For most of Toyota’s history, it hasn’t really been associated with supercar perfection. This changed in 2010 when its luxury marque Lexus, the brand’s luxury-oriented subsidiary, released the LFA. At the time, it was one of the most advanced supercars on the market, with a naturally aspirated V10 engine and a special digital tachometer because an analog one simply couldn’t keep up with how fast the powerplant revved.
However, in 1998, Toyota built a supercar called GT-One, also called the TS020. The company produced it as a special homologation vehicle for its involvement in Le Mans racing. The automaker needed to build only one to comply with the rules, but Toyota built two. The situation allowed Toyota’s racing division to focus on the competition version, while production of the road-going GT-One was little more than a formality. It became one of the brand’s most uncompromising road cars, and one of its rarest.
Toyota Only Built The Road-Going GT-One Because Le Mans Made It
1998 Toyota GT-ONE Road Car finished in red with tan interiorYT: StyleNL
In 1993, the 24 Hours of Le Mans went through a major rule change. That year, the governing body of the race, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), phased out older Group C racing regulations following the collapse of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)’s 3.5-liter international sportscar racing category. With the Group C regulations gone, Toyota had to cancel its Group C racing program.
By 1995, Toyota resumed an interim involvement with Le Mans, producing a heavily modified Supra for use in the race that year and in 1996. However, another rule change took effect in 1998. This time, homologation regulations changed, lowering the requirement from 25 road-going examples of a racing model to just one.
This changed things significantly. Now, automakers could focus much more completely on their racing models, and pay little mind to the single road car that needed to go along with it. Producing and certifying a car for road use was expensive, and making just one cut costs considerably, meaning the road car could be much wilder than when the rules required 25.
Development Begins
Red 1998 Toyota GT One on track from frontToyota
The Toyota GT-One’s design phase began sometime in early 1997. Toyota engineers designed the model around racing first, which is why the road-going version looks identical to the racing version. Changes to the road-going version were minimal, with required additions like a luggage compartment made only to satisfy regulations.
Toyota designed, developed, and produced the GT-One at its Motorsport GmbH facility in Cologne, Germany. André de Cortanze, a French racing car designer, headed up the project, signaling that this was no normal Toyota production project. By late ’97, the first chassis was completed, and by 1998, the first working prototype was ready to begin testing.
Yes, the GT-One road car was built for road use, but, in all reality, it was a race car through and through. The semi-livable interior only offered what was required for it to be allowed on public roads.
It Was Basically A Le Mans Prototype With A License Plate
1998 Toyota GT-ONE Road Car finished in red with tan interiorYT: StyleNL
Toyota GT-One Road Car Specs
Engine
3.6L twin-turbo V8
Horsepower
600 hp
Torque
479 lb-ft
0-60 MPH Time
3.2 seconds
Top Speed
236 mph
Curb Weight
1,985 lbs
*Specs courtesy of Supercars.net
Underneath the hardcore skin was a litany of even-more-hardcore engineering. For starters, its chassis was a carbon-fiber monocoque. Within the chassis was an aluminum honeycomb core. Together, the carbon-fiber and aluminum honeycomb made the GT-One extremely rigid, allowing it to stay planted on the racetrack under extreme cornering forces.
Its suspension is fully independent and uses pushrod-actuated springs and dampers. This setup is closely related to what you find in Formula One, allowing most components to be moved into the car’s center of mass and out of the airstream, improving aerodynamics and lowering the center of gravity. Its brakes are carbon-ceramic, as well.
1998 Toyota GT-ONE Road Car finished in red with tan interiorYT: StyleNL
Under the GT-One’s rear clamshell sits a purpose-built 3.6-liter V8 engine with twin Garrett turbochargers. The mill itself went by the code name “R36V” and was loosely derived from Toyota’s earlier, abandoned Group C program. However, Toyota Motorsport needed to heavily revise the engine, making it shorter and lighter for use. It also needed to be more fuel-efficient. Toyota engineered the R36V to serve as a stressed member of the GT-One’s monocoque chassis, making the model’s overall chassis even more rigid.
