Toyota 86 reignites British racing flame
A Toyota 86 will help bring back a slice of British motorsport history when an entry from Team Toyota GB enters the Britcar 24 Hours endurance race at Silverstone in September.
Team Toyota GB was a famous name in British Touring Car racing and UK rallying in the 1980s and '90s, with championship wins in its AE86 Toyota Corolla – the namesake of Toyota's newest sports car.
Competing in the Production Class, the Team Toyota GB 86 will sport team livery that harks back to the double British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) winning AE86 from the mid-1980s (pictured below).
The 147kW/205Nm rear-wheel drive 2.0-liter four-cylinder 'Boxer'-powered Toyota 86 will be the first British racing 86 (called the GT86 in the UK) and is being developed and prepared by GPRM, the group behind the BTCC Toyota Avensis prototype. The goal is to turn the capable sports car into a competitive track machine while retaining as much of the standard road car's specification as possible.
GPRM's Gary Blackham said, "We are concentrating our efforts on stripping back the chassis, lightening and strengthening it and of course equipping it with a roll cage and all the other safety gear required, as well as quick-refuelling equipment. Other than that, the GT86 will remain essentially in road car form."
The Team Toyota GB 86 will hit the track when the event begins on September 21, 2012.
Read CarAdvice's Toyota 86 Review.
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