Justin FoxWe were invited by Toyota to get behind the wheel and fang the all new #T86RS Toyota 86 Racing Series race car at Sydney Motorsport Park’s South Circuit.
There were some pretty familiar faces present; Rusty, the Bates family, Neil Crompton, John Boston and a few of the guys from our community. After a quick presentation (the graphics package for this series is super slick!) we were ushered into the garage to check out the modifications done to each #T86RS race car. Interesting to see them put a lot of the money into AP Racing brakes, that’s exactly what we would do (the AP brakes on our GT-R has seen 3 track days without servicing!). Once Neil was done presenting the car we were invited to test drive a stock 86, then the #T86RS race car.
I had John Boston from Track School in the passenger seat. I’ve never driven on South Circuit before, and I’m horrible with unfamiliarity on tracks I do not know! He let me have a lot of laps in the stock car to get used to the circuit, but even then I still hadn’t memorised the course. The stock car was super fun, except traction control kept on kicking in which prevented me from having even more fun, but still, it’s a really playful car.
I was strapped in with a 5-point, we were lower to the ground in every way and now I could actually hear the car; the race car instantly felt more like home to me. There was no doubt the race car egged you on even more on the circuit, but I’ve got to say that I had just as much fun in the stock car too! The 86 is just such a playful car that doesn’t bite. Where I’d be shitting my pants during and after an off in the GT-R, which would then ruin my confidence for the entire day, the 86 is a completely different beast that let’s you get way closer to 10/10ths without fear.
The series sounds amazing. They’ve gone for tyres which are a balance of grip and slip and the cars really slow down and take a while to get up to speed again if you make a mistake, so this is going to make for some very hardcore flat out close racing (read: rubbing!). Toyota are filling up spots with celebrity drivers, and opening the other half of the field to amateur drivers. Races are lumped in with the V8’s so this series is going to get a lot of views on TV. What’s even more exciting is that Zen Racer Trent Grubel is fighting for a seat in the series right now, we’re rooting for him pretty hard!!!
All photos by Ved from Selectnine.
More on the Toyota 86 Racing Series here: http://www3.toyota.com.au/86/racing-series