Toyota builds a customer rally car

If you've ever dreamed of going big-league rallying but balked at the challenge of building and developing a car on your own, Toyota may be able to help those dreams come true.

The company is finalizing development of a full FIA-spec rally car that will be available to private buyers for delivery beginning this May. The GT86 CS-R3 is derived from the jointly-developed Toyota/Subaru rear-wheel-drive coupe marketed by Toyota as the GT86 elsewhere and the Scion FR-S in North America.

The GT86 CS-R3 is expected to make its competition debut at the Rally Niedersachsen in Germany on July 4, with up to 10 cars scheduled to take part.

This will also be the first round of competition for the new HJS Toyota Motorsport CS-R3 Trophy series, which will be contested in Europe over seven rounds, with more than €5,000 in prize money available at each event. It will run for at least the next three seasons.

The CS-R3 was launched in prototype form last August. Since then, it has undergone an extensive test program to fine-tune the design and specifications of the kit that will be delivered to private competitors and teams.

Toyota says the development work has improved performance, on both gravel and pavement, along with reliability and durability, in order to deliver a car that can be used for low-cost competition for a full season and beyond.

The car will be homologated to FIA R3 regulations at the beginning of July, after which all CS-R3 cars will be eligible for national and international rally competitions, up to and including the World Rally Championship.

The FIA R3 regs allows modifications to be made to the 2.0-litre boxer engine that bump output to between 240 and 250horsepower. The CS-R3 also gets a sequential szed safety cage, designed to FIA requirements, and both tarmac and gravel suspension kits.

The kit includes a GT86 body shell, powertrain and all the mechanical components required to build the car.

Toyota says the decision to develop the rally car reflects the company's global theme of “fun to drive, again” and its encouragement of grass-roots motorsport. While it is designed to compete at the highest levels, the finished car will be available as a cost-effective competition model for private customers participating at all levels of the sport.

That said, it won't be cheap. Toyota Motorsport will offer the kit with an introductory discount of €5,000, making the price €79,000, for orders placed before April 24, 2015. That's in Europe of course!

If you're still interested, more information can be found at www.toyota-motorsport.com/motorsport.

GT86 CS-R3 Technical Specifications