HKS GR Yaris Gets 400+ HP, Becomes First One to Lap Tsukuba in Under 1 Minute

The relationship between HKS and Nobuteru Taniguchi has been going on for as long as we remember, and every time the company is making advancements with one of their project cars, NOB will be there to put it to the test and provide valuable feedback.

While everyone knows that major car manufacturers test their cars over at the Nurburgring in Germany, when we're talking about Japan, most of the big and small tuners will be using the Tsukuba Circuit as their proving grounds.

Located in the Ibaraki Prefecture, the Tsukuba circuit is quite a short one, with a length of just 1.271 miles (2.045 km), but over the years it has made a name for itself as the home of Japanese time attack, and an important site for tuners looking to analyse their work.

The HKS GR Yaris is still in the middle of an extensive development process that started several months ago, and it's already looking extremely interesting, both from a performance and visual point of view. The last time we saw the car in action, it was slightly less exciting, as it now packs more than 400 horsepower and close to 434 lb-ft (600 Nm) of torque.

The car is also making use of an anti-lag system now, and the whole package just looks like it's ready to hit the World Rallycross scene! With great power comes great responsibility, so an adequate set of tires was required for the time attack. The tire of choice was the Yokohama Advan A050, in 295/35/18, quite an impressive setup for such a small car!

Weight figures have come down again, with some minor changes being made to the car, but the diet is bound to continue over the next few months, as the team at HKS is going for a balanced approach to the tune. Even so, Nobuteru Taniguchi manages to smash the critical 1-minute barrier, becoming the fastest GR Yaris at Tsukuba to date. If your Japanese isn't all that good and you just want to see the time attack part, you can skip to 9:30 into the video!