
Team Toyota, from Chairman Akio Toyoda to the GR GT Project Manager, has made it clear: they are determined to win and demonstrate their capability of creating a genuine driver’s car.
On Thursday, just outside Fuji, Japan at Toyota’s Woven City, during the unveiling of the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR GT, an engineer specializing in aerodynamics told The Drive, “We want you to look forward to the evolution of the car,” in response to a question about the consideration of active aerodynamics.
Communicating through a translator, the aerodynamics engineer mentioned that the team evaluated every option (active aerodynamics included) from the beginning. “However, that doesn’t imply anything is off the table,” he stated.
The car shown, intended for production, does not feature active aerodynamics. It lacks even a rear wing, instead having a compact ducktail decklid spoiler that makes it resemble the 911 GT3 Touring more than the 911 GT3, despite aiming for the latter.
The individual responsible for ensuring that the GR GT slices through the air and manages that airflow both inside and around it nearly hinted that the team plans to introduce a more performance-oriented variant of the GR GT later. But with references to the “evolution of the car” and the frequent allusions to the Porsche 911 GT3 throughout engineering discussions, it clearly suggests that if today’s GR GT is targeting the Porsche 911 GT3, the upcoming variant may be aimed at the GT3 RS and might just include active aerodynamics.
Even in the absence of active aerodynamics, we can fairly envision what a hotter, more RS-like variant of the GR GT could look like.
The GR GT3 race car serves as the foundation. Its front fenders have vents for air extraction, akin to the GT3 RS. The hood is equipped with prominent air vents where the street car’s mail slot intake resides, mirroring the GT3 RS. Moreover, there’s the substantial race wing mounted on swan necks, just like the GT3 RS. The engineers stated the race car’s wing is structural, attaching directly to the chassis, which could be observed through the rear window of the prototype GR GT3.
The Toyota GR GT appears to be merely the beginning, not the conclusion, of the manufacturer’s ambitions for its new icon. Get your finances ready and reconcile with your 401k plans.
Toyota provided travel, accommodation, and raw fish which I definitely did not consume to bring you this first-hand account.
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