Toyota 86 2012 News

Toyota Australia has issued a recall notice for nearly almost 15,000 of 17,000 locally delivered 86 two-door coupes to remedy a potential fault that could affect the car's steering.

Flares have never gone out of fashion in Japan and the annual Tokyo Auto Salon shows why.

Toyota has confirmed that a new low-cost single-make race series based on the successful 86 coupe will join the V8 Supercar calendar in 2016.The announcement, made today at the V8 Supercar's Clipsal 500 series opener in Adelaide, confirms plans first revealed during the Festival of 86 held in Sydney last November.It will be a pro-am involving up to five professional drivers with the balance of the field being amateur driversIn launching the new series, Toyota Australia's executive director of sales and marketing, Tony Cramb, said the series will help develop motorsport talent in Australia with professional drivers acting as mentors to up-and-coming amateurs."It will be a pro-am involving up to five professional drivers with the balance of the field being amateur drivers," he said."This mentoring will extend beyond honing driving skills – it will also focus on teaching them about the business of motorsport because we all know that the hardest part of driving is actually outside the car."Chief engineer of the Toyota 86, Tetsuya Tada has been named patron of the new series. Tada-san said the success of the 86 was due in part to the enthusiasm from Australian owners.Australia will be the fourth country (after Japan, Germany and New Zealand) to host a series of production-based 86 racers, with Tada-san saying he'd like to see the series grow to match the upcoming Mazda Global MX-5 Cup."My dream is that one day we can have a World 86 Challenge with the best drivers from Japan, Europe and other markets – and the champion Toyota 86 driver from Australia," he said.With the series aimed at developing grassroots talent, keeping costs low will be a key priority."Our vision is that a full year's competition, including the car, package, transport and entry fees, will come in under $100,000 in the first year," Tony Camb said.This would make the 86 Pro-Am series $70,000 cheaper than the upcoming Formula 4 open-wheel series, which is also aimed at up-and-coming racers.The Toyota 86 is such a competent carAustralian rally and racing legend Neal Bates developed race-spec Toyota 86 for the new series, and says the design of the car makes it easy to adapt for racing while keeping costs down."The Toyota 86 is such a competent car that it has just been a matter of building race-durable components into it without interfering with its character," he said."The aim is to engineer a car that is pretty much bullet-proof in racing conditions while making it a satisfying and rewarding experience for its driver."Minimal changes have been made to the GT spec Toyota 86 for racing, which retains its 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer engine.Bates and his team have added new extractors and exhaust systems; four-pot and two-pot rear brakes; adjustable coil covers for the suspension; and a programmable engine control unit to make the cars race ready.The ECU provides increased performance for the race-spec 86 over its roadgoing counterpart.Wheel and tyre specifications are yet to be confirmed, but the series will run on controlled rubber.The Toyota 86 Pro-Am series will run at selected rounds of the 2016 V8 Supercar series.Watch Tetsuya Tada talk about the Toyota 86 Pro-Am series here. 

Toyota global boss Akio Toyoda drives prototype 86 rally car as part of Australian visit.

Watch this Toyota 86 careen into a wall in the hands of an unskilled driver. The Toyota 86's tail-happy chassis earned it an instant cult following when it appeared in 2012, but this video proves that even the masterful development work of Tetsuya Tada won't overcome old fashioned over-confidence.  Even though he was smart enough to test the 86's limits on a racetrack, that Armco fencing sure ain't soft. 

Fans of the long-gone and much-mourned Toyota Supra -- and those hoping to see a successor after its 11-year absence -- can perhaps take heart in news today that Toyota and BMW have confirmed a deal to jointly produce a new sports car platform.BMW development chief Herbert Diess told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper the architecture would spawn two new cars. "We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car," Diess said, however declining to reveal more details about the platform.Toyota has previously partnered with Subaru to produce the wildly successful Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ, but while they are near-clones, it seems the Toyota/BMW collaboration will focus on ensuring the two resultant cars are strongly differentiated. "What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands," Diess said.Watch our video review of the tweaked Toyota 86The announcement is not unexpected, following the two brands making an agreement in mid-2012 to collaborate on a range of technology -- including weight-saving strategies and  lithium-air batteries -- and also consider the potential for a medium-sized sports car platform.Toyota is tipped to be unveiling a sports concept that could point to a Supra successor at the Detroit motor show in a couple of weeks, so it's possible that a production vehicle seeded from the show car could include the BMW collaboration. However the Toyota end of the joint development could also end up wearing a Lexus badge.And Toyota is not the only Japanese carmaker partnering with a European brand for a sports car. As we've reported previously, Mazda is collaborating with Italy's Alfa Romeo on a platform that will be the basis for both the next Mazda MX-5 and Alfa Spider.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Toyota’s 86 has already proven its mettle as a circuit racer and a drift challenger, and now Toyota’s German motorsport partner TMG has announced plans to build a rally version of the hugely popular sports coupe. TMG have already developed the European-spec GT86 CS-V3 endurance racer for the German VLN series and Nurburgring 24 Hour events, and will adapt the tarmac racer to suit the FIA’s new RC3 rally category. RC3 is based around two-wheel drive production cars with naturally aspirated engines between 1.6 and 2.0-litres, with a minimum weight of 1080kg, and TMG will add a rally-spec rollcage, sequential six-speed transmission, and brake, suspension and differential upgrades. TMG expects the new GT86 CS-R3 gravel racer to be ready for customer deliveries by the start of the 2015 European motorsport season, with final spec and pricing to be announced in the coming months.   This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn  

