GTPNewsWire
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This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on June 23rd, 2020 in the Car Culture category.
You Can Help Restore Toyota's Famous Tom's Castrol Supra JGTC
- Thread starter GTPNewsWire
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- United Kingdom
- evildave333
$94K 4 a day's rental sold! lol Be nice to see this icon back on the road, but the price for the restoration is ridiculous it doesn't stack up at all...
- 447
- United Kingdom
Sad case of many classic cars.
- 23,913
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Are Toyota struggling a bit financially? Can't they fund the restoration themselves.
- 423
- York/UK
- mekonrider
Wishing I was a millionaire right now....a multi,multimillionaire at those restoration prices. Restoring all the bodywork wouldn't take 'that' much out of the 500k budget, so where is the rest going? It can stay in Gran Turismo at that price.
- 477
- United Kingdom
I think I saw a post here the other day that said Kaz had tweeted a picture of the car.
Anyway, all this "no-one knows what happened to it" stuff is a bit odd isn't it.
Doubtless at some point TOMS sold the car, possibly as a rolling shell, possibly went through a number of hands until it ended up there. I can believe they lost track of who had it, but its not like it disappeared out of their worksohp one day and no-one knew anything about it.
$470k sounds pricey to strip a shell, repaint and stick an MR2 engine in it.
I presume its not the only car either, the top pic looks very much like Goodwood festival of speed, so there must be one that runs or at least has done recently.
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- GTP_Famine
That's the 1997 car (the championship-winning car) at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car Tom's wants to restore is the 1998 car.
- 477
- United Kingdom
Yep, the point was that if it was the only example left it'd be more valuable.
If thats the 1998 car, it apparently failed to win a race. Driven by Masanori Sekiya and Norberto Fontana, they scored a 3rd at both Sendai and Motegi as their best result. The sister car with Kelvin Burt and Toshio Suzuki aboard actually faired worse overall, but they did grab a 2nd place at Sugo.
If thats the 1998 car, it apparently failed to win a race. Driven by Masanori Sekiya and Norberto Fontana, they scored a 3rd at both Sendai and Motegi as their best result. The sister car with Kelvin Burt and Toshio Suzuki aboard actually faired worse overall, but they did grab a 2nd place at Sugo.
- 851
- Scotland
- DivitLad
Sure it not for the car next too it? got them piston engines going up n down in my head n the supra brum brum brum from GT3, loved that car along with the sound of the 787b , screaming along tokyo r246., shoulda brought that track back for gts instead of that dull looking tokyo expressway
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- United States
- ptclaus98
The car has nothing to do with them...
Lol "stick an MR2 engine in it" The sheer ignorance...
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- 40,753
That's true. There's probably more Caldina engines they can stick in it nowadays.
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- a baby, candy, it's like taking.
- TexRex72
I like how the discussion goes from the car having appeared in Gran Turismo, to the desire for the car to appear in new installments of Gran Turismo, to the car being excised from discussion all but completely...despite this being the cars section of the forum and not the Gran Turismo section.
- 477
- United Kingdom
And did we read the article ?
The Supra’s engine — a four-cylinder 3SGTE rather than the road car’s 2JZ six
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+car+does+3sgte+come+in
As you say, the sheer igorance.
- 36
- United States
- ptclaus98
Yes, I did read the article. But I also know that just because it has the same bore and stroke and a turbo attached, doesn't mean that TOM'S can just head down to the local pick'n'pull and get an MR2 engine(or a Caldina one), toss it in the engine bay, and call it job done. The Toyota 503E is the ACTUAL engine that came in the car, and while people just SAY it's a 3SGTE because it's got the same bore and stroke, I'd love to see you try and find one in a the back of a standard MR2 (or Caldina).
- 477
- United Kingdom
and did anyone suggest getting a junkyard engine ? no.
It was a cheeky comment at the whopping restoration cost.
Ah, so this is one of the vehicles which didn't get the luxury of being stored in one of the official manufacturer car museums/collections (like I assume that '97 example in the header image is), it's a shame that a lot of the underdog vehicles from motorsport get abandoned and left to rot just because they didn't win (unless their new owners look after them). Still, it's nice to see that it still exists in any form.
- 11,797
- Marin County
How about that first gen RX-7 right next to it?!
- 29,162
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- GTP_Mars
Does anyone have JP¥9,999,999 I could borrow?
- 16,090
- Melbourne
- ScottPuss20
- CheetahsMeow
- 20
- Ireland
Íl happly wash an wax it for them
- 3,002
- Dundee, Scotland
Well regardless of which "year" the car is I am always pleased when I see an article advising something has been "found" after going off the scene for a period.
At least the Supra seems to fair in better condition than the car on left which I can't even recognise but it's good that it has been found and a restoration project is underway for the car and it will return to the track at some stage unlike another Supra I read an article about.
At least the Supra seems to fair in better condition than the car on left which I can't even recognise but it's good that it has been found and a restoration project is underway for the car and it will return to the track at some stage unlike another Supra I read an article about.
- 23,913
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Depending on the condition, i can actually see quite easily where that $470k could be swallowed, especially if built to be used and not just displayed. A high-spec race engine? Could be north of 100k. Doesn't mention if it has a gearbox or not. Easily another 40k+. All that magnesium used in the wheels and suspension? Probably needs binning as it becomes porous if not looked after. A lot of items are not going to be off-the-shelf stuff so may need re-manufacturing. Crack-testing the chassis? Replacing delaminated CF pieces? What's the going hourly rate TOMs charges for workshop time? Im sure @Heldenzeit can tell you how much time it takes a fleet of top mechanics to restore a race car that may superficially look 'okay' to as-new condition.
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- The Pool Of Life.
I would expect Tom's to do the work for free, and the money to be used for components and restoration of parts, otherwise it would just be pay us to do up our car.
And if that is a thing, I need to start a Kickstarter for someone to pay me to fix my vacuum cleaner.
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