The Toyota GR Super Sport Concept Is Here With Nearly 1000bhp

Remember the road-going version of the Toyota GT-One? Just two examples of the be-winged Gran Turismo hero were built because Toyota had to: homologation rules forced the Japanese car maker’s hand. But while the new GR Super Sport Concept appears to be channeling a similar vibe, Toyota’s built this thing because it wants to.

It’s best thought of as a re-bodied TS050 racing car, which means under the Super Sport’s dapper but rather serious suit you’ll find a 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 supplemented by multiple electric motors. All told, the powertrain is good for 986bhp.

The bodywork is considerably tamer than the TS050’s, but there’s still a massive wraparound windscreen, a big rear wing and a ‘shark fin’. Oh, and those semi-slick tyres filling the wheel arches each measure in a 330mm in width.

Other than that, Toyota hasn’t revealed a whole lot else. So what’s the point? Shigeki Tomoyama, the boss of Gazoo Racing company, said: “This is the starting point for Toyota’s completely new challenge to develop sports cars from active race cars.” Colour us intrigued.

So does that mean a production version of a Super Sport could happen? Perhaps a low-volume track toy, to get around the need to vastly redesign the car and include boring things like wing mirrors and a ride height that won’t result in the car getting beached on the first speed bump it encounters.

Or, maybe Gazoo Racing is actually up for making a road-going version. In a motoring world which will soon be enriched by the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG Project One, it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.