Typically, in racing categories outside Formula One, teams modify road-going engines for racing. However, unlike Toyota’s GT Supras that preceded the GT-One, the R36V was a racing engine through and through, and was adapted for road use. As far as the rest of the road-going GT-One’s mechanical changes were concerned, Toyota Motorsport simply lowered its rear wing height and raised its suspension ride height.
When Toyota went to Le Mans in 1998, one of its main rivals turned out to be Ferrari, with the 333SP. Two of the three GT-Ones did not finish due to a crash and a gearbox failure, while the third managed to secure ninth place. The Ferrari came in eighth. Meanwhile, Porsche scored a 1-2 overall victory with the famous 911 GT1, and Nissan came in third with an R390 GT1.
Toyota’s glory on the Le Mans circuit has never been, and still isn’t, as massive as Ferrari’s, but the GT-One was Toyota’s way of showing both the Italians and the world what it can do when its engineers are let loose.
The GT-One “Road Car” Barely Had Room For The Road Itself
1998 Toyota GT-ONE Road Car finished in red with tan interiorYT: StyleNL
Sure, it has a license plate and turn signals, but the GT-One road car isn’t the sort of vehicle you’d want to drive to work every day. To be considered road-legal, Toyota had to make certain changes to the GT-One. One of the main hang-ups regarding the GT-One’s road-going legality lay in its luggage compartment, weirdly, as every civilian automobile needs to have some sort of space to store stuff outside the cabin proper.
However, Toyota had a rather clever ace up its sleeve. Upon inspection, Toyota tried to convince officials that the car’s empty fuel tank doubled as a luggage compartment. Surprisingly, it worked, and the GT-One was cleared for racing use. Of course, you can’t exactly put a suitcase in your fuel tank, but because the officials inspecting the car were either somewhere else mentally that day or simply didn’t care, Toyota’s wildest racing car of the era was ready to go.
Red 1998 Toyota GT One side door openToyota
In the road-going version, Toyota needed to adjust the fuel tank. It needed a smaller tank and a set of catalytic converters to meet emissions regulations. Inside its cabin, there were really no creature comforts to speak of. The windows didn’t open, its HVAC system lacked air conditioning, and it was reportedly extremely cramped. A pair of tan Alcantara-covered bucket seats were borrowed from the Lotus Elise, and a massive steering wheel obscures a button panel.
Of the two GT-One road cars, one is on display at the Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (formerly Toyota Motorsport GmbH) headquarters in Cologne. The other is allegedly in storage in Japan at Toyota’s museum near Fuji Speedway. Toyota didn’t need to sell these road cars to customers; it just had to build them, so neither car ever left the company’s possession.
The GT-One Was The Catalyst For Toyota’s Modern Racing Identity
Red 1998 Toyota GT One frontToyota
The GT-One showed the world that Toyota could build something more fine-tuned and honed than a Camry, Tacoma, or even a luxurious Century. It was a full-blooded, carbon-fiber racecar with the sole purpose of dominating the racetrack. Its engine, chassis, body, and design were all built for motorsport, and the road-going aspects were added after the fact; just think of that luggage compartment.
Upon the GT-One’s racing debut, it performed adequately, although outright victory remained elusive. In 1999, the GT-One qualified first, second, and eighth on the starting grid, with one car finishing second overall and first in the Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype (LMGTP) class.
As for Toyota’s modern racing identity, the GT-One paved much of the way for the brand’s current GR race platforms. While not a direct predecessor, the GT-One let Toyota hone its craft, especially when it came to building a race car for the road. Just think of models like the upcoming Toyota GR GT. As the GT-One road car promised, the GR GT will actually bring the experience of a top-class Toyota competition machine to the street.
The Lexus LFA also deserves some of this glory as it was a pinnacle of engineering at the time. The GT-One, though, approached the supercar mindset very differently. It was wholly uncompromising, and even its occupants were constantly reminded that it was a racing car first, and a road car a distant second. The GT-One lets the rest of us know what Toyota can do when the leashes are untethered, and money flows freely.
Sources: Toyota, Ultimate Car Page, Toyota UK Magazine, Supercars.net.
