car would later be used for engine development. Despite heavy copmpetition against the RX-7s, by the time they progressed to the higher GTO category in 1986 with a Celica, they had taken 10 GTU victories.^[17]

[edit] JGTC/Super GT

Since first appearing in 1995, Toyota has raced the JZA80 Supra as a GT500 race car in the JGTC series. Beginning with a four cylinder 2.1-liter turbocharged 4T-GTE mounted onto a stock bodyshell with wide arch body kit and spoiler.^[18]

Over the years, as demands for expensive GT1 race specials became common, the JGTC regulation drifted away from FIA rules, as a result, the Supra has progressively underwent numerous changes over the years,^[19] most noticeable, the numerous body changes and by the late 1990s, the Supra used a developed version of the 3SG,^[20], which was developed from the IMSA engine and similar to the 3SGTE engine found Toyota Corolla WRC car^[21]. By the early 2000s, for the benefit of torque, the Supra moved on to 3UZ-FE V8 engine.

Altogether, the Supra has taken the title four times in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Despite being out of production since 2002, factory teams continued to use JZA80 Supras with continues successes. The car's swansong competitive year was in 2006, when it was used by Toyota Team Tsuchiya and Toyota Team SARD,^[22], since then, the Supra has since being replaced by the Lexus SC

[edit] Le Mans

The JGTC specification Supra made its Le Mans debut in 1995 by the factory backed SARD team which it finished 14th, the team returned again for the following year which they did not finish.

Supra LM GT

[edit] Supra HV-R

Toyota Supra HV-R

The Supra HV-R is a hybrid race car based on the Super GT Supra jointly developed by Toyota and Toyota Team SARD. The four-wheel drive HV-R combines a 4.5 L V8 (480 hp) from its Super GT 3UZ-FE engine, a rear-axle-mounted electric motor (200 hp), and two front in-wheel electric motors (13 hp each) to generate over 700 hp (520 kW). The car weighs 2,380 lb.^[23]

The Denso SARD Supra HV-R became the first hybrid race car in history to win a race when Toyota Team SARD took first place in the Tokachi 24-hour, a Super Taikyu race, on July 16, 2007. The car completed 616 laps, 19 laps ahead of the second-place finisher.^[24]

[edit] Drifting

Despite the Supra's heavy front end and uneven weight distribution, which made traction to the rear wheels difficult, some have used the Supra for top level drifting events, Most notably Manabu Orido, the D1GP judge turned competitor, who, for personal reasons, chose the JZA80 to be his personal car and his own racecar of Super GT series^[25] and Rhys Millen, who briefly converted his Supra race car for use in drift events before selling it on and switching to the works Pontiac GTO.

Orido's JZA80 consisted of many parts from his JGTC racer including the tail lights, doors and foot pedals and boasts of over 700 bhp (522 kW) outputted from a modified 3.4 liter engine^[26], but is set up to run at 600 bhp (447 kW) for reliability. The body work design is designed by fellow D1GP commentator Manabu Suzuki. In his car debut at Odaiba, he managed to get into the Best 8 round, after beating Youichi Imamura, but in the process, his differential (sourced from a junked Supra) broke and he was unable to get the car repaired on time, as Imamura did not get his car ready on time, Orido had to claim his Best 8 place, which he was unable to take part.^[26]

Throughout the season, Orido could only manage a career best of second place at Ebisu in his only year of drifting in 2005. His professional drifting career ended during a transportation accident, when en route to an Advan Drift Meeting, a sleeping truck driver collided into the back of the truck containing the RS-R Supra, severely damaging the car's front end.^[27]^[25] When informed, Orido was relieved as he saw it as an opportunity to end his drifting career as it took a lot up of his time.^[27]

[edit] References

Categories: Racing cars