Toyota may have halted plans for a convertible based on the bones of its wildly successful 86 sports car, but reports suggest we could see it spawn a rear-wheel drive sedan. Stories of the possibility bubbled up the this week, most recently from US site Motor Trend, citing an inside source at Toyota in Japan. They suggest the brand is looking at several different models based on its rear-wheel-drive platform jointly developed with Subaru and sold as the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ. One of the planned models was a convertible based on the FT 86 Open concept, but low projected sales are believed to have stalled the project for now. Another is a shooting brake-style wagon and a third is a sedan, the most likely of the trio to make production. Why? Because it would be relatively unique in the market, especially if priced close to the $29,990 starting price of the 86. The sedan would appeal to buyers looking for a small sporty car but still needing the practicality of rear doors and seats -- especially those with a family to consider. According to the report, the new sedan’s wheelbase would be about 8cm longer than that of the Toyota 86. The project would use the 147kW/205 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine as the standard unit, but a hybrid setup is also on the cards from other reports, suggesting a detuned version of the setup featured in Toyota’s recent Yaris Hybrid-R concept, with a single electric motor paired up with the boxer engine. If the insider's information is accurate, we could see the 86-based rear-wheel-drive sedan launched around the end of 2015, with a price possibly starting in the $30,000-$35,000 region. www.motorauthority.com  

Toyota is considering several options for boosting the performance of the highly acclaimed 86 coupe, with weight reduction, forced induction, and an engine capacity increase among the possible performance boosters. The adoption of an electrified hybrid drivetrain is another possibility, and Autocar is reporting that Toyota’s exploration of 86 hybridisation has reached an “advanced” stage, but is yet to score the go-ahead for production. Speaking with Toyota drivetrain manager Koei Saga, the report suggests that a variety of hybrid technology options are being considered for the project. The most performance-oriented of these is likely a KERS-style supercapacitor system similar to the Toyota TS030 Hybrid Le Mans racer and the Yaris Hybrid-R concept shown at Frankfurt last week. However, Toyota 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada recently suggested to Carsguide that a supercapacitor-based hybrid system is unlikely for road-going models due to the costs involved with the technology. Therefore, if a hybrid 86 is given the green light, a cheaper nickel-metal hydride or lithium-ion setup as used by existing Prius models is likely. Saga also suggested that the inevitable weight of a hybrid system could be offset by the 100kg weight reduction already achieved in testing, which could also be headed for future regular 86 models. The transmission options for a hybrid 86 are also unclear, with all production Toyota hybrids to date using decidedy un-86 automatic transmissions. Yes the existing 86 model is available in auto-guise, but a manual option would be key in winning over enthusiast buyers.  The sequential manual fitted to the Yaris Hybrid-R concept suggests that such a transmission could be headed to future production hybrids, and could be an ideal solution for a hybrid 86 variant. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn  

The Toyota 86 sports coupe will likely follow the path of weight reduction for any significant future performance gains, rather than get a boost under the bonnet. The weight loss path was suggested at this week’s preview of a future performance wheel/tyre/damper package for the 86, with chief engineer Tetsuya Tada admitting his team was looking at a number of potential performance upgrades to maintain market demand throughout the model life -- but not specifying what’s in store for the acclaimed sports coupe. He did indicate a preference for weight reduction over power boosts –  be it via increased capacity or forced induction – as either would require reinforcement to the 86’s driveline and structure, which would result in a weight gain that would likely diminish the purity of the 86’s drive experience.   The 86 engineering team has explored both options already, with Tada-san telling of a simultaneous experiment with prototypes featuring each approach. One prototype was tuned for an extra 50kW over the existing versions 147kW output, and the second had 100kg of weight removed, with the 147kW engine remaining. “The one with less weight was much more fun than the one with increased power,” he says, but would not be drawn on which prototype was faster.   He also nominated the recent 86 TRD Griffon concept as his favourite among the several 86-based concepts that have appeared in the last 18 months. Significantly, the Griffon’s key feature was its 227kg weight reduction over the production model, through the replacement of most exterior panels with carbon fibre, while maintaining the standard spec engine. But Tada-san scuppered any hopes of a production version of the TRD Griffon, suggesting the cost of the composite bodywork would result in an asking price approaching the also-carbon bodied $700,000 Lexus LFA supercar. His philosophy of removing weight in lieu of gaining power was famously championed by the late founder of Lotus; Colin Chapman, though Tada-san declined to acknowledge any link between the UK sports carmaker and his own 86 philosophy. Such an approach has certainly etched Lotus’ place in motoring legend, and we expect it would similarly help cement the 86’s position. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn