If you got all excited when you saw Prius and V8 together, you might want to calm down because we’re talking about a race car. The brand new GT300 specification fourth-generation Toyota Prius, to be more precise, which was unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon quite recently.
Built in cooperation with APR Racing to compete in Japan’s Super GT series, the bad-ass Prius will make its race debut at the season opener on April 9 and 10 at Okayama International Circuit.
Toyota Racing Development and APR Racing put all their knowledge in this project, which was designed to compete with sportcars that belong to European brands, mainly.
The aerodynamic package was designed according to Super GT regulations and was built using computational fluid dynamics technology.
The race car is equipped with a mid-mounted 3.4-liter V8 race engine, and judging by its performances, the new Super GT Prius is the fastest of its kind in the world. Although it packs a proper engine, Toyota hasn’t forgotten about the polar bears and installed an improved Hybrid Synergy Drive system, relocated to the passenger footwell for better weight distribution.
Two Prius models will make their appearance in the 2016 Super GT season, with the first one piloted by Hiroaki Nagai and Kota Sasaki, and the second one by Koki Saga and Yuichi Nakayama.
“The hybrid system reached a certain maturity with the previous model, and now we have the new model, which has become the strongest machine APR have ever had. We won twice last year, so our goal this year is to win three times and get the championship,” Koki Saga commented.
This new GT300 joins other race-spec Toyota hybrid vehicles, including the TS030 Hybrid endurance racer, the GT300 specification Prius unveiled in 2012 and the TS040 Hybrid that launched in 2014. All of these are a solid proof that Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive system is very effective in top-level motorsport.
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