Hands up who's excited about the Toyota GR 86. That many? Excellent news. With the car revealed - but not yet on sale - Gazoo Racing has set about previewing upgrades it will likely offer for Toyota's new coupe with these concepts. It is the Gazoo Racing 86, after all - who better to get started on the tuning?
Park any hopes for engine work, however - obviously that's everyone's first thought. For now, the 2.4-litre boxer is unchanged, so that'll mean 235hp and 184lb ft for these cars. No doubt more power will come in time, but these concepts instead concentrate on what can be done from a style and chassis perspective.
From Bosozoku to Liberty Walk, Japan has produced more than its fair share of bold bodykits over the years, and now GR is joining the party. The first of these 86s gets enormous flared front arches (with new vents), a bumper extension that might be a bit of farm machinery and side skirts low enough for Mr Plow. They're accompanied by a rear spoiler that wouldn't look out of place on a Super GT car, a carbon diffuser ready to gouge unsuspecting ankles and four prominent exhausts. Oh yes, and gleaming 19-inch wheels that look fiendishly difficult to clean. It ticks all the modified car boxes, even if it's actually a bit showy given what we've come to expect from Gazoo Racing. It might be argued that the bodykit is writing cheques that 235hp can't really cash, too, but then it wouldn't be the first modified car to do that.
The second concept is much more in keeping with what's been seen thus far of GR, reminiscent in fact of the old GT86 TRD. Again there's a bodykit, albeit a more modest one, which lends the GR's front end the aggression the standard car arguably lacks (and could probably do with). Four exhausts and a ducktail are obviously redolent of the old TRD.
Its most interesting changes are the less obvious ones. The 19-inch wheels are forged (which will save some weight), behind which sit new GR springs and dampers, plus larger brakes. Given the OEM look, it's probable that Gazoo is previewing a performance package or catalogue of options for the new car. The old '86 lent itself well to modifying, and there's no reason why that shouldn't continue with the new GR. Only this time around Toyota seems keen on keeping a bigger slice of the pie for itself.
Information around these concepts is pretty scarce, so don't expect anything like them to be lining up next to the GR 86 when UK cars arrive later in 2021. But if the brace of concepts serve to inspire the aftermarket, as well as revealing what Toyota itself plans to make of the base car, then we're all for it. The automotive world would be an awful lot duller without modified cars...
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