So we already know full well just how good a sports car the Toyota GT86 is.
We love it for all sorts of reasons. But there is a but and it is this. The handling on this
car is so sweet and so is the steering and so are the brakes, etc. But it's always been
calling out for just a little bit more poke. Well, now it's got some. And this is it. The
new GT86 Turbo by Fensport. It costs, with everything on it, which is
a suspension kit to put it 25 millimetres lower, it looks great on the road. 19 inch
wheels and tyres. Obviously the turbo kit to give you 250, 260 horse power.
All up, that lot. It's also got a brake kit, sorry. All up, that lot costs about £8,000.
The lovely thing is the torque. You've got nearly a hundred pounds feet more torque than
the standard GT86. Which means finally, when you put your foot down, it really goes, properly.
This has unlocked the real magic in the GT86. I love it.
But there is just one more GT86 to try today. And that
one's got even more power and an awful lot more performance. So I think it's time to
have a little go in that.
And this is pretty much the ultimate incarnation of the GT86 Turbo at the moment. This is Fensport's
full on racer. It's got slicks. It's got 335 horse power. It only weighs just over 1,100
kilogrammes. It's got that proper competition car feel
to its ride, to its interior. Everything about this thing just says, "Go fast. Drive me fast."
So let's have a go.
It is very loud. It's quite fast in a straight line as well. It just, you touch the brake
pedal, and bang, it stops. Lovely steering as well.
They haven't changed the geometry, but it just steers beautifully.
Can you hear that popping and banging? It's not the grip, it's not the steering, it's
not the gearbox, it's the performance. The performance in this thing is
outrageous. But do you know what? Here's the thing. The
engine in this car and the turbo kit that's fitted to it, is fundamentally the same as
the one that's in the black car. All they've done is just, they've fitted a different turbo
actuator and they've just tweaked it here and there.
So you can have this engine in the road going black
car. And I can't quite imagine how much fun that would be on the road. Or how fast the
GT86 could be made to go on the road.
There is just one more thing we need to do with our GT86 experiment, though. And that's
to see just how fast this one, the racer, can go around this track compared with one
of, if not the fastest road cars that money can buy at the moment. And that's the McLaren
MP4-12C.
Can I stay with the GT86 and I'm in the McLaren. I mean, what I've asked Adrian to do is go
kind of 90%. Just to see how hard I've got to try.
The McLaren is definitely quicker in a straight line. Definitely. In the corners and on the
brakes he's just, he really does have me covered, I'm afraid.
Oh, they're so closely matched. I mean, on a stop watch, we were talking about kind of
3/10ths of a second. I mean, what does that say about a tuned GT86, how good it is?
But I'm only - look at this, it's crackers just to stay with him. Oh my word. He's sideways
through every corner. Oh man. It's outrageous fun.
I don't know what we learned from that. Other than the fact that that GT86 is an outrageously
fast, I mean, crackers fast. And it will go very sideways.
I'm having to drive the McLaren's gull wing doors off just to try and stay with him. I
think it proves that basically the GT86 in all its forms, is just a fantastic piece of
kit.
And the more you do to it, the more berserk it is and the more fun it is. What a top day
out. What a fantastic car the GT86 is, and the McLaren's not bad either, actually.