Toyota’s made a turbocharged GR86... to test synthetic fuels

So, we’ve just found out that Toyota has A) put a modified version of its brilliant turbo three-cylinder into the GR86, B) has screwed more than 300bhp out of it, and C) is going racing with it. Oh, and D for downer, we can’t have it. What was that old thing about giveth and taketh away?

In an interview with Australian website Carsales, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s chief engineer Naoyuki Sakamoto explained that Gazoo had built a small run of GR86s powered by the three-cylinder turbo from the GR Yaris and Corolla, and intended to race them in Japan’s ‘Super Taikyu’ endurance series. Oh, and that these GR86s are already making more than 300bhp, despite running a destroked 1.4-litre version of the turbo-triple engine.

And if you think this sounds rather promising, you’re not alone. Honestly, we’re hoping that Toyota’s official line that it’s taking turbo GR86s racing “to develop carbon-neutral fuels” is rather more of a beginning than an ending. It seems at least a few at Gazoo feel the same way, as much as they might have to couch it in phrases like, “we are thinking for the future about the possibility of using it", “there are no concrete plans at the moment".

So, if there’s one thing you should take away from all of this, it’s to give Toyota many, many reasons to put this into production properly.

Photography: standard Toyota GR86