Hello again old friend… the Toyota Supra is back and the first time anyone gets to see the all-new model in action will be at Goodwood at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard this coming weekend.
New Toyota Supra to debut at FOS!
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The car, which will power (and probably power-slide!) its way up the Festival of Speed Hillclimb every day of FoS (12-15 July), will be exactly as you will be able to buy it early in 2019 – apart from the paint job. That’s a black, red and white camouflage wrap in tribute to the Toyota TS050 which delivered the Japanese giant’s first Le Mans win a fortnight ago. The 24 Heures winner will be on display at FoS.
For Toyota, the Festival of Speed 2018 marks the long-awaited return of a nameplate that’s long been a favourite with sportscar fans. Supra has always had a great reputation as a giant-killer among sporting coupes. The new one promises to be no different.
Details so far confirmed are that, as expected, it sticks with an inline six-cylinder petrol motor up front and rear-wheel drive. A gutsy back-to-basics driving appeal, always a Supra trait, promises to be to the fore, though with no lack of sophistication – as you would expect of a car whose other half is the yet-be-unveiled new BMW Z4. Carbon-fibre, for example, is expected to feature in the Supra’s construction.
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Fitting the bill as a grown-up GT86, the Supra’s turbocharged power is a yet-to-be-confirmed 335bhp for 0-62mph in around 3.8 seconds, figures leaked on the internet earlier this year. The Supra is likely to be coupe only while the BMW half of the joint project will deliver a convertible, in the form of the next Z4. Both cars will have completely different bodies.
At Goodwood the Supra will be blasted up the hill by Supra chief engineer Testuya Tada and test driver Herwig Daenens.
Toyota has been preparing us for what it calls “the return of the legend” for a while now, with Supra teasers, concepts, Nurburgring versions, disguised prototypes and most recently a Gazoo Racing competition prototype, first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March, that will be on static display at FOS.
Originally launched in 1978 as Toyota’s answer to the Nissan Z-car, the first Supra was a Celica stretched so a straight-six petrol motor would fit. Always offering plenty of bangs for your buck, its big-engine/rear-drive formula hit the heights in 1993 with the 326bhp supercar-baiting Supra Turbo. The new one, first Supra since 1996, promises to be beat that…
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