Toyota Pays Tribute To Classic Racers With Six Liveried 86s For Goodwood Festival

For the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015, Toyota will be bringing six 86 sports coupés dressed up in classic Toyota liveries to pay tribute to the brand’s motorsport history.

Known as the GT86 in Europe, each of the six Toyota 86 coupés are kitted out with vinyl wraps and decals that are reproduced from the original liveries in the right proportions for the 86 complimented with retro-styled wheels. Additionally, they also receive a lowered ride height with new springs installed along with a Milltek Sport stainless steel exhaust system.

Each car is inspired by different models from the progenitor Toyota sports car, the 2000GT, to World Rally Championship Celica GT-Four. The Esso Ultron Tiger Supra from the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship is also among the racers celebrated as well as the machine that inspired Toyota to launch a full international motorsport programme – Ove Andersson’s 1970s Celica 1600GT rally car.

With so much heritage and history represented by these liveried 86 coupés, it is disheartening to know that this will be a strictly one-off collection by Toyota and will most likely not be sold. However, if you are attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed, they will be available for public test drives before being put up on display there.

The celebrated cars and their matching details are as provided below:

Yatabe Speed Trial Toyota 2000GT (yellow with green bonnet): this 2000GT set multiple new world and international speed and endurance records during a 72-hour run at the Yatabe High Speed Testing Course in Japan in 1966. It demonstrated Toyota’s commitment to engineering a sports car with world class potential.

Shelby Toyota 2000GT (white with blue bonnet): racing legend Carroll Shelby masterminded Toyota’s racing programme for the 2000GT in the USA. The intention was to demonstrate the car’s potential when pitted on track against established American and European competition. Drivers Scooter Patrick and Dave Jordan duly claimed a number of victories during the 1968 season.

Ove Andersson’s Toyota Celica 1600GT (red with black bonnet): Andersson’s entry in world rallying with the first-generation Celica paved the way for the founding of Toyota Team Europe – and ultimately today’s Toyota Motorsport. The liveried GT86 celebrates the car he entered in the 1972 Daily Mirror RAC Rally, with official manufacturer support from Toyota. His class win and ninth place overall were an early sign of the great things the partnership would deliver.

IMSA GTU Toyota Celica (red with yellow stripes): Celica was the first Toyota to race in North America under the Toyota Racing Developments (TRD) banner, competing in the IMSA GT series. The IMSA GTU car prospered with Dan Gurney’s All-America Racing Team between 1983 and 1985.

Castrol Toyota Celica GT-Four (red and green Castrol livery): this Group A Toyota made its World Rally Championship debut in 1994 and went on to claim seven podium finishes in seven events entered during the 1995 season, including victory for Didier Auriol in the Tour de Corse.

Esso Ultron Tiger Toyota Supra (tigerskin effect): Supra was a longstanding entry in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, competing from 1995 through to 2006. In fact its competition life went on beyond the end of production of the road-going Supra. When its track days came to an end, it enjoyed a new lease of life as a virtual racer in the Gran Turismo computer game. The Esso Ultron Tiger car was one of the most distinctive-looking to take to the grid.