Toyota Yaris Club news - Help the beige-d - 2008

The Toyota Yaris wouldn’t be most people’s first choice as a donor vehicle for a retro-inspired speedster. Judging by the Yaris Club, a modified racer unveiled at the SEMA show, most people are quite right.

It’s a bit different, isn’t it? Toyota says that the Yaris Club was inspired by the racing heritage of the Can-Am Toyota 7 from the late 1960s. It reminds us more of the illegitimate child of a Callaway Speedster and a Micra C+C.

The Yaris Club should drive a bit better than it looks, however – the 1.3-litre petrol engine has been donated a supercharger and a reworked exhaust system, boosting power up to 166bhp. The car was also lowered and fitted with larger brakes specifically for track work.

None of which makes any difference to our initial assessment: we don’t want to drive it. Not now, not ever, not even wearing a blue hat with a bell on the end. Do you?

For more SEMA stuff, look at the Rhys Millen Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the Camaro GS Racecar Concapt and Chevrolet's Camaro Black.