Toyota Supra GRMN Among Additional Planned Versions Of The Sports Car

The new ‘A90’ Toyota GR Supra doesn’t exactly tear up the sports car rule book, but for anyone wanting something a little more extreme, we have some good news. This version is just a starting point.

“If we had kept this and this alone, then, of course, it would be forgotten in an instant,” Supra chief engineer Tetsuya Tada told Car Throttle at the launch of the car in Madrid, adding, “We feel that it is important and imperative to give you updates and upgrades every year, otherwise there is no meaning for introducing a sports car.”

Asked if that could include a hardcore GRMN version, Tada-san said: “Yes, of course, we will have to at some stage make that happen.” He has hinted before that such a car could be on the way, and now it’s looking all-but-certain.

The Yaris GRMN is so far the only car to receive the full Gazoo Racing Masters of Nurburgring treatment. It was created from a regular, rather slow Yaris, so it’s not exactly easy to work out how a GRMN conversion would work on an already fast and competent car like the GR Supra.

A more focused suspension setup seems likely, however, as does an increase in power. Could the latter be achieved by switching out the stock Supra’s B58 BMW straight-six for the M2 Competition’s S55? Probably not, but we can but hope.

Speaking of the BMW parts that make up most of the GR Supra - a hotly-debated subject during its launch week - Tada-san also gave an interesting insight into a surprisingly late change made to the platform.

About a year and a half ago, it turned out Toyota’s efforts to reduce the car’s weight had gone somewhat too far. “It turned out that we made the rear so light that it disrupted the balance of the fore-aft weight distribution,” he said, adding, “So we had to go back to BMW to negotiate pulling the engine 50mm more rearwards - that way we could get the optimal [50/50] weight distribution”.

BMW did, in the end, agree. This will have been after the point the Z4 and Supra teams originally parted ways, so it seems the split perhaps wasn’t as complete as we’d previously thought.