Born as a result of an interaction between two corporate head honchoes from two different automakers, the new Mk.V Supra is the answer to the question “What’s sensible, but still fun?” in a car market usually very keen on making you compromise. The sum of a collaboration between Toyota and BMW, the Supra was scorned before birth for its joint nature and was branded as nothing more but a “Z4 clone” long before anyone had the chance to dispute it. But now it’s here and critics love it, with the German influence hanging its coat by the door of the interior design office with little to no influence in the nature and personality of the car (since when was “looks like BMW” in relation to car interiors considered an insult rather than a compliment?) resulting in two very different cars despite their shared platform. Nevertheless, the sensible part of Toyota had resulted in the damning of one of their most beloved car models in the company’s history, all because they kept quiet and believed that people would change their minds once they actually got their hands on the car, but that didn’t happen. The sensible tactic had failed – and now there’s a madman behind the wheel.
Meet Akio Toyoda, the man responsible for the Supra’s revival. No stranger to the world of motorsport, Mr. Toyoda has competed in the gruesome Nurburgring 24h for many years and even claimed that he would be racing his new Supra at the 47th annual running of the N24 in 2019 – and he did. Oh and did I mention he’s the president of the company? Ladies and gents, this is our madman behind the wheel – and he is good to us. He doesn’t keep all the toys for himself, but instead opts to share them with the world in the form of the Supra GT4.
As its name suggests, the Supra GT4 conforms to GT4 regulations, catered more towards entry level racing for those getting their feet (or tires) wet for the first time or those who want to race cars with powertrains and electronics relatively similar to their road driving equivalents. This Supra is another option amongst those interested in the GT4 category, securing a place right next to the likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin and Toyota’s performance target – Porsche’s Cayman GT4. While the full specs of the car won’t be released until later this year, in a world where Toyota pulls its cars from racing games because it doesn’t want to condone street racing (but then features their car on Fast and Furious films?), the fact that this car even exists is an automotive blessing. Now let’s just hope Toyota pulls a page out of the MR2 222D's book and straps their Le Mans winning LMP1 engine in one and calls it a day.
