- The much-awaited Supra prototype made its moving debut at the Goodwood hill climb.
- The production-ready prototype was covered in camouflage at its first official public debut.
- The official reveal of the iconic Japanese sports car won’t happen until the end of next year.
We have all seen the test mules of the resurrected Toyota Supra on many occasions, right from the icy environs of the arctic to the scorching tarmac of the ‘Ring. But all eyes watched in awe when the prototype of the iconic Supra made its official public debut, running up the historic Goodwood hill climb.
Driven by chief engineer Tetsuya Tada and Toyota's master driver Herwig Daenens, the near-production prototype had A90 stickers on it. Although the drivers weren’t really pushing the Supra to its limit at the hill climb, the Japanese sports car did demonstrate its hidden potential.
Under the hood is a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre front-mounted straight-six motor which will be pushing out around 330bhp of power. The straight-six sounded sweet around the narrow road of the Goodwood track. Under the colourful camouflage, the Supra seems to have retained most of the design from the FT-1 concept of 2014,
Toyota confirmed that the production-ready Supra will be faithful to its distinguished heritage as a pure, sports car thoroughbred. It will only be revealed next year after its Stuttgart counterpart, the Z4, is revealed. BMW and Toyota have been working on this joint project, sharing technologies and powertrains between the two sports cars.
The Supra will benefit from BMW’s carbon fibre which is seen in the i models. It will help the Japanese keep the vehicles´ weight down. The total weight is expected to be just around the 1500kg mark. There are no official details as yet, but the cabin spotted in the spied images reveals BMW-like infotainment screen and switchgear. A hybrid powertrain is also on the cards, but that will come later. Although developed side by side, both the cars (Z4 and Supra) will have different characteristics, assert the carmakers.
Apart from the Supra prototype, the GR Supra Racing Concept and the Le Mans-winning No.8 TS050 Hybrid was also showcased at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
