Toyota GR Super Sport Hypercar Debuts at 24 Hours of Le Mans
Prior to the start of the famous endurance race the GR Super Sport hypercar ripped off a demonstration lap around the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Toyota builds some decent sports cars. The GT86 is a fun and tossable entry into the sports car world. Going another rung up the ladder lands you in a new Supra. Although the amount of Toyota in that car is debatable. Crossing over to the Lexus brand allows you to jump up to the LC 500. That is where the sporty Toyota options top out. Despite a long history in motorsports, they have not had a true world beating hypercar since the LFA. With the GR Super Sport that is about to change in a big way.
Toyota just captured their third win in a row at Le Mans and they plan to continue their recent domination. They will be racing in the new Le Mans Hypercar class. In order to compete in that class Toyota needs to make at least 25 of the racecars into a production car. A production car that the general public can buy. Well, the wealthiest of the general public anyway. The production car will be called the GR Super Sport. It is a tired cliche, but this is by definition going to be a racecar for the street. It will be based off the Le Mans winning TS050 HYBRID.
Normally a new hypercar is shrouded in secrecy. Images of them are hard to find and are usually blurred shots of a heavily camouflaged car caught on a testing run. That is what makes this GR Super Sport debut so refreshing. The car was wearing some camo sure, but it was rolled out for all to see before the start of one of the most historic races in the world.
It was not just parked up on a stage either. The car was driven around for a full lap of Circuit de la Sarthe by Toyota racing driver Alex Wurz. What were his impressions? “I could feel the similarities between the GR Super Sport and the TS050 HYBRID in terms of performance, particularly the four-wheel drive and the hybrid system. But the engineers tell me this was only a small taste of the GR Super Sport’s true performance so I am super excited to drive it again one day in the near future.” Says Wurz.
Starting with a three time Le Mans winning racecar is going to yield a staggering streetcar. No definitive details are yet available for the GR Super Sport but consider this. The Hypercar class race cars will weigh less that 2,300 pounds and put out up to 670 horsepower. That is an unbelievable power to weight ratio, and we expect the streetcar will have similar figures. The racing rules also dictate an electrified powertrain so expect the streetcar to be a hybrid.
Obviously, this will not be a car built to just rip off impressive 0 to 60 sprints. The TS050 HYBRID racecar has the fastest lap time around the Circuit de la Sarthe since the chicanes were added to the Mulsanne Straight in 1990. The GR Super Sport may be the best handling road car we have ever seen. Assuming of course it can be driven on the road.
Toyota is calling it a road car, but it remains to be seen if it will really be street legal or not. It is possible this car could be similar in concept to the Ferrari FXX where it is limited to only racetrack use. It would be amazing if they could make the GR Super Sport a street legal car. We would love to see one of these roaring up to a local cars and coffee event. Although with only 25 in the world, don’t hold your breath. If it is track only, hopefully the new owners trailer it around and just decimate tracks around the world rather than mothball it in some secret collection. In any event, Toyota is poised to release an all-conquering car upon the world, and we can’t wait.
Photos: Toyota Gazoo Racing
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