Team Toyota has been clear from Chairman Akio Toyoda to the GR GT Project Manager: they are out to win and to show the world they can make a true driver’s car.
On Thursday just outside Fuji, Japan at Toyota’s Woven City at the debut of the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR GT an aerodynamics engineer told The Drive, “We want you to look forward to the growth of the car,” when asked if active aerodynamics were considered.
Speaking through a translator, the aerodynamics engineer said the team reviewed every possibility (including active aero dynamics) from the onset. “Even then, it doesn’t mean something is off the table,” he said.
The production-intent car that debuted does not have active aerodynamics. It doesn’t even have a rear wing. It has a squished ducktail decklid spoiler making it more akin to the 911 GT3 Touring than the 911 GT3 despite targeting the latter.
The man responsible for making the GR GT cut through the air and have that air flow both through and around it stopped seconds short of saying the team is bringing a hotter variant of the GR GT to market later. But “growth of the car” and the continued nods and references to the Porsche 911 GT3 throughout the engineering breakout sessions gives a clear indicator that if today’s GR GT is aiming for the Porsche 911 GT3, then tomorrow’s variant might be taking aim at the GT3 RS, and it just might have active aerodynamics.
Even if a variant doesn’t feature active aero we can get a pretty good idea of what a hotter more RS-like GR GT variant will look like.
The GR GT3 race car lays the blueprints. The front fenders feature vents for air extraction, just like the GT3 RS. The hood features deep air vents where the street car’s mail slot intake sits, just like the GT3 RS. And then there’s the huge race wing sitting on swan necks, just like the GT3 RS. The race car’s wing is structural, according to the engineers. It bolts directly to the chassis, which could be visually seen through the rear window on the prototype GR GT3.
The Toyota GR GT seems like the beginning, but far from the end, of the story for the automaker’s plans for its new icon. Prepare your bank accounts and make peace with your 401k plans.
Toyota provided travel, lodging, and raw fish which I definitely did not eat to bring you this first-hand report.